The smile on Doris Walton’s face said it all during the annual Osoyoos Volunteer Appreciation Awards, held this past Saturday afternoon at the Sonora Community Centre.
Walton was beaming from ear to ear and being congratulated by dozens of friends after humbly accepting the Outstanding Individual Volunteer Award.
For the past 25 years, Walton has dedicated literally thousands of hours of her time, energy and goodwill to the Osoyoos chapter of Soroptomists International, Osoyoos Food Bank, Meals on Wheels and local senior organizations.
“I just love people and lending a helping hand whenever I can,” said Walton, who was joined by more than 120 community volunteers and members of volunteer organizations at Saturday’s well-organized event. “This is a small community, but we have a lot of excellent people who live here who like to volunteer and help make this such a great place to live.”
Walton said she was humbled and honoured and she won’t soon forget receiving this prestigious award.
Being a volunteer is all about giving selflessly in an attempt to try and help others, while also improving the quality of life of the community you decide to call home.
Every single person who makes the decision to become a volunteer deserves recognition for doing outstanding work and helping others enjoy a better quality of life.
The level of volunteerism is often a large factor in defining the quality of life in any given community.
Here in Osoyoos, the quality of life so many people get to enjoy is a direct result of the work done by a small army of volunteers, who work so hard and do so much to improve the lives of so many people who benefit in so many ways.
Most volunteers don’t give their time and energy to earn any kind of recognition, but events like the Volunteer Appreciation Awards are a great reminder, at least once a year, of just how many good people live in this community and how important the work they do really is.
Congratulations are in order for every individual and organization that earned a nomination for the 2012 awards.
The winners get to enjoy the spotlight for a few minutes, but just being nominated for such an important award is something special and all nominees should be very proud of their accomplishments.
Never forget the work you do as a volunteer is making a real difference in improving the quality of life for hundreds of people in this community and a big reason why Osoyoos is such a wonderful place to call home.
Volunteers define a community and Osoyoos has a lot to be proud of.