After more than a decade of serving some of the Westlock area’s most vulnerable people as president of the food bank, Sister Eileen is taking a step back.
She said the move will allow her to focus on her many other volunteer efforts within the area, including those related to her role as a member of the Sisters of Charity, the Halifax-based order to which she belongs.
“I was just told I had to cut back, that’s it,” she said. “I don’t have time for my family, I don’t have time for anything; my family are in the east, and they’re all older, and they feel it’s time.”
Sister Eileen will be leaving the organization in good hands — she emphasized all the good work she’s done has been a result of the many volunteers at the food bank, most of whom will remain in place during the transition — and Sharon Kennedy will step into the role of president.
Kennedy said she’s confident the organization will stay on course with continued help from volunteers and the community at large, although she said Sister Eileen is basically irreplaceable.
“We’ve all talked about it, and we can probably never fill Sister Eileen’s shoes but we’re going to give it our best effort and keep it going as long as we have the volunteers and as long as we have the community support,” she said.
Fortunately, Kennedy said, the organization has been so well run and organized in the past it should be a fairly smooth transition.
“Sister Eileen has everything set up right to a T,” she said. “For now everything’s going to stay status quo.”
Long-time volunteer Barb Zelinsky has also resigned from the volunteer board that runs the food bank so she can focus on other volunteer work she does with her church — she said she’s getting older and has to be more selective in where she spends her time.
“When I do too much between the food bank and my church, I’m just laid up for a week and I’m tired,” she said. “It’s time to give it up.”
Both ladies spoke very highly of the time they’d spent working with Sister Eileen, crediting her with putting in long hours to make sure everything was running smoothly.
“One word: Awesome,” Kennedy said. “She’s very dedicated, and the volunteers are very important to her; she’s always thanking us.”
For Sister Eileen, the transition is a bit of a bittersweet one — she’ll be happy to have a bit more time, but at the same time said she believes very strongly in the importance of the food bank.
“There’s a really great need. There are so many people who are not skilled and don’t get big wages. Last week we had 104 people,” she said, adding there are well over 300 people each month who use the food bank, with roughly half coming from the town and the other half from the county.
Recently the food bank has had a bit of financial trouble, with the bank account in September being especially low — the board had to make the difficult decision to cut back on the already-limited amount of food it can give out to clients.
Fortunately, Sister Eileen said, there are those in the community who go to great lengths to support the organization. Very recently a friend asked how things were going and provided a generous donation.
“I teared up and said it’s really hard, so he gave me a cheque for $5,000,” she said. “They know it’s 100-per-cent volunteer.”
The organization depends entirely on donations from the community at large, whether it’s businesses, churches or individuals.
“The churches are very, very good,” Sister Eileen said.
“They’re unbelievable, and the clubs. The Elks give us those two rooms and if we didn’t have that, we wouldn’t be able to cope.”
But most importantly, Sister Eileen said, the food bank has relied on volunteers — nobody has been paid since the organization opened its doors in 1985.
“I really feel that I’ve done as much as I can, and put the food bank on the front burner,” she said. “My hope is that people will continue.”
Anyone interested in volunteering can contact the new president, Sharon Kennedy, at 780-349-4404.
