SPRUCE VIEW - When Jim and Sandy Martin arrived in Central Alberta their first task was getting to know the people.
So the couple set out to become part of the community and started volunteering.
"When we came here, we didn’t know anyone,” said Jim. They arrived in the Spruce View area in 1980 so Jim, a structural engineering technologist who had previously worked on dam projects in Africa and Manitoba, could work on the Dickson Dam.
Nearly four decades later, it’s clear from their volunteering history that they certainly got to know people - they were recently named Spruce View and District Lions Club’s Citizens of the Year.
"It’s quite an honour to be on that list,” said Sandy, noting many other worthy past recipients of the award.
The celebration was held Jan. 20. The married pair, who live on an acreage east of Spruce View, didn’t know until the very end of the process that they had been nominated for the honour.
"It’s fantastic. It’s a great program that the Lions have come up with,” Jim said.
Sandy, 69, and Jim, 70, have been retired for 12 years. They have two daughters, two granddaughters and one great-grandchild.
They have a lengthy list of volunteer experience that they’ve done together and separately, especially in the Spruce View, Markerville and Dickson communities but outside the area as well.
Some of the organizations that have benefited from Jim and/or Sandy’s volunteer contributions are the Spruce View Hall, Stephan G. Stephansson Icelandic Society, Dickson Store Museum, Dickson Fish and Game Club, the Great Neighbours Program, Red Deer River Watershed Alliance, Central Alberta Refugee Effort (CARE), Alberta League Encouraging Storytelling (TALES), Toastmasters International and Central Alberta Theatre Society.
Asked for some highlights, Jim brought up their most recent efforts with the Great Neighbours Program, which tries to connect people with their neighbours.
With many properties having gates and dogs, and the lack of many published phone numbers, it can be tough to be neighbourly on a whim.
"It makes it difficult to get to know the neighbours,” Jim said.
Jim and Sandy are block connectors for the program, which sees them organizing events to help neighbours get to know each other with social benefits but also helping neighbours look out for each other, something Jim calls a "mutual aid agreement.”
Jim highlighted work with Central Alberta Refugee Effort, where he and Sandy have been assigned to three different refugee families over the years, of being a Canadian friend that can do anything from help with banking to Canadian social traditions.
"We get a lot out of it,” he said, noting he and Sandy enjoy cooking and hosting. He also helps organize trips for the men who may be reluctant to go explore recreation and other options due to language barriers, taking them fishing, curling and even on excursions to the legislature in Edmonton or the Rockies.
"That’s been interesting,” he said.
Sandy’s highlights include helping with the different local museums and committees.
"Whatever they need, a dishwasher or a vegetable peeler, we’re in,” she said.
When the pair is not busy volunteering, Sandy enjoys quilting, book clubs and playing cards and Jim likes to do woodwork, carpentry and has horses that he also trains.
They go to a lot of musical festivals, especially blues, and see a lot of theatre thanks in part to volunteering for Central Alberta Theatre Society.
Sandy said they want to thank all the different groups who put in letters for their nomination about their efforts.
"That was pretty neat, to hear from all of those people,” Sandy said.
Jim Martin, Spruce View's Citizen of the Year with his wife Sandy
"When we came here, we didn't know anyone."
