National Volunteer Week #nvw2020

It’s National Volunteer Week and we want to thank our volunteers for their hard work and dedication this past year. Our volunteers bring a huge variety of different interests and skills, and they delve into tasks with devotion. We appreciate every single one of these special people.

Volunteer Highlight: A Family That Volunteers Together, Stays Together

Almost all of her life, Arla has known either people with dementia or families struggling to care for them. In the small farming community where she was raised, the disease was acknowledged. Arla remembers that assigned tasks for various community activities were carefully chosen for these individuals so they would be within their abilities. Hers was a dementia friendly community before it was recognized terminology.

Both Arla’s and husband Reed’s fathers had dementia, and the couple saw the impact on their parents. They realized how important friends and community were to their parents and themselves.

Arla started volunteering with the Society’s Minds in Motion® program shortly after it began in Manitoba. She quickly realized that this program is its own dementia friendly community. She enjoys meeting attendees, learning about their lives and interests, and watching them discover the magic of this unique group. It is a community of acceptance, caring, understanding and, most importantly, a community that loves to laugh and enjoy life.

Reed watched as his father progressed through the disease, and he saw his mother try to cope. His mom found support in the Alzheimer Society’s various groups. The Society helped her know that she was not alone; there were services offering respite care, and people would be there when she needed a sympathetic ear. The services offered by the Society have grown since the 1990s – today, they offer more support and treatments for families dealing with dementia.

Reed has been an active participant in the Society’s various fundraising activities – from door to door campaigns, the IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer’s, Trivia Challenge and Gala dinners.

Arla’s and Reed’s daughter Arden was very young when her first grandpa passed away. She grew up understanding the pain of watching someone slip away with dementia, and she was aware of the hole it created in her family. When her other grandpa began to experience dementia, she was older and experienced it first hand. It was shortly after that, while in high school, that she began to volunteer in the Alzheimer Society’s office. Recognizing the support that the Society provided to her family, she wanted to be able to give something back to this invaluable organization. Now in university, Arden can be found volunteering at the Society’s fundraising events.