By Joan Janzen

This year, National Volunteer Week is April 24-30, 2022. Volunteers bring heart to our Saskatchewan communities; one of those communities is Eston, where a group of ten dedicated volunteers form Communities in Bloom (CiB). The volunteers are Doreen Reaburn, Leslie Kraft, Ellen Owens, Desi Beckstrand, Edna Williams, Rita Tessier, Barb Christians, Valarie Mohan, Shari Collinge, and Loreen Buskell.

Valarie Mohan was one of three members of the group who took the time to answer a few questions about volunteerism. She is the president of CiB, and Doreen Reaburn is the secretary. Valarie has been a member since CiB started back in 2000.

To kick off this year, CiB has joined in with Pitch In Canada, a national organization to hold a Community Clean Up Day on Friday, April 29. “The school has agreed to help with a clean up morning,” Valarie explained. “Each grade will be sent to a different area of town.” The Town of Eston provides a trailer to collect the debris, and hotdogs will be served in front of the school from 11:15 to 12:15 p.m. The public is also invited to help out with the clean up.

CIB held its first meeting of 2022 to plan the upcoming year and continue with the projects they have implemented. “We don’t have a lot of young members, so we don’t add on new projects,” Valarie noted.

She said it’s quite common to find CiB volunteers volunteering their time and talents in other groups as well. Valarie should know because not only is she an active member of CiB, but she is active on the United Church Board and is a group leader in the Lions 95.

Shari Collinge is another lady who donates her time to help out with CiB. “I’m one of the worker bees,” she said. “There’s about six of us who are on the watering rotation, and we keep an eye out for things that need a touch up around our flower beds.” If there’s work to be done, a message is sent out to inform the group.

“I don’t have a lot of spare time,” Shari said, and that’s understandable since she also helps out at the Eston Museum, where she is the secretary and calendar chairperson, as well as helping out with other museum fundraisers.

“I look after the collections and build the displays. We also have a display cabinet at the bank that is changed occasionally. So far this year I’ve spent about 50 hours building displays for the museum.”

Shari, along with a group of volunteers, worked together to refurbish the outside of the homesteader’s shack and cleaned up the interior. All their hard work is preparation for the museum’s opening day on May 26.

One of the group of ten volunteers at CiB is Loreen Buskell. She said she started volunteering so she could get out and meet people. Loreen has been a member of CiB since 2010. “Leslie orders all the flowers. We plant the baskets and gardens around town. We maintain everything, do the weeding, build anything that’s needed, and take turns watering all summer,” Loreen said. “We have a great time together. It’s a blast!”

“I also ran the Bizarre Bazaar fundraiser for the museum for six years,” Loreen continued. Loreen said she put in 60 hours to organize this event beginning at the end of August until the event was held in the first week in November. However, she no longer helps with this event due to employment commitments.

Although that is a significant volunteer contribution, Loreen has also been a member of the Legion for the past seven years. “My dad was in WWII. We do suppers once a month and raffles, built a new addition on the hall, and are building a ramp for wheelchair accessibility,” Loreen explained.

“I also helped organize Canada Day,” she said. “I was never home; I was volunteering so much.” Valarie Mohan called Loreen ‘the labourer’ in the CiB group, because she provided the muscle.

“Val is so great at organizing at CIB as president. Doreen is our secretary, and the rest of us are just members. We’re happy that way,” Loreen concluded.

These three ladies give us a glimpse of the huge contribution made by the volunteers in Eston. They truly are the heartbeat of the community! Be sure to express your gratitude during Volunteer Appreciation Week!

Valarie Mohan