Donna Tessier is a person who doesn’t like to sit on the sidelines; taking part in five different organizations across Drumheller.
Her first taste of volunteering came from the Canadian Badlands Passion Play where she served as head usher for five years. Citizens on Patrol (COP) was the next venture and Tessier has now volunteered with the group for at least three years.
This involvement led to further volunteer work through Big Country Victim Services as a Victim Services advocate around the same time as her start with COP.
“We have got to keep this community safer and there is only 12 RCMP,” said Tessier. “They can not be everywhere every minute of the day. We have to be the eyes and ears.”
She then began dedicating her time to the Drumheller and District Humane Society as a board member at the beginning of 2018.
“Well, I was working full-time at the [Drumheller Chrysler] Dealership for 15 or 16 years when I decided to cut back. One day we had a bad tragedy at the dealership about three years ago where somebody was killed so they sent Victim Services over,” explained Tessier. “When I was growing up I went through tragedy and hardships and there were no resources for us in those days. Now they have all these wonderful resources so I decided I’m too young to sit at home. I will not sit idle so I applied and I want to give back to the community.”
Tessier also noticed the Little Church was in need of some tender loving care from the constant traffic of tourists visiting the site. She now cleans the Little Church two to three times a week during the summer months to keep up appearances.
“I really love it because I think it’s important that we make these beautiful tourist attractions presentable to the tourists,” said Tessier. “They come a long way and I’ve had tourists thank me for keeping it clean.”
The active volunteer wants the respect and care maintained for the church to spread across Drumheller to preserve what the valley has to offer and give a positive impression to the town’s worldly visitors.
“I wish that everybody would maybe adopt or choose one thing to do like pick a weed or weed a little area so if everyone just did one thing this town would be so much more presentable,” she said.
Tessier noted that she volunteers for a number of reasons including gratification and knowing the positive changes have helped others.
“What makes it worth it for me is knowing that I made a difference in someone’s life, some animal’s life and making a safer community. I recommend anybody that has a spare moment and they want to get involved in one of their passion’s they will not be disappointed,” said Tessier.
