The Nouvelle is pleased to honour local volunteers in this week's special section in light of National Volunteer Week. There are so many generous people in our community who all deserve recognition. If we found them all, this week's paper surely would have reached a record page length.
While seeking out and interviewing volunteers for our special section, we learned a few things about the qualities that embody a truly selfless volunteer. The one that stood out the most to us was their sense of humbleness and modesty. Whether it be their reluctance to be featured in the paper, or insistence that other volunteers help them in their endeavours, it was clear they don't volunteer for the glory or recognition.
While we tried to feature as many people from as many different organizations as we could, we encountered some groups who did not want just one person mentioned, and felt any recognition should be shared by all their volunteers. We respect this sentiment and thank these groups for all their dedication.
The Nouvelle even came across one humble volunteer who did not want to be recognized above others and refused to be profiled.
While we were touched by the profound sense of modesty of our community's volunteers, it did not exactly make our reporters' job easy. Many, many phone calls and messages in pursuit of local volunteers went unanswered and left reporters pushing to meet deadlines.
Nonetheless, we are proud to recognize these selfless leaders and all the hard-working volunteers in our community and hope you enjoy this special section.
