How can we find more people like Joan? (From Bournemouth Echo)
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How can we find more people like Joan?
10:05am Tuesday 6th November 2012 in Opinion
HELP IS NEEDED: Volunteers Joan Cole, 88, and, right, Shirley Del Stette need other volunteers to come forward to help them run the Over-60s Monday Club
IT’S not surprising that the volunteer running a Bournemouth lunch club is looking to stand down.
After all, Joan Cole, who gives up her time to run the gatherings for over-60s, is herself 88.
What’s more, her only help is from a volunteer of 73.
Joan is among the legions of people who give their time freely so that all kinds of community events survive.
But her story also highlights a problem. Many important organisations rely for their continued existence on volunteers who are already well into pensionable age.
Meanwhile, with hours in the working world getting ever longer, many younger people never take up the habit of doing something in their community for free.
So while we should salute the dedication of Joan and Shirley at Charminster’s Monday Club, we have to wonder where the next Joans and Shirleys will come from.
