A Recruitment Letter

 What follows is a draft of a letter for our local paper. I am not satisfied with it; it is too long and, frankly, boring. I would very much appreciate comments.

When was the last time you went to bed thinking “Well, I may not have everything done, but that was a good day, I enjoyed myself?” I have been reflecting lately, as octogenarians are supposed to do, on my life and what I have done with it. And what this seems to tell me is a pretty simple thing: when I was happiest was when I was engaged with my community. A lot of the fun in my life and a lot of the value and learning came from volunteering.

I started volunteering when we moved to a new city and my children started school. I could not find a job and so I had time on my hands and some basic skills. I ended up volunteering in our local school, working with children who did not have English language skills. This morphed into full-time work and part-time work which, over time, I still take on.  But I did not keep to my skill set to find interesting things to do. I have had a lot of happiness learning things like managing puppets, sewing gym costumes, learning shuffleboard, running a strawberry social, calculating amounts for ham dinners.  Some of the time over the course of my lifetime I have worked full time or part time, but I have always made time to volunteer somewhere, somehow. And it has almost always paid me more than it cost me.

When we moved to Lanark Highlands, a wonderful woman called Marion Paul found out I could take meeting minutes and (it seems to me within a minute) I replaced her as the secretary of the Watson’s Corners Hall Committee. That helped me to find my place in the community. Rural living, for those of you newly here, is not like the city. I think you will always find your neighbours there for you if you need them. But the winter days can be long and cold and slow. The Watson’s Corners  Hall Committee is charged with making a warm, safe space with kitchen and toilets available to the local community. While the hall belongs to the township, the community runs it. All done by people from the neighbourhood.

What is a rural community hall? It is a location, with roof, where almost anything can be done; a family reunion, a funeral, a meeting (with food), cards (with food), a walking group, art classes, fitness classes, yoga, a camera club.  At Watson’s, the committee volunteers use the kitchen to put on several community meals every year to raise money to heat, clean and generally keep the hall going. All done by people from the neighbourhood.

If you are still reading this, you may be ‘in the neighbourhood’, if not of Watson’s Hall, then of one of the others that the Township in its wisdom holds in trust. The Township owns it. The community runs it. And so, to be run and used, the community needs to step up and be part of it. If we all pitch in, even if we only have a bit of time to spare, the hall is and remains a hub. Join the volunteer pool, or even consider being part of the hall committee.

I have found that I could always choose a volunteer job that suited my availability and ability level (among the Watson’s kitchen staff, this relegated me to washing dishes but, hey, we put them through). A volunteer job could be a one-off for a few hours, or a small amount of time each month, didn’t matter. I was part of things; I was happy.

And so would you be. Watson’s will be calling an Annual General Meeting  in February, 2027 but you don’t have to wait until then. Talk to people. Join. You won’t regret it. Thirty years later, neither do I.