One of the best things about living in a small community is getting to know your neighbours. Since moving to McCauley I have volunteered and worked as a volunteer coordinator, meeting many neighbours. Here are a few of the people in our neighbourhood!

Rosalie Gelderman is an example of selfless dedication to volunteerism. Not one to crave the spotlight, Rosalie nonetheless works tirelessly to improve our community. She volunteers for Boyle McCauley News, for McCauley Revitalization, has been on the community league board many times over the past thirty years, and once again is serving on the present league board.

Joanne McNeal has been a volunteer in our community since she moved here. She has sat on the board for the newspaper, worked on the Leaf a Legacy committee, and is a founder of the Perennial Plant Exchange at Primavera. Last summer, she was one of the driving forces behind an ice cream block party in her part of the neighbourhood. She is also frequent contributor to BMC News.

Fr. Jim Holland has lived in McCauley for twenty years and things have changed quite a bit since then. He volunteers for many different organizations including the Boyle McCauley Health Centre, the newspaper, the community league, and the Knights of Columbus (to name just a few). He is a founding member of the Friends of Church Street, and has been a driving force in the development of the rink by working on the recreation committee for many years.

Shauna Forsyth’s parents met at a dance in Gyro Park, which was the name of Giovanni Caboto Park back in the day. Shauna volunteered as a soccer coach when her kids played soccer, and has been a behind the scenes, dedicated volunteer for the community league, the newspaper, and is a founding member of the Friends of Church Street. For several years she was president of Dance Alberta and also Amity House. More recently she was the driving force behind the Smile Dinner which is held annually in our community.

Dan Glugosh exemplifies the old adage that volunteerism can lead to jobs. The networking we do as volunteers lets people see our talents, skills, work ethic, and other positive character traits. Dan’s hard work as a volunteer for so many years, keeping the rink in our community going, lead to the KIDS organization hiring Dan to make the ice at the rink. Dan is also a community league board member and last year received a Man of Honour award from CEASE (The Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation). Dan and his family are constant volunteers in the area. This past summer he and the boys were working hard on the corner of Giovanni Caboto Park to develop the walkway.

These kinds of people make up our community and are good neighbours. They work with others to build a better community and deserve our thanks!