Brian and Rita Thompson have been named as this year's co-recipients of the Rotary citizen of the year award.
“I feel honoured,” said Brian.
With both being part of the Olds Kiwanis Club for many years, both have also been part of the Olds Fashioned Christmas committee for about 16 years. They also have volunteered for the Olds Agricultural Society for many years as well as the Mountain View Museum since the inception of Uptowne Olds in 2005. They now volunteer at the museum one day per week.
Together, the Thompsons put in many of the approximately 40,000 volunteer hours donated by local business people to Uptowne Olds in 2010.
Brian said he started out with the Kiwanis Club and one thing led to another and suddenly he was volunteering for several organizations.
“I think you get in the volunteer mode, and you just start helping. And one thing seems to lead to another thing and another and another and you just keep … running,” he said.
“And I think we both care passionately about having a healthy and supportive and caring community. We care that there is a sense of community,” Rita added.
Brian said in all the activities he has helped with over the years, it has been the other volunteers he's worked with that have made volunteering such a rewarding experience.
“I enjoy working for the people, and it's fun. It's really neat to do the project and you start reaching out for help and getting the young people involved is really rewarding,” he said.
“This is a great community,” added Rita.
Brian said the best part of all his involvement in various community initiatives has been seeing how various aspects of the community have developed a common purpose.
“That's probably the one thing that is the best part of the whole works, would be seeing … how all the groups are working together now, all in the same direction, instead of each doing their own thing. That's been the strength of the (community) in my eyes, how it's progressed so much,” he said.
The Thompsons will receive their award at the Rotary Harvest Ball on Oct. 27.
