Brain Manns, volunteer, at the Lions club Mardi Gras.
Staff Photo by Laura Kish

Merle Dayman, volunteer, Windthorst.
Staff photo by Lizz Bottrell
By Lizz Brottrell
Citizen Staff

In honour of National Volunteer Week from April 27 to May 3, the Citizen set out to highlight the volunteer career of a couple local community members. Although everyone deserves much recognition for their hard work, many that were asked for an interview turned down the opportunity, only to recommend someone else for the recognition. Finally, two people accepted the interview, only after insisting there were others that did more work. The stories of these two individuals recognize both their hard work and that of the many other volunteers in Kipling and the surrounding area.

Five years ago Brian Manns and his wife Teena decided they wanted a change. “We decided we wanted a place to call our own, a town to call our own, a business to call our own,” said Manns. That’s how the family who now owns Manns’ Foods in Kipling came to the small community.

Since moving down here, Brian and his wife Teena have both been very involved in the community. “I think it’s important to give something back to the community, especially as a business owner,” said Manns.

Manns volunteers for numerous organizations throughout Kipling. He’s the current president for the Lions Club, he’s the secretary for the Legion, the Curling Club rep on the rink board, and he sits on both the Chamber board and the Kipling Film Production board.

He’s very active with the Lions Club. Many people may recall him dressed up at this year’s Lions Club Mardi Gras fundraiser, but that’s not all he does for the Lions. “I do lots of things for Lions International,” said Manns. For the Lions International, the Kipling Lions Club is committing $14,440 by the year 2011 to the Campaign SiteFirst II project. “This is an International Lions project where they’re trying to alleviate blindness in the world,” said Manns. “It only takes six dollars to prevent blindness, so that’s thousands and thousands of people’s blindness saved.”

Manns also puts in a lot of time with the Legion. “It’s a struggling club here mostly because the veterans are aging, but they work hard,” said Manns. “It’s a worthwhile organization.”

After a person spends so much of his time volunteering to help others, one would think the person would expect some sort of recognition, but not Manns. “I’ve received lots of thanks from various people,” said Manns. But I don’t do it for the gratitude. I do it for my own gratification - to make myself feel good.”

While Manns is at the beginning of his volunteer career, Merle Dayman from Windthorst nears the end of hers. “I’m at the end of it now,” said Dayman. “I help everyone else now.”

Dayman knows the importance of volunteering within a small community, which is why she’s been doing it her whole life. “It’s a lifetime job when you’re in a small community,” said Dayman. “Everyone has to be involved in a small community to keep it going. If there were no volunteers, for these organizations, there’s no way they could go on.”

Over the many decades Dayman’s spent volunteering for dozens of organizations, the art of volunteering has changed dramatically. Back in the day, homemakers did a lot of volunteering and a lot of the volunteering was meant to help out homemakers. One such organization was the Women’s Institute, which was an educational organization for homemakers. “Fifty years ago it was a big outing to go to a homemakers meeting and meet all the neighbors,” said Dayman. “Now everyone has another job besides homemaking, so there is no time anymore.”

To honor Dayman for all her hard work with the Women’s Institute, the Windthorst Recreation Board nominated her for the Saskatchewan Volunteer Recognition Awards in 1993 - which she won. She also received recognition for 19 years with the library.

Besides the Women’s Institute and the library, Dayman’s volunteered with several other organizations, including the museum, the Horticulture Society, Communities in Bloom, and the ZION Evangelical Lutheran Church - to name but a few.

Dayman’s done extensive work to help preserve Windthorst’s history. “We wanted a history book, so you had to volunteer to do it,” said Dayman. “I really wanted the walking tour.” With Dayman’s hard work and that of many other community volunteers, Windthorst now has both a history book and walking tour book.

While Dayman has cut back her volunteer hours because she’s getting older, she really recognizes all the hard work that still goes into volunteering today in the Windthorst community. “I’ve had enough recognition, I don’t need any more,” said Dayman. “The ones that are doing the volunteering now are really busy. I thought I could help out the volunteer thing now and give the current volunteers some thanks and praise. I’m in the past tense.”

Though Dayman is not quite ready to give up the volunteer life completely. “It makes life interesting, just interacting with people and keeping things going,” said Dayman. “I guess I’ll keep on doing it as long as I can.”