For the past forty years Sundre's Doris McNaughton has been a tireless volunteer for the community's young people, seniors and the less fortunate.
And all the countless hours and all the effort have certainly been well worthwhile, she says.
ìWhen you say you can help, it makes you feel better, when you do something for someone else,î said Doris. ìIf you are down or having a blue day, go out and do something for someone else and it will make you feel better.î
Moving to Sundre in the late 1960s, Doris started her volunteer career by helping set up the community's first ECS program.
ìI was on that committee that got the program going,î she said. ìThat was about 1974 and I was the coordinator for the next four or five years.î
With the ECS program up and running, Doris moved on to helping with the startup of the Sundre Figure Skating Club.
Starting in the early 1970s Doris also taught Sunday school at the United Church and was a leader of the church's Explorer youth program. As well, she was involved with Brownies with her two daughters, and as a member of the Royal Purple.
Doris and her husband bought Penny Agencies in 1977, which put the brakes on her volunteering activities for a number of years.
Doris's return to volunteering some years later had a lot to do with her daughter Wendy Dichrow's involvement with the Greenwood Neighbourhood Place community support organization, she explained.
ìShe would phone and say, ëMom we need some help',î she said.
Doris was instrumental in starting the Nutrition For Learning program a decade ago, working with GNP officials and other volunteers to bring snacks and milk to Sundre students.
ìI was in that for five years,î she said. ìIt was all very exciting. So many people said it was impossible to do.î
For many years Doris was also involved in the Santa's Anonymous program, which helps needy families during the Christmas holiday season.
She ran the volunteer seniors' income tax program through GNP for four years.
Doris was also recently involved in starting the Cooking for Kindness program, which provides a monthly lunch for seniors at the West Country Centre.
ìI think we've really succeeded with that program,î she said.
Although Doris's eyesight has been on the decline in recent years, limiting her ability to do the volunteer work she loves, she remains pleased with all she's done and hopes others will be encouraged to do the same in future days.
ìIf you believe in something and you present it properly, the people of Sundre will get behind you 100 per cent,î she said. ìThat's been my experience and it has been great.î
