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THE NEWS, Tuesday, October 11, 2011 •
A25
PARKSVILLE — COMMUNITY PROFILE
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Parksville resident Joan LeMoine most recently had her head shaved to raise money for the 2011 Tour de Rock By AUREN RAVINSKY NEWS REPORTER
P
eople say I’m addicted to volunteering, but it’s just something I like to do,” says local volunteer Joan LeMoine during a chat in McDonald’s, where the manager knows her as an annual contributor to their McHappy Day efforts. People on the beach know her as the director of volunteers for the annual Beach Festival and people around city hall know her as organizer of the informal Coffee with the Mayor sessions. Most people around Parksville seem to know Joan in one way or another. Over 350 volunteers helped run the 12th annual Quality Foods Canadian Open Sand Sculpting Competition on Parksville Beach this summer, and Joan was there beaming like a proud mother a couple months later when the society handed $36,000 from gate donations back to the dozen local non-profit groups that helped supply those volunteers. “This is my favourite day of the year,” she said, seeing the volunteer
recognition as the payoff as much as the sand sculptures themselves. While her Beachfest work takes up a huge amount of time, she also gets involved in events from Tim Hortons Camp Day to the Legion poppy campaign and seemingly every good cause that comes along. She was president of the SOS (Society of Organized Services) board for three years almost a decade ago, and still gets involved in the Christmas program, but doesn’t do as much as she used to, she said, almost apologetically Some charitable efforts mean more to her than others, she admitted. “My dad was in the First World War, so I work on the poppy campaign for him,” she said. The bucket list she wrote when she was 80 included “do something good,” which eventually led her to shave her head to raise more than $4,000 for this year’s Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock. “It’s funny,” she told The News before the head shave, “when I tell women I’m going to shave my head they freak out, but when I tell men they think its cool.” “It’s something I know in my heart
I’m supposed to do, It’ll grow back, it’s only hair,” she said, adding in her usual self-deprecating humour, “I’m just a little old lady but maybe I can help some kids.” Joan moved to Parksville with her husband Jim in 1995 and found it to be the friendly place she was looking for. “Our first day in town I went for a short walk and eight people said hello. I went home and told Jim we’re here to stay.” She was born and raised in Ontario, where all five of her sons currently live. Her one daughter is closer, in Calgary, and though she would like to be closer, she points out, “I love it here, I’m not going anywhere. “Jim was the best guy in the world,” she said of her husband of almost 57 years who died in 2009. “We danced together every Sunday afternoon.” Joan would like people to know that the Tour de Rock, which wrapped up in Victoria Sept. 7, is still accepting donations through the Canadian Cancer Society or www.tourderock.ca. For more on Beachfest, check www. parksvillebeachfest.ca.
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