Maureen Olson received the award for Outstanding Individual Volunteer. Olson has been volunteering almost her entire life, and especially in the last 20 years since her retirement. Among the many groups and projects she works with, she is a facilitator for the Parkinson’s Support Group. (Richard McGuire photo)
For Maureen Olson, this year’s Outstanding Individual Volunteer award winner, volunteering has been a part of her life since she was a young teen.
“I grew up with volunteering because it was something that you did,” said Olson, who received her award at the Town of Osoyoos Volunteer Appreciation and Awards lunch on Saturday at the Sonora Community Centre. “It’s always been part of my life.”
In addition to Olson’s award, the town presented more than 40 certificates of appreciation to volunteer groups in the community and presented awards in three other categories.
A total of 139 people attended the lunch, said Sarah Dynneson, program supervisor with the Town of Osoyoos, who was involved in organizing the event.
The award for Best Council-Appointed Committee or Task Force went to the Osoyoos Splash Park Committee.
The award for Best Volunteer Project went to the Lake Osoyoos Sailing Club for their renovations and landscaping that coincided with the club’s 50th anniversary last year.
The Outstanding Community Group Award went to the local Special Olympics organization for its work to involve those with intellectual disabilities in sports, thereby improving self-esteem and allowing them to be more included in the community.
Olson was chosen from among four nominees for outstanding individual volunteer. The others were Marjorie Trosky, Connie Osachoff and Frank Zandvliet.
Since retiring in Osoyoos more than 20 years ago, Olson has volunteered with numerous organizations.
She has been especially active in the Parkinson’s Support Group, which she was asked to organize not long after she retired, even though she had no previous involvement with Parkinson’s.
It started when a couple moved to Osoyoos from Yuma, Arizona and found there was no Parkinson’s group here.
They inquired at the health unit and soon Olson was asked to take it on because she was seen as someone who could do it.
One of the volunteer roles she found most satisfying was working with the Med Trans Bus, which took seniors from Osoyoos to entertainment events elsewhere in the Okanagan.
“I would find people that wanted to go on the trip to fill the buses as close as we could,” said Olson. “It was a win-win because we took them out for entertainment. They bought their own tickets and then paid a fee to go on the bus and the money that the bus got helped to keep the cost of bus fares down.”
Olson said she did that for about eight years until the bus service was taken over by B.C. Transit.
Currently she is also an active member of the Osoyoos Book Club, the O’s Own Writers group, the Osoyoos Quilt Guild and the South Okanagan Concert Society.
With the quilt guild, she makes quilts that are donated to the Desert Sun Safe Home, RCMP, Osoyoos Fire Department and Victim Services and the quilts are raffled to raise money for various community agencies.
Previously she was also active with Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre, Closer to Home and the Kidney Foundation Annual March Campaign.
Asked where she finds the time for this much community volunteering, Olson said she has more time since retiring from her last job as a nursing instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
“And I have a husband who is very considerate,” she added. “If I’m enjoying something, he doesn’t mind if I’m not around all the time.”
Volunteering is something she enjoys, she said, both for the contact with people and the satisfaction of helping others.
Olson grew up in Penticton, where her mother was a member of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE), a women’s charitable organization. She would help her mother with tag days and also raised funds by selling her baking at bake sales.
Volunteering, she said, has long been an important part of communities like Osoyoos, even though some people retiring now are less interested in contributing to the community where they live.
She encourages anyone considering volunteering to do it and points out that many organizations need people with such common skills as the ability to drive or with computer skills.
“It’s very satisfying and it’s a pleasure to see other people enjoy whatever you’re involved in,” Olson said. “They don’t just do it by themselves. You have a group that you’re involved with and it provides friendships. There’s a good deal of satisfaction to see the pleasure on the faces of the people that are receiving whatever the volunteer service is.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
The Osoyoos Splash Park Committee was honoured at the best council-appointed committee or task force. Councillor Michael Ryan, second from right, congratulates chair Gerald Davis. (Richard McGuire photo)
Councillor Michael Ryan, right, congratulates Commodore Chris Scheuren of the Lake Osoyoos Sailing Club as his club was chosen for best volunteer project. (Richard McGuire photo)
Representatives of seven different groups nominated for the Outstanding Community Group Award await the announcement of the winner. That honour went to Special Olympics. (Richard McGuire photo)
