25 years of cheerful volunteering

Ella Isaac (l) and Arli Klassen at the MCC Ontario annual meeting. Photo: Gladys Terichow

A long-time volunteer in the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Ontario office recently retired.

Ella Isaac provided administrative support every day, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., for 25 years. She retired at the end of November, just a few days before her 80th birthday.

Her contributions were recognized at the MCC Ontario annual meeting in Leamington Nov. 11.

“This has given me a reason to get up in the morning,” said Isaac.

Isaac started volunteering in the Selfhelp Crafts store (now Ten Thousand Villages) in 1981 to help her cope with the deaths of her husband Neil who died in 1979, her son Terry who died from muscular dystrophy in 1980 when he was 23 years old, and her son Robert, who also had muscular dystrophy and died in 1966 when he was 13 years old.

“I had to do something,” she said. “I didn’t want to sit at home and wallow in self-pity.”

Over the years, Isaac provided a variety of administrative and financial services. “Her model of cheerful service is amazing,” said MCC Ontario executive director Arli Klassen. “She has been dependable, reliable, and always willing.”

—Gladys Terichow, MCC Canada