1) So what did you do before you became a volunteer at Honour House?
I’m a retired police officer from New Westminster, and I’m also retired from the military reserve. I worked with the cadet program for 30-some-odd-years.
2) Why did you start volunteering with Honour House?
Well, I had known about the idea of Honour House when it first got talked about back in probably 2010 – 2009, 2010 – when they were looking for a place and raising money. At that time, I thought about getting involved but because of my travelling, I was living down in Utah in the U.S. for a while – I just wasn’t really nearby here to get involved, so I didn’t. Once … my girlfriend and I became residents back in New Westminster and I started working back here, and I established myself and I thought, after I left the army cadet program I wanted something to do, and Honour House, I knew about it. I knew what had evolved and thought that it would be the perfect for me to volunteer. So that’s how I ended up there.
3) How much time do you spend volunteering?
I would say probably in the neighbourhood of 15 hours a month, maybe. It varies because I do work fulltime, so my hours are usually sometimes in the evening and on the weekends mainly.
4) What do you do as a volunteer?
Well, for about a year I was the volunteer coordinator, so I actually hired the volunteers – interviewed them, coordinated a lot of the volunteer activities.
And then I just thought it was time to pass the reins on to somebody else, so I gave that up earlier this year, and now I do a multitude of things.
I greet guests, I meet them there and show them the facilities, and then I also do general cleaning, yard work, and I’m also kind of the cook when it comes to some of our volunteer activities where we have a gathering or a barbecue – I’m usually the one who does the cooking.
5) What’s the best part about volunteering at Honour House?
Well, in this case I think it’s the whole idea of giving back to the people that I served with.
Helping both police, fire, ambulance, all these first responders and people from the military that I’ve served with and helping them out.
Helping to give them a place where they can come and stay and feel comfortable – so that whole giving back idea is what’s good, and it’s a really nice place with a lot of really nice people that volunteer there and it has a really good atmosphere.
For more information on Honour House, or to volunteer your time, check out its website at honourhouse.ca.
