CHRIS LOWREY
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC Sept. 11, 2018
Luskville resident Hélène Bélisle was presented with the Governor General Medal for volunteers at the Municipality of Pontiac council meeting on Sept. 11.
The award is presented on behalf of the Governor General of Canada to outstanding volunteers who “contribute to the growth of our society.”
Bélisle was nominated because of her two decades of work with the breakfast program at l’école de la Vallée-des-Voyageurs in Luskville.
She started volunteering with the breakfast program in 1998 during her recovery from fighting cancer.
“I was resuming life, which isn’t that simple when you flirted with death,” she said. “It sort of puts things in a different perspective.”
She credits Roger Gamache with getting her involved in the program during a difficult period of her life.
“Little did he and I know he reignited the community flame to what it was before,” Bélisle said. “It’s just such a beautiful organization.”
At the time, Bélisle was the only one working in the program. Since then, her roster of fellow volunteers has expanded to 25.
Bélisle is at the school five days a week by 6:30 a.m. where the volunteers prepare the breakfasts within 45 minutes.
The lunch has evolved from a paper bag that included a fruit, a muffin and a drink to the point that children have access to warm breakfasts that include omelettes, waffles and fresh fruit.
“It’s a nourishing breakfast,” she said. “The menu was put together by a nutritionist.”
The program serves 125 students at the school and it provides more than just an opportunity for students to get some food in their stomachs.
Bélisle points to the fact that many of the students make new friends in the breakfast program and the simple act of sitting down for a meal with others is a very social activity itself.
Asked where she will be displaying her medal, Bélisle displayed the humble nature of so many volunteers. She said she has it safely stowed away but will bring it out if people ask to see it.
“I’m taking very good care of it because it’s a very precious thing,” she said.
