5 - Sunday, January 8, 1989 — West Vancouver Villager photo lke Wakefield ALMA REYNOLDS, featured in this month’s Know Your Neighbor column, recently accepted a key to the new North Shore Volunteers for Residents in Care Facilities office from Buron Housing vice-president Jobn Nicholls. The volunteer group, of which Reynolds is a long-standing member and current board chairman, is now headquartered out of space donated by Buron in the new Lincoin Gardens seniors’ residence in West Vancouver. 79-YEAR-OLD ALMA REYNOLDS Volunteer says people ‘need to be needed’ WHEN ALMA Reynolds retired over 10 years ago, she “climbed the walls’’ for about six months. Then she got involved. A member of the seniors’ group at the West Vancouver Recreation Centre (before they had their own centre) Reynolds. mentioned that she played piano, organ and, * ‘oh yes, the ukelele.’’ Soon she was leading a now well-known group of musical seniors called the Singing Ukeleles. This group of men and women performs lively tunes at local nurs- ing homes and care facilities. Drums and tamborines add to the ukelele chorus and people are en- couraged to sing along. Reynolds also joined the North Shore Volunteers for Residents in Care Facilities, who help. and entertain those living at West Van- couver . Care Centre, Kiwanis Lodge, United Lodge, North Shore Private Hospital and, in summer, Beacon Hill Lodge. Now the chairman of the board for the North Shore Volunteers for Residents in Care Facilities, at 79, Reynolds looks back | on years of struggle. “We're just getting 5 going again. Our new location has put life into everybody,"’ says Reynolds. After being situated in a run- down corner of a now demolished building and, for a time, out of the : executive director’s. home, the North _ Shore Volunteers: recently moved into a new office donated. at. Buron Housing Corp.'s. new Lincoim Gardens seniors’ resi- The move coincides with what Reynolds perceives as a resurgence -comed at in interest in volunteer work. Actively involved in her com- munity: throughout most of her life, she has been a member of the Soroptimist Club (a group of business and executive women) since the °50s, but jokes that her urge to help. goes back to childhood when she swiped apples (‘the only time I ever did such a thing’”) to sell at a charity flea market.” KNOW YOUR NEIGHEOR + Vancouver born, - Reynolds “worked as a preschool teacher from 1928 to 1974. In 1942 she married and moved to West Van- couver, where she became involved with Wendy House Preschool which she eventually bought. into and moved to a site on Haywood Avenue. Along with raising two adopted daughters, Reynolds was in- - strumental in developing preschool and school facilities for mentally handicapped children. © Although such children were always wel- Wendy House, they eventually grew out of the equip- ment. “T got mad and when I get mad I do something,”’ Reynolds recalls. As a result, one of Reynold’s happiest experiences was seeing 2 group of mothers. of mentally handicapped children . getting together at Park Royal for lunch and an all too rare. moment of “‘freedom.”* © Promoting understanding and encouraging involvement have been keynotes in Reynold’s life. Retiring after so many years of working was a difficult adjustment for her, and she began to em- pathize with the loss of self esteem that seniors often experience. “*A person needs to be needed,”’ she sums up. For this reason, Reynolds. en- thusiastically helped with the mak- ing of the Generation Connection, @ program produced by Erna Maurer with the CBC. She was attracted to the pro- _gfam’s concept of getting the young and the old together to im- prove feelings of self worth. Part of the Generation Connec- tion was filmed at a meeting be- tween students at. King George High School. and seniors in the Singing Ukeleles, led by Reynolds. - | “They were told that we were old; we were told that their hair would be a lot of different col- - ors,’® she recalls. At the end of a frank discussion, young and old exchanged hugs and friendship. Inspired by the ideas aired in the film, North Shore high school stu- dents are now coming down. to seniors’ care facilities to chat and play checkers with the residents. The program has generated a lot of other interest from the public, with the Canadian Mental Health Association becoming involved and the Knowledge Network re-. running it in three parts. When the portion of the pro- gram dealing with seniors was recently aired. on television, Reynolds responded .to © callers phoning in with questions. She shared the feelings she has about herself. and her increased feelings of self worth that came from working within her .com- munity. Reynolds is very reassuring to the young people she meets who often have fears about growing old. opulx “I'm having a great time. I feel stronger than ever,’” she says. You'll love authentic . Morireal style be bagels Frosh, chewy, “ an the wonises . by the dozen $5.25 or as a light meal 7 from $1.85 5 /CONTINENTAL BAKER PRODUCTS ' Open daily from 8 am 480 16th Street, WV. (by the Swiss Sport Haus) glasses to see| as well as to be seen. “while stock is available, 1988 frames starting at $60. Many one-of-a-kind styles. Ask your optometrist for your prescription.