Page 8 - Brandon Sun - 2018 Community Leader Awards

8 • COMMUNITY LEADER AWARDS 2018 THE BRANDON SUN • THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2018

» VOLUNTEER AWARD, SPONSORED BY SUNRISE CREDIT UNION

Linda Clark from Miniota was
nominated in the Volunteer cat-
egory for the Brandon Sun Com-
munity Leader Award. She
volunteers for many things
including trained vocalists and
students in speech arts for the
Birdtail River Fine Arts Festival.
(Melissa Verge/Brandon Sun)

Volunteering has proven a fuflling pastime for Clark

BY MELISSA VERGE Clark Memorial Volunteer Award.
Clark grew up in the Isabella community, and later moved to
One of her favourite things to volunteer with is helping out“
For Linda Clark, volunteering is a way she can stay involved Miniota. She still stays involved with both places. In Isabella
with the community while making a difference. she acts as chair of different committees, including Isabella
Clark, who lives in Miniota, volunteers to help families of Community Women. In Miniota, she does a lot of volunteer
people who are recently deceased, as well as those who are work with the church.
young and just starting out in the world. “As a volunteer I’m never worried about being
She officiates at funeral services, as well as volunteers helping with the Birdtail River Fine Arts Festival. As a former teacher, recognized, but it’s nice to know that people in
out students in Miniota prepare for the Birdtail River Fine Arts it enables her to remain involved with the youth in the my community think I’m doing a good job.”
Festival. “Working with children and working with people in community.
their time of grief,” Clark said, are two of the highlights of her “I help them choose their pieces, and I help them learn them — Linda Clark
volunteer work. and train them to get up and use as much expression as they
She was honoured to find out that she’d been nominated for can,” Clark said. “Just to prepare them for being in the public “It’s great when they [the students] get to know me and greet
a Community Leader Award. eye and being on stage.” For the festival, some students choose me when they see me outside of the school,” she said.
“As a volunteer I’m never worried about being recognized, to create their own speeches, and others memorize poetry. Volunteering fills many hours for Clark, and also gives her a
but it’s nice to know that people in my community think I’m It’s a lot of work, but helping out with it is something that sense of fulfillment. It’s the people that really make it enjoyable
doing a good job,” Clark said. She juggles all her volunteer work Clark loves to do, and will ultimately benefit the students. for her, whatever the work she’s doing may be with the Isabella
on top of being Reeve of Prairie View Municipality since 2014. “At some point in their life they will need that public speaking or Miniota community.
Volunteering for her started at a young age, when she would ability,” she said. “It’s my way to stay in touch with the youth of our community,
help out in the local church playing the organ. It remained She enjoys the social aspect of volunteering, working with and hopefully to have a little bit of an impact on their life.”
important to her as she got older as well as her husband, who the students, as well as teachers at the school- some whom she » mverge@brandonsun.com
after his death had an award put up in his name called the Bill used to work with when she was teaching there. » Twitter: @Melverge5

Wark-Brown helps by taking photos of furry friends

BY MELISSA VERGE
Mandy Wark-Brown’s clients don’t speak to
her- at least not in English, and they won’t smile
on command as she snaps their pictures. She
describes taking photos of them like
photographing little toddlers hyped up on sugar.
Still, it’s work she loves — she’s been
volunteering her time since 2012 to take
professional photos of dogs for Funds For Furry
Friends (FFFF). That’s one of the reasons Wark-
Brown was nominated for a community leader
award; for the extensive work she does volunteering with FFFF.
It started back in 2011 when she adopted her dog from them.
“I noticed when I was searching through all the rescues that all the
pictures weren’t visually appealing,” she said.
That discovery prompted her to speak to the director of Funds For
Furry Friends who also happened to be her dogs foster mom.
“I told them that they could probably adopt out more dogs if their
pictures were better, and I offered to do it for them,” she said. She’s been
their photographer ever since, giving time and her skills as a professional
photographer to help dogs get adopted more quickly.
“I feel it’s our responsibility to look after animals, to make sure that
they have the proper homes, they’re cared for and things like that,” she
said.
One certain senior citizen she’s helped over the seven years she’s been
volunteering her time with the organization sticks out for Wark-Brown.
Hugo was an older gentleman, a black lab mix with a grey snout who
had been in the rescue for quite awhile. He was having problems getting
adopted for a couple of reasons.
“Black dogs are always the hardest to go because they say you can’t see
their expressions on their faces, and just the old wives tale surrounding
black animals,” Wark-Brown said.
One day she snapped a candid photo of Hugo with the then president
of the rescue, with a big smile on his face as the president gave him a
hug. That photo ended up in the Westman Journal or the Brandon Sun.
“An elderly couple spotted it [the photo] and they adopted him right
away,” she said.
It’s moments like these that drive Wark-Brown to continue to spend as
much time as she does volunteering her time to help in the community.
“It’s good, it keeps me pushing to do more,” she said. “I’m always
messaging Jill, [the director of FFFF) ‘I have the itches coming, lets do a
shoot,’” she said.
The work is perfect for Wark-Brown, who said she doesn’t have the
emotional strength to do some of the day to day stuff the rescue deals
with, such as finding animals on the side of the highway. “I kind of just
stick with the fundraising and the pictures and stuff like that,” she said.
Besides FFFF, Wark-Brown also does volunteer work with KidSport,
which provides financial assistance to athletes who would otherwise be
unable to participate in organized sport. She’s been volunteering with
them since 2013.
“Probably the best part is that it gives kids an opportunity to stay out
of trouble, and that keeps us going with what we’re doing,” Wark-Brown
said.
Her own kids are in soccer, so she gets to see the benefits of participating
in sport first hand.
For the 40-year-old whether it’s the work she does with KidSport or
with FFFF, volunteering is something she enjoys doing. She does it to
make a difference in the community.
“I’m not a rich person, I don’t own my own house, but I feel like no
matter what your position is in life you always have time to either donate
money or donate your time,” she said.
» mverge@brandonsun.com Mandy Wark Brown kneels beside the dog she adopted from Funds For Furry Friends (FFFF). She often takes photos for FFFF
» Twitter: @Melverge5 that they can use for their website to help dogs get adopted faster. (Sabine Chorley/Sterling Images)