Truro woman honoured for volunteer work
Joanne Hauser receives the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers for her years of helping seniors and low-income people
Joanne Hauser was only a girl when her father rst showed her how to le a tax return.
Later in life, Hauser put that knowledge to new use, helping hundreds of students, seniors and low-income earners in Truro le their tax returns.
“I nd it very satisfying,” said Hauser. “I’m always willing to help people, that’s part of my nature. I suppose in a way it’s what I was brought up to do.”
Now 75, Hauser was one of 13 Nova Scotians honoured for her volunteer work by LieutenantGovernor Arthur Leblanc at Government House in Halifax Oct. 25.
Hauser has helped hundreds of people in Colchester County through her work on the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program, where she has many repeat clients. She often receives new ones through word of mouth, recommended by people she has previously helped.
It was a humble newspaper ad that started Hauser on her journey as a volunteer tax accountant in 2001. Having recently lost her husband, she signed up for an in- formation session and quickly got down to work, recalling the accounting lessons her father gave her as a teenager.
At rst, Hauser worked at the Colchester-east Hants Public Library during tax season, but she now visits clients at both seniors and nursing homes, Dalhousie Agricultural Campus in Bible Hill, the local Nova Scotia Community College and further a eld to Tatamagouche, Pugwash and Amherst. As well as tax returns, Hauser helps clients ll out other government paperwork, such as various bene t forms.
All the while, she remembers her father Dexter Allen, who passed away 27 years ago.
“He was always very helpful himself. He was involved in social services and was originally a teacher,” recalled Hauser.
She grew up in Shelburne County, but moved to Truro when she was 21 and has now lived in town 54 years.
Hauser raised four children in Truro: John and omas, who still live here, David, who lives in Peru and her daughter, Teresa, currently in the process of moving to Amherst from Yellowknife.
As she raised her family in Truro, Hauser channeled her father’s cando spirit in other ways, besides the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program.
A member of the First Baptist Church, Hauser has served on the treasury board and taught Sunday School. She has also served as treasurer for the Aenon Baptist Cemetery at North River, on the planning team of the Truro Christian Women’s Club and the My World of Learning Child Care Association at the NSCC in Truro.
First established in 2016 by Canada’s then Governor-general David Johnston, the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers recognizes the volunteering achievements of Canadians from across the country in a wide range of elds.