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Features
June 1, 2003
Hospital foundations across North America have
just completed another year of successful fundraising
with the conclusion of their annual telethons,
all part of something called, the 'Children's
Miracle Network'. This is an annual Spring event
begun about twenty-five years ago with the goal
of raising money to help provide needed equipment
and services to children's hospitals across
North America. Here in Newfoundland and Labrador
the telethon is mounted (with the help of the
CBC) by the Janeway Children's Hospital Foundation
to support the Janeway Children's Hospital.
Over the years telethons have raised funds to
help purchase magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
equipment, incubators, sleeper chairs (chairs
in which parents can sleep in order to remain
in their child's room during their illness),
and all sorts of other things.
This year's telethon was dedicated to the late
Joe Mullins. Sadly, Joe passed away during Chistmas.
It was a huge shock to his family and friends
and, I dare say, to most of Newfoundland and
Labrador. Joe had a big heart and did a lot
of good for people. He made us laugh, especially
with his character, Uncle Louellon. I looked
forward to seeing him each year at meetings
to discuss the telethon and at the Janeway Telethon
itself. He loved kids and I know he would not
have missed their telethon for anything. He
set a great example for all of us and he'll
be missed.
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Joe Mullins, "Joe
had a big heart..."
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Janeway Telethon
phone volunteers
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My telethon experience got me thinking about
the broader topic of 'volunteerism'. I have
often wondered where we as a society would be
without volunteers. Over the years on television
I have featured hundreds of important community
organizations that depend on volunteers to get
their work done. Without these organizations
our communities would either not function or
be forced to provide a much lower standard of
services. What would we do without our volunteer
fire departments for example? Imagine living
in a small town without volunteer fire services
and your home is going up in smoke. What would
you do? Or maybe you wouldn't be in a position
to help yourself. You might be unconcious.
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"Imagine living...without
volunteer fire services"
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Thankfully we live in communities where lots
of people are still willing to be volunteers.
People like Russell Wangersky, a chap I know
who for many years has been a volunteer fireman
in a community just outside St. John's. We used
to work in the same end of the CBC newsroom.
I know he enjoys being a fireman because he
loved to tell stories about fires he'd fought
and about the various pieces of equipment firemen
use to fight fires. I also know that he volunteers
because he is the type of person who believes
we all have a responsibility to do what we can
to be good citizens. And despite Russell's affinity
for the work, we must remember that it can be
a very dangerous occupation. On any given day
these people could be called upon to risk their
lives for us. Therefore, we owe Russell and
all the other volunteer fire fighters a big
vote of thanks.
Sometimes volunteers do give their lives for
others. Have you heard of Vatche Arslanian?
I'd like you to remember his name because Vatche
and his contribution to his fellow humans deserve
to be remembered.
He emigrated to Canada from Syria many years
ago. Since then he had put himself through college
working part-time jobs, served as a member of
the Canadian military, and became the deputy
mayor of his adopted hometown, Oromocto, New
Brunswick. He was a well-loved member of his
community. Many of his friends will confirm
that he was always cheerfully willing to lend
a helping hand to someone in need, expecting
nothing in return. I heard his friend, Fay Tidd,
tell a CBC interviewer, "He always took
on the toughest jobs and got them done."
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Vatche Arslanian,
"...took the toughest jobs"
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His benevolent efforts became focused when
he joined the Canadian Red Cross as a volunteer
in 1991. Red Cross work was his 'calling'. He
took a great deal of satisfaction from helping
just one person, and Vatche would go to great
lengths to help someone with a problem. In 1999
while assisting Kosovo refugees temporarily
housed at CFB Gagetown, he was successful in
re-uniting a group of family members who had
become separated. That was the kind of act that
made him feel great and motivated him to keep
going.
Eventually Vatche Arslanian became a full-time
Red Cross worker. One of his first international
assignments as a Red Cross staff person found
him travelling to the former Soviet republic
of Georgia. For the past three years he worked
in Iraq. Mostly his work involved getting supplies
to hospitals and water treatment facilities.
Without Vatche and the forty-three workers he
managed, the suffering of the Iraqi people would
have been much worse.
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"Vatche was
well aware of the risk"
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Once war began this difficult work became even
more difficult and, obviously, dangerous. Vatche
was well aware of the risk he was taking by
remaining in a war zone but he believed so strongly
in the work he decided to stay. A few weeks
into the war on April 9th at about 5pm Vatche
Arslanian was shot to death in crossfire between
American and Iraqi troops. After a hard day's
work he had gone out of his way to take some
of his colleagues home when they found themselves
in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was
48 years old. He died too young. But, he made
the life he lived worth something, in the best
possible way. As a single compassionate human
being Vatche Arslanian helped relieve the world's
suffering.
Vatche Arslanian's noble work aside, there
are many other people who do remarkable things
in a quiet way in much less precarious situations.
Norma Benson is one such person. Norma is a
nurse who worked for many years at the General
Hospital and latterly, the Leonard A. Miller
Centre in St. John's. She retired over fifteen
years ago from a supervisory position at the
age of 65. About a week later she was back on
the job as a volunteer. She would sit with sick
pateints, walk with patients, help feed them,
make their beds, take them to the gift shop,
and do all sorts of other helpful things for
the ill and dying as a volunteer. Amazingly,
now in her eighties, Norma Benson is still volunteering
at the Miller Centre on a regular basis. God
bless her and the thousands of other volunteers
in this province and everywhere who have learned
the lesson that helping others brings the sweetest,
most gratifying rewards that this life has to
offer.
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