The Groves Hospital Volunteer Association is growing and its volunteers are being recognized.
On Monday afternoon about 140 of more than 240 hospital volunteers met at the Royal Canadian Legion in Fergus for the GHVA annual general meeting and volunteer appreciation awards.
“Our objective is to grow to about 300 volunteers in the next few years,” Wayne Hyland, newly appointed association president, said after the meeting.
“There’s an increasing need within the hospital itself for those programs.”
After the annual general meeting, 33 volunteers were recognized for milestone years of service at Groves Memorial Community Hospital – ranging from three to 20 years and more.
There isn’t any one universal descriptor of the volunteers – Hyland said they have people from high school who are considering a career in the medical field or are completing their volunteer hours, and some volunteers who are more than 90 years old.
With over 27,000 volunteer hours recorded last year, the association wanted to make sure the volunteers understand they’re appreciated.
“You certainly don’t want to make it seem that it’s taken for granted, because it’s not, “ Hyland said. “There’s a deep and sincere appreciation for what they do.”
For the volunteers, however, the work is the reward.
Margaret Duffield is one of the volunteers recognized for 33 years of service with the hospital.
Most of her time is spent working in the gift shop, and after more than 20 years working in a school cafeteria, it was an easy transition.
But Duffield isn’t opposed to trying a new hospital job in the future.
She began volunteering as a way to give back to her community while her children were at school – and shortly after she began, her father passed away.
“I thought what a godsend that I’m here working because it gave me something to do and to see people,” Duffield said, adding she enjoys volunteering.
Duffield isn’t the only GHVA member proud to be volunteering at the hospital gift shop. Glenise Ladd has been volunteering with the hospital for more than eight years.
She started out at the reception desk but has since moved to the gift shop. Ladd said it’s the extra support she sometimes gives to the families and friends of patients that shows the importance of volunteering.
“If they’re upset or something, sometimes they’ll come in for a coffee and they just want somebody to talk to,” Ladd said. “So that’s as much a part of our service as actually running the little shop.”
The gift shop at Groves, and the New to You shop at the north end of Fergus, raise money for the hospital and are both run by volunteers.
Over the 81 years of the association’s existence, it has donated more than $3 million to the hospital.
Just this year, the New to You shop moved to a bigger location and more volunteers are needed to keep it running smoothly and efficiently.
Former association president Ann Ironside said during the meeting that donations to the New to You shop have been strong and there has been an average of $2,000 in sales each day.
The first year goal, once sales even out, is to reach $1,500 a day.
Additional volunteers will also be needed when the new hospital opens, which is on track, according to speakers at the annual general meeting.
Also recognized at the ceremony for their service were:
– three-year certificate: Kerri Ann Clark, Nancy Fletcher, Willow Hobson, Margaret Smits, Harold Oudney and Wayne Perrin;
– five-year pin: Hector Boyle, Betty Carlberg, Gunnard Carlberg, Terry Kane, Carol Landoni, Georgie Strub, Marlene Tosh and Douglas Russell;
– 10-year pin: Elsie Dandy, Muriel Morrison and Kathy Williams;
– 15-year pin: Carol Bridle, Wayne Bridle, Trudy Gansekoele, Mary O’Malley and Lee Thorne;
– 20 year pin: Doreen Campbell, Elaine Taylor and Kathy Gottfried; and
– previous lifetime pin volunteers mentioned were: Henny Broersma (27 years), Marion Brown (27 years), Luella Lockhart (27 years), Muriel Gass (28 years), Anneke Wymer (34 years), Catherine Leighton (36 years) and Beryl Ecclestone (49 years).
