Senior's Outreach Memories
by Don Casselman
It was in 1941 that I left home from the farm in Saskatchewan for Three Hills to work with Roger Kirk in his furnace business. Twelve years later in 1953 Muriel, also from Saskatchewan, and I settled into married life in Three Hills where we lived until 1969. That was the year we moved our family to Calgary where we enjoyed living for 23 years. In 1992 we came back to retire in the old home town of Three Hills, where we have been ever since. So apart from the Calgary stay we have lived in Three Hills over 50 years.
The first move to Three Hills was when I was a teenager running away from what I considered to be a hopeless home situation, and it was in Three Hills that I found a job and friends and hope for the future. The later move to Calgary was only because coal heating was suddenly replaced by natural gas in Alberta, and the Kirk's furnace was a coal furnace. Just like that it was finished. But in Calgary we already had friends and a hope for new employment, so we moved there to a new work where we gained much satisfaction and many more friends.
However a situation occurred near the end of those years and about the time when we began to think of a less active future, when Muriel heard that an old friend from her teenage years in Prince Albert was in a full care facility right there in Calgary, and she wanted that we go should go and visit him. He and his siblings had been in the same Baptist Young People's group together with Muriel in Prince Albert and she knew there would be many old memories to cheer Bill up. He was on the third floor of the building, a floor devoted to completely dependent and bedridden cases. So we went to visit him in that institution.
Right here I need to admit that visitation has always been very difficult for me, especially where the person we go to speak to cannot care for himself and he presents a less than a robust appearance or behaviour. So as we entered that building with its hushed atmosphere, long halls, nursing staff, and finally a single large windowless room with high hospital beds where quadriplegic Bill was our focus of attention, I was not at ease. So as Bill and Muriel were having a good visit in spite of the fact that he could do no more than talk and move his eyes, I was thinking about what I might be in later years and what kind of an institution I might be in, for the thought of being in Bill's place as I knew I surely would be toward the end of my life was not a pleasant one.
Perhaps it might have been better if I had been used to living in an institution in my earlier years, but my experience had been freedom. Freedom from sickness, except for a week with mumps, free from sick or infirm relatives or friends, freedom from doctors and nurses. So the idea quickly came to me that since this was one of the good Calgary institutions, perhaps one of the best, I recoiled from looking forward to retiring in Calgary, if this was to be the culmination of it. Surely Three Hills and its smaller institutional mindset was preferable. So mind made up, determination made, we would aim at returning to Three Hills before we retired.
That time finally came in 1992 when we sold out in Calgary and moved to a large home in Three Hills. The year 1992 now seems like a long way back and that we were too young to retire. And yet I was almost 70 and Muriel was just 5 years younger and there seemed to be no compelling reason to live in Calgary because our children were all in their own homes. At the same time neither of us was old or tired out or sick, so we did not think of retirement as doing nothing. Now all you who knew her, knew that Muriel was the outgoing one of the family and it should come as no surprise to hear that she immediately got to know a lot more new friends in Three Hills beside the old friends that had never forgotten.
I do not know when was the first time Muriel encountered Una Edwards, how they met or where, but while I was setting up an office in the home in Three Hills where the computer and the work I could do on it was taking most of my time, that left Muriel free to be with people, therefore she was out meeting people, She liked people, helping people, talking to people, being with people, so you know how inevitable it would be that she meet Una. Although Muriel liked to sew for people, she would quickly drop that just to be with people and help them any way she could. This trait Una was quick to notice and she recruited Muriel as a volunteer. It was still very early in the history of Seniors Outreach, but we, for it did not take her long to find out that Senior's Outreach could use my help too.
You might say that Seniors Outreach in Three Hills and my return to Three Hills had almost exactly opposite beginnings. My thought was to get away from being with difficult people, and Senior's Outreach was to help the needy. Una Edwards had been involved with that type of people most of her life and certainly lately with a very dependent husband who could do less and less for himself as cancer progressed As she looked after his needs she could see the needs of other people and she knew that volunteers who were still independent could be inspired and trained to help them. It was her dream, and her experiences told her that something could and should be done about it right here in Three Hills. So with core of volunteers she got it rolling. At any rate Muriel began to help in the new office on the phone contacting and getting help to those in need. She became a happy and fulfilled volunteer, and enthusiastically told me about it.
My first impressions of Seniors Outreach was more about the director herself than the work. Of course we know that the leader is the one who has the vision and the conviction that it can be done. She was indeed such a leader and did find the right people to do it. Yes, we could see that there were many older, quite active and able people who could be mobilized to do the work that needed to be done, and it became apparent that beside having a vision of the work that this woman knew how to find and attract and steer them into being successful volunteers. Soon I was convinced that they needed what I could do for them.
There is no memory of being sold or coerced into my volunteering, but it became clear that although there was a team of drivers and telephone answering ladies and visitors the organization was now far enough along to need some technical help. Una and her board of directors were doing well in getting the work of helping the needy done, but they were well aware that the Provincial funding would dry up if the records and the accounting and the reports were neglected any longer. Those mundane, impersonal things had to be done, and again they had to be done by volunteers.
One day I went with Muriel to the Senior's Outreach office to meet Una Edwards and see if I could be helpful as a volunteer. It did not take her long to explain her great need for a way of using a computer to keep track of what was being done. That they needed someone to take charge of the accounting and the bank and that some sort of a computer data base was needed. But when I asked what computer program would do this she did not know except that it could be done and we, or rather I, had to find a way to do it. Well, I had experience with accounting and a very rudimentary homemade data base, but she could not tell me what needed to be kept track of. It was something new. And indeed in 1992 few small enterprises were using them for more than correspondence.
Una did however, talk about how the data that needed to be collected could be useful in reporting to the government, although she had no idea what data would convince them to keep on funding the project after the start up trial. However it was certain that the data needed to prove to them that we were succeeding and that the money was being well spent. And, oh yes, Edmonton had sent her some sort of an elementary database, so try it out and go from there. It came with no instructions but apparently it had been made for a volunteer program. I took it home and found that it needed a lot of changes and that only the original programmer in Edmonton could make those changes and that that would take a lot of time and money, neither of which we had.
About now you need to know that personal computers were a lot more limited then than they are now. Maybe the thing you would first notice is that the monitor was not a flat screen that could show pictures, no it was a small fish- eye screen in a large deep box that took up a great deal of desk space and showed only text, that is letters and numbers. And the latest operating system was Windows 4 and that all the programs and data had to be stored on 3 1⁄2" floppy disks having a digital capacity of less than one ten thousandth of what we think of as minimal today.
Fortunately in Calgary I had been using a computer for years to do accounting work, and again it was good preparation that the accounting I did emphasized the importance of using the information for the daily work as opposed to the idea of historical accounting which majors on end-of-the-year reports. Our instructor wanted us to know that the manager could do a better job of management if the figures were available the day they happened. This was the ideal for a small operation like Seniors Outreach where it was very important to know the financial position each morning.
Before desktop computers we used to assemble all the data and transactions and mail them to a big computer processor in Vancouver and expect the printed reports back in a week or so. That was the normal way, but we had hoped that with our own computer and program that we could do just as well or better if we were to use our own computer and printer. So in Calgary we took computer classes and bought an early DOS based computer and began looking for ready made accounting programs to do the work. There was in fact only one available program that could do anything like what we would accept., and it cost almost a thousand dollars. Beside that the program itself was on 9 separate floppy disks which had to be changed as different accounting procedures were used. We did give it a try, but it did not do what we needed or wanted. Instead we spent many weeks and months to make from scratch a program that would do what we knew would satisfy the need, giving us respectable month end and year end reports. That experience meant that Una's bookkeeping needs we could easily do, although by that time there was a commercial good accounting program available. Bookkeeping and accounting now under control, but not database, yet.
As to databases my experience was limited, however it did include keeping track of names and addresses and entries for such people, so that we could print out a list of envelopes or such. Here entries that could be sorted and totalled and printed out and classified were needed. Although we knew the basics, it sounded like much more and better reports were needed to commend Seniors Outreach to the funding authorities. As I began to investigate the different database programs that could be used on our computer or whether we could make our own program there were many different ideas that were looked at. The program from Edmonton gave some hint of what to expect but it gave a lot more ideas of what we did not want,
for it was written in its own unknown language. That meant that any changes would have to come from Edmonton if we could explain to them what we wanted, but how could we do that if we did not know what we wanted? And paying database programmers for changes is very expensive, too expensive for Senior's Outreach. After looking at a few available programs we got the feel of data entry, storage, and reports. It is too bad that we did not know of anyone nearby to talk to about our needs, especially at no cost.
After finding that the Microsoft Access program would do anything we wanted, all we had to do was start experimenting with it and doing the things we imagined would be needed. As we entered more and more information and made suggested reports from it Una was able to decide whether such record keeping and reporting would be useful. Little by little we found how to store pertinent information and make useful reports from it. Reports that told how many volunteers had spent how many hours doing which kind of helping how many different needy persons. Day by day data entry and reporting improved until all was working.
Meanwhile the accounting had been set up and all the back records entered and statements from the beginning were made. Until then there were only check book stubs, bank statements, and bills of purchase. Now all the source documents were entered in the computer and authentic statements could be printed at will. So also could the volunteering reports be printed out knowing that they would be helpful and correct.
The time came when Una needed an assistant to help with the work and another computer was added to the office, or rather in another office for by this time we had an office for Una and one for her assistant and one for recording and finance. So it became necessary to interconnect the computers. This was before the wifi system was available so we had to run data connection cables in the ceiling attic space of the Provincial Building to the different offices. In that way all the records were stored on the computer in the finance office but were accessible from the others.
It was quite a challenge when they gave us an office for the assistant all the way down to the other end of the building for we had to climb up on a high stepladder in all the in-between offices after they had gone home for the night, to pull the long wire along and eventually get it to the computer in the new distant office, but it was done .
The building was able to move some walls and make a new inner room so we could have a finance and computer office. The room was quite proper and secluded enough for records but it was absolutely bare so we obtained permission to build a cupboard for records. That cupboard was as wide as the back wall of the room and high enough so that our desk could be under it. The shelves were deep enough so that we were able to store all the records and supplies. The cupboard was right up to the ceiling thus helping to hide the wires that came from the other computers, while behind one of its doors all these wires were connected together and to the telephone web connection.
As time went on another volunteer offered to do the bookkeeping and accounting. What a relief that was for he was very good at it and brought improvements along also. Meanwhile there were volunteers who offered to do the database entries. Fortunately the Access database program had been improved enough that it could be depended on and training these women was not too hard. Again it was a relief to know that others could do the entries and reports dependably and reliably, and that the managers were getting what they needed to be successful. For our part we were happy to see that these technical details had been looked after and Senior's Outreach could go ahead and do its work of helping by volunteering.
During our time as volunteers there were a few memorable events that took place that plead to be remembered. One of them was a wedding reception that we catered to, and incidentally earned quite a nice sum of money for Senior's Outreach. Both the Community Centre and the happy couple had quite a big day that day. We also had a close relationship with the Three Hills Seniors organization and were able to use their building for meetings and other events. Actually our secretary looked after all the details of the building and its use.
At the regular monthly public volunteer programs there we would have a special speaker or musician and of course food. Of course our own volunteers were often performers in one way or another. I have never forgotten the big celebration we had for those who were at least 90 years old in town. In those days we did have birthdays in our database so we could find them. There were quite a few of these spry old honorees. Another celebration was for those who were born in 1925, which seemed a long time ago even then. There were about 20 who were together on the platform for the picture taking. But the most memorable event to me was a simple reading.
Avonelle was one of our older volunteers, but a very helpful volunteer. I do not know if her reading was her own or whether she had found it somewhere, but it sure emphasized the problem that most seniors have, just stuff. And it was about rearranging stuff. Later we knew why she was so empathetic when we attended a garage sale at her own downsizing, for the garage was literally stuffed to the roof with old stuff. The following is her reading.
"Here's the Stuff'
Every fall I start stirring my stuff. There's closet stuff, drawer stuff, attic stuff, and basement stuff. I separate the good stuff from the bad stuff, then I stuff the bad stuff anywhere the stuff is not too crowded until I decide if I will need the bad stuff.
When the Lord calls me home, my children will want the good stuff, but the bad stuff, stuffed wherever there is room among all the other stuff, will be stuffed in bags and taken to the dump, where all the other people's stuff has been taken.
Whenever we have company they always bring bags and bags of stuff. When I visit my son, he moves his stuff so I will have room for my stuff. My daughter-in-law always clears a drawer of her stuff so I will have room for my stuff. Their stuff and my stuff,... it would be so much easier to use their stuff and leave my stuff at home, with the rest of my stuff.
This fall I had an extra closet built so I would have a place for all the stuff too good to throw away and too bad to keep with my good stuff. You may not have this problem, but I seem to spend a lot of time with stuff ... food stuff, cleaning stuff, medicine stuff, clothes stuff and outside stuff. Whatever would life be like if we didn't have all this stuff?
Now there is all that stuff we use to make us smell better than we do. There is the stuff to make our hair look good. Stuff to make us look younger. Stuff to make us look healthier. Stuff to hold us in, and stuff to fill us out. There is stuff to read, stuff to play with, stuff to entertain us, and stuff to eat. We stuff ourselves with the food stuff.
Wcll, our lives are filled with stuff ... good stuff, bad stuff, little stuff, big stuff, useful stuff, junky stuff and everyone's stuff. Now when we leave all our stuff and go to Heaven, whatever happens to our stuff won't matter. We will still have the good stuff God has prepared for us in Heaven.