ROZ WIENER: ÜBER VOLUNTEER
Retiree is an intrepid volunteer at the Cummings Centre, having learned from her mother’s example
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
— Mahatma Gandhi I knew I wanted to be busy. Most people need to have a goal. You need somewhere to go — something to look forward to. It helps that I’ve been on both sides. I know how to make volunteers feel valued.
When someone at the Cummings Centre asks for a volunteer, Roz Wiener’s hand usually goes up.
The über volunteer gives her time in a big way to the Montreal centre that runs numerous programs geared to a range of seniors: she sits on the centre’s board, serves food at the free hot-meal program, organizes a public series on brain health, co-ordinates a teen leadership program, serves on the volunteer lay committee, and runs a meditation symposium. Not only that, she also volunteers outside of the Cummings Centre.
“Now that I’m not working, I’m busier than ever,” said the 66-yearold, who retired 10 years ago and would put many in the working world to shame with the amount of time she dedicates to helping others.
She has an infectious enthusiasm for volunteering and is adept at matching the skills of people she knows with the roles she knows need to be filled at the centre. She has drawn in friends to take on volunteer roles, each finding their own niche.
Her enthusiasm has also given licence to others to offer her new projects. “I get very interested in something and the next thing I know, my name is being put forward for something else.”
Wiener said volunteerism is something she witnessed in her home growing up.
“I always saw my mother running out to do some volunteer work,” she said.
When she herself had children, that desire to help also provided her with some time for herself. “As a young mother I would be happy to get out of the house.”
Her love of volunteering has been passed on to her two daughters, now in their 40s and active in the volunteer sector.
One of her daughters has recruited Wiener to do some regular volunteer work with the Israel Cancer Research Fund.
Wiener worked in both the education and not-for-profit sectors, and says her volunteer work has made her realize that she picked up a lot of skills in those years.
She worked as a teacher at the now-defunct Peace Centennial Elementary School and held senior positions at both the Starlight Foundation, working with chronically ill children, and Technion Canada, the Canadian promoter for the high-tech Israeli university.
“I’m surprised at how much useful information I have to share,” she said, adding that she particularly loves working with the teenagers who take part in the leadership program. Her time as a teacher has helped her to judge the submissions and later orient the students. She has also recruited friends who have worked as teachers.
Her work in the not-for-profit sector has allowed her to share some insights about how to treat volunteers.
“It helps that I’ve been on both sides,” Wiener said. “I know how to make volunteers feel valued.”
When Wiener retired, she did not want to sit idle.
“I knew I wanted to be busy. Most people need to have a goal. You need somewhere to go— something to look forward to.”
She enrolled in courses at what was then the McGill Institute for Learning in Retirement and subsequently began to take some courses at the Cummings Centre.
It was then that she discovered all the areas of the Cummings where she could make a difference, and her interests were piqued. She has learned a lot over the years, from how to properly conduct a board meeting (thanks to one of the workshops given by the Cummings for its volunteers) to learning about the brain’s plasticity from her work organizing the series about how to keep your mind active.
She also is happy when her work can bring more publicity to the centre and was thrilled to have attracted more than 100 people to a recent lecture by Dr. Michael Dworkind, medical director of Santé Cannabis, on the various issues associated with medical marijuana.
Then she tells this reporter that in 10 minutes, she has to be at Le Café, the hot-meal program she talked about earlier. Life as a busy volunteer sometimes means cutting short interviews for which you volunteered.