I have many times observed people smiling broadly, in some cases gently massaging stomachs, after enjoying the monthly pancake breakfast at the Hedley Seniors’ Centre.  A full breakfast includes 2 pancakes, 2 eggs and 2 sausages or strips of bacon. At $5.00 per plate, it’s a deal no restaurant can match. This month 140 patrons from all over the Similkameen Valley indulged. Popular and highly affordable, this meal is made possible by big hearted, unpaid local citizens, some well into the seventh decade or beyond. At the grill or scurrying about delivering plates of delicious hot food, they bring a note of cheer into the lives of their customers. Volunteers everywhere have this uplifting effect on their community.

When I heard that Peggy Terry, one of these stalwart community minded citizens has a for sale sign in front of her home and will soon leave Hedley, I wondered about the future of the pancake breakfast. I also experienced a twinge of anxiety for the Hedley Museum, Community Club, Fire Department and Hedley Improvement District (HID). As in most small towns, the doors of these organizations are kept open almost entirely by volunteers. They are a blessing to their community, but there are rarely enough of them. If too many younger individuals choose to remain uninvolved, will there be a pancake breakfast in 5 years? Will the museum continue to tell the story of our community’s past and serve lemon and apple pie and coffee? Will we have competent trustees in the HID? We need to be aware that everywhere many committed, contributing citizens like Peggy Terry are approaching an age when they will need to retire.

Recently Lynn Wells sent a letter to members of the Hedley community telling us we are needed to help at the Seniors’ Centre. She didn’t receive even one response. Is the next generation too immersed in personal pursuits to understand the benefits of accepting the baton that is being offered to them?

Very likely many people do not understand there are myriad benefits. Some are highly personal. The smile adorning Peggy’s face while greeting people arriving at the pancake breakfast suggests serving others gives her a joy that overrides even the significant discomforts of arthritis. In a recent conversation in our home she said, “I’ve had plenty of fun in my volunteer roles over the years, and I’ve met lots of great people.”

For young individuals volunteering can be an effective means of exploring career interests and giftings. It may opens doors to employment interviews. For me
volunteering set the direction for much of my entire career. While still a student at SFU I became a volunteer with an organization helping prison inmates prepare for re-entry into their community. In addition to interacting with inmates, I developed relationships with prison counsellors, custody officers, and parole officers. After graduating, a key position in the organization opened. The board of directors decided my experience and connections had prepared me for this role.

Serving our community offers opportunities to develop skills and understandings that enable us to go beyond our self imposed limits. I was still young and had much to learn when I was invited to become a member of the Matsqui Institution Citizens Advisory
Committee. The other members were already well established in careers. Among them were a realtor, radio broadcaster, and parole officer. Sitting in the prison board room with these seasoned individuals I learned some important lessons while negotiating with prisoners and with prison personnel. This early experience has helped me many times in other committee situations and in one-on-one interactions.

At times we may feel inadequate for a particular role. Anita Roddick, founder of “The Body Shop” counters this fear with the advice, “If you think you are too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.”

For individuals trapped in unfulfilling employment or lacklustre retirement, volunteer service can be uplifting emotionally and psychologically. In “Tribe”, Sebastian Junger says, “Humans don’t mind hardship, in fact they thrive on it. What they do mind is not feeling necessary.” In Hedley, and almost certainly in every Similkameen community, there exist an abundance of challenging, important roles that will help us feel necessary. Now that the summer sun is no longer luring us to the beaches, it’s a great time to expand our horizons and create communities people enjoy.