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Deltassist has too many great volunteers to honour just one

Deltassist Family and Community Services honoured a pair of volunteers at its annual general meeting last month.
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Rod Binder, vice president of Deltassist’s board of directors, is flanked by Volunteer of the Year winners Shirley Flett and Robert Hebden.

Deltassist Family and Community Services honoured a pair of volunteers at its annual general meeting last month.

The social services agency typically names its Volunteer of the Year at the AGM, but this year added a new category for Rising Star Volunteer of the Year.

Volunteer of the Year, an award given to a volunteer who has a long standing history of volunteerism with Deltassist, was presented to Robert Hebden for 2019.

For 10 years Hebden and his photography group have volunteered their time and resources to create free family photo packages for families that use the Christmas Toy Depot. Every year, Hebden and his club set up a photo studio in the Deltassist conference area in order to create a professional photo package for each family.

In addition to the annual Christmas photo shoot, Hebden has assisted the 38th BP Guild move all the toys from the Deltassist office to the site of the Toy Depot for the past 10 years and has also helped deliver Christmas hampers with the North Delta Lions for the past eight years.

The Rising Star Volunteer of the Year was introduced to recognize a volunteer that has started in the last couple years and has already become an invaluable member of the team.

The inaugural award was presented to Shirley Flett who began volunteering with Deltassist in October 2018 through the weekly Bread Gleaning Program. That was soon not enough volunteering for Flett so she started with the Emergency Food Program as well.

Flett’s knack for organizing has also taken her to assisting counsellors in sorting donated infant clothing, diapers and food for their clients in need.

Flett is also a keen gardener and is an active volunteer in Deltassist’s community garden project.