'She gives of her heart': Long-serving volunteer chosen as Prince Albert’s Citizen of the Year
The 2021 Prince Albert’s Citizen of the Year is being praised for her work ethic and compassion for people.
The award committee selected Marie Mathers to receive the honour. The award is sponsored by the Kinsmen and Kinnette Club and the Prince Albert Daily Herald.
“She gives of her heart and her soul. She just does whatever she needs to do,” said nominator and fellow Legion volunteer Suzanne Bantle.
“She will donate to under privilege people, people who have gone through fires and she doesn’t even know them. She’ll do Christmas hampers at Christmas time.”
Mathers says she was surprised with the news on Tuesday at the Legion and didn’t know she was nominated.
“I thought ‘why me?' There’s lots of people that do things,” she said.
Mathers is 88 years old and still volunteers with the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 2 Prince Albert, is on the Carment Court Tenants Council, Vintage Power Machines Threshing Festival, and St. John’s Ambulance.
“It gives me a lot of satisfaction to know that I make people happy or that people are happy because of the things that I have helped with,” Mathers said.
She also spent 47 years volunteering with the local chapter of Scouts Canada and led many activity nights and camping trips throughout the years. She says many of the youth are now adults and often stop to talk to her when they see her.
“I just loved doing different things in Scouts because I worked with different age levels from the age of eight to 17. And this was really something. We even did winter camping,” said Mathers.
At the age of six, she says her father taught her how to volunteer and be a good citizen, but it was a life-and-death experience that made her even more dedicated to making the world a better place.
“I was told that I had a week left to live and I told the doctors and the nurses that there was no way I was going to leave the hospital in a basket. And that prompted me more to really get doing things,” she said.
Mathers moved to Prince Albert in 1966 from a French-speaking community in Manitoba. Once she learned English, she became involved in the schools, Scouts and the farmers' market.
She encourages others to get involved in the community.
The award committee says a formal presentation of the 2021 Prince Albert’s Citizen of the Year Award is still in the planning stages.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.