OLDS — A longtime Mountain View Food Bank volunteer has received an award from the Olds Lions Club for her dedication.
Pat Graham was presented with the club’s second annual community service award by president George Schwieger during a meeting April 15.
During an interview with the Albertan, Graham expressed gratitude for the honour.
“It was good. It was nice,” she said. “You know, you don't volunteer to be praised, but it's nice when somebody notices that you do.”
Graham has been volunteering at the food bank since 1991.
She had moved to Olds and was looking for a way to distribute Christmas gifts she had collected.
She was put in touch with Grace de Jong, who had started up the food bank just a few years before.
It was struggling because many of the volunteers also worked.
“I just started helping her and it just grew and grew and grew,” Graham said.
In 2012 Graham received a Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee medal for her volunteer work with the food bank.
And she’s still volunteering there.
“I still go in every Tuesday,” Graham said, adding she mostly does office work for the organization. She also continues to sit on its board of directors.
