Skip to content

‘I am going to volunteer for as long as I can’

National Volunteer Week kicks off April 7 to 13
16317051_web1_190411-OMH-MAURENEADAMS_1
MLA Donna Barnett presents the Citizen of the Year Award to Maurene Adams. Brendan Kyle Jure photo.

Maurene Adams has been volunteering for many years.

Adams came to the Cariboo in 1967 and is known to be one of the area’s original volunteers. She said volunteering is something in nature. Being a part of the community is something that she enjoys. Volunteering keeps her busy and active.

“It keeps you going, especially when you get older,” she said. “My mother volunteered a lot, so I think that’s where I get it from.”

On a weekly basis, Adams devotes her time volunteering at the Red Cross, answering the hotline for the SPCA and is a member of the Mill Site Lodge and Fischer Place. She spends roughly nine hours a week volunteering. Currently, the SPCA has four volunteers that will answer the hotline. Each volunteer will rotate between the weeks during the month.

“I feel that the organizations I volunteer for need help the most,” she said. “I really love animals and I have some of my own. So it’s important to me to offer help to others when it comes to their pets.”

For more than 32 years, Adams volunteered her time with the Scouts and Girl Guides. And it doesn’t stop there. In the summer, she is often volunteering on public outings such as picnics, trail walks and more. You can almost always count on Adams to volunteer.

“You could say I volunteer a lot,” she said. “I just really like the community here.”

The Mill Site Lodge and Fischer Place is her favourite organization to volunteer with. She began volunteering with the auxiliary back in the late 70s.

During the 80s, she stopped because she began helping out with the Scouts and Girl Guides, but says she went back in 2000 and has been there ever since.

“I think my heart is with the auxiliary,”she said. “I like working with people around my age. I often get mistaken for one of the residents, because I am getting so old.”

Outside of volunteering, Adams spends most of her time reading and knitting for her 10 great-grandchildren.

“I feel really good when I’m offering time to volunteer,” she said. “It’s nice to be recognized and receive something like the Citizen of the Year award,” which she was awarded this year.

Adams said she has no plans of stopping.

“I am going to volunteer for as long as I can,” she said.

National Volunteer Week is a time to acknowledge and celebrate Canada’s 12.7 million volunteers, according to Volunteer Canada. Though it’s large number, it’s individuals such as Adams, that make a difference in communities, such as 100 Mile House.

National Volunteer Week 2019 kicks off April 7 to 13.


newsroom@100milefreepress.net

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.