There’s something inspiring about stepping into the Sonora Community Centre and seeing a gymnasium full of people who volunteer their time to make Osoyoos a better place.
Saturday’s town-sponsored Annual Volunteer Appreciation Awards and Luncheon brought out many of the people who give their time to a host of non-profit organizations.
Some give their time to a number of groups that do good work in this community.
Even more remarkable was that many local volunteers couldn’t make it to the lunch. Some were away. Some don’t like the limelight. And some were busy volunteering.
Osoyoos is an older community than most in terms of average age of residents, and it’s true that many retired people have more free time to help.
But not all are retired. It’s often true that if you want something accomplished, give the job to a busy person.
Amazingly, one of the two winners of an Outstanding Individual Volunteer Award, Annette Star, still works full time and runs a business in Calgary, travelling back and forth.
She does this while taking up numerous tasks with the Osoyoos Elks, the Fireworks Committee and several other volunteer positions.
Indeed, there were so many nominations for Outstanding Individual Volunteer – 15 in total – that the committee found itself unable to settle on just one.
So they ended up choosing two, also recognizing Donna Kelso, who also works tirelessly for the Kiwanis Club, the Desert Valley Hospice Society and the Osoyoos Concert Society – including in numerous roles on different projects for each group.
There were two other categories of award – Best Project Award and Outstanding Community Group.
The first category had four nominations and the second had seven, including the Osoyoos Gift Cupboard, which was nominated in both categories.
The winners of these – the International Migrant Workers’ Ministry in the former and Osoyoos Music in the Park in the latter, were also very deserving as group efforts.
Both these initiatives make Osoyoos a better place in very different ways.
The first, through the Osoyoos Baptist Church, welcomes and assists the many migrant workers who provide a vital service for local agriculture in the summer.
And Music in the Park has kept local residents and visitors alike entertained on Friday summer evenings with free concerts at the bandshell in Gyro Park.
And while Jessie Smythe didn’t take home an award this past weekend – as Mayor Sue McKortoff noted, she’s already received every award Osoyoos has given – many people came out Sunday to express appreciation for her 25 years of volunteering in this community.
Smythe, who recently moved to Penticton, has been an integral part of six different community organizations: the Osoyoos Festival Society, the Osoyoos Soroptimists, the Osoyoos Lawn Bowling Club, the Mariposa Auxiliary, Market on Main and the Osoyoos Arts Council and Concert Society.
After receiving expressions of thanks and appreciation at a tea organized to honour her, Smythe let out a secret.
She gets as much reward and satisfaction from her volunteer work as the organizations derive in benefits from her.
It’s this work by so many dedicated volunteers that helps to make Osoyoos such a wonderful place to live or spend time.
It’s an appropriate week to salute the efforts of so many in this community.
