Meet Wendy. This social person is curious about things and believes in attending to detail. She worked over 40 years as a secretary and administrative assistant in many fields. Wendy likes researching family histories, live theatre, music, walking and reading.

After responding to a sign in the Hillside Thrifty Foods Store, Wendy started volunteering in 2009. She has been a shopper, a Captain of phoners and shoppers and is currently the Captain of two shopping teams. Wendy likes being part of a team, assisting customers, learning about groceries and interacting with staff. She believes Sendial is a well-run, reliable service and volunteering for it at Thrifty Foods is a wonderful experience.

Meet Mike. Mike is a twin, husband, father and grandfather and enjoys playing golf. He moved to Mill Bay in 1983 and helped build the Thrifty Foods Store there. When the store opened in August, Mike took off his carpenter’s tool pouch and started filling the milk section. Thirty-five years later, he retired from the role of Store Manager.

Mike started volunteering for Sendial in 2020 and has shopped, been a Co-Captain and is now Captain of phoners and shoppers. He has positive memories of Sendial’s originator, Prue Cunningham, and Thrifty Foods’ owner, Alex Campbell.

Mike enjoys the contact with customers, employees and volunteers Sendial affords. He believes Sendial is a good Program, provides for people contact, is valuable to customers and Community and would like more people to be aware of it.

Meet Pat. This friendly, caring and conscientious volunteer is from Scotland and 32 years ago moved from the Lower Mainland to Parksville, where she has been a Sendial shopper since 2009. She learned about Sendial from attending a presentation while still working.

Pat finds Sendial satisfying and enables her to give back to the Community, while also providing good exercise. She enjoys socializing with customers, helping them receive groceries and appreciates the helpful Store staff. The friend’s Pat has made at Thrifty Foods are more like family to her.

Pat remembers once when a Scottish Sendial customer sent the volunteers a food tray at Christmas in appreciation of their help. Pat also volunteers in the local community welcoming new residents and includes Sendial information with her material provided to them.

Meet Gloria. This native Torontonian moved to Victoria following a 26-year Customer Service career with Air Canada. Gloria started at Thrifty Foods’ first Sendial store, Fairfield, 26 years ago and is now a Volunteer Captain there. She remembers helping the Program’s Founder, Prue Cunningham, recruit volunteers in Tsawwassen, the first Lower Mainland Store to offer Sendial.

Gloria values the social interaction and gratification in helping others which comes from volunteering and believes that one takes as much as one gives to it. She thinks that Sendial is a “well needed service” and particularly values her great volunteer crew and being able to assist the Program’s customers with best meeting their grocery needs and in the most cost-efficient way for them.

Meet Pat. This retired teacher has three children and eight grandchildren. She loves Vancouver Island and hiking and comes from a family history of volunteering. After moving to B.C. from Whitehorse in 2005, Pat started volunteering with Sendial. She is a longtime Volunteer Captain at the Thrifty Foods’ Campbell River Store.

Pat enjoys helping meet customers’ needs, likes working with other dedicated volunteers and values feeling needed and appreciated. She recalls a terminally ill customer who needed special food items and whose sister later conveyed enormous gratitude for the efforts made to meet her sister’s grocery needs. Pat also particularly values the Store Staff, Thrifty’s Customer Care Department and Sendial’s flexibility in accommodating the scheduling needs of volunteers.

Meet Lori. This native Manitoban moved with her parents to North Vancouver in 1972. She left her advertising job to be a stay-at-home mom to her two sons and started volunteering at that time. Lori has worked on a number of social/fundraising events for her church, golf club and other organizations. Twice a year she hosts a community luncheon for 70 seniors. Community is the common thread in everything Lori does. A Sendial posting on the North Vancouver Thrifty Foods Store community board spoke to Lori almost seven years ago and she has been a volunteer Shopper and Captain ever since. Lori is motivated by having fun, meeting people, and making a difference in both her own and other people’s lives. She likes that Sendial is targeted to a specific market; that she’s able to work with other community-minded, dedicated and active volunteers and that she is able to interact with wonderful staff. Lori appreciates that at a time when everything is technology/computer driven, it’s nice that this service has a human at the other end. Lori feels valued as a Sendial volunteer and finds her efforts are extremely gratifying. In addition to Sendial, Lori also enjoys many other personal interests and activities, including golf and pickleball.

Meet Pat. Pat enjoys being with friends and family and especially loves supporting and cheering on her grandchildren’s involvement in sports. She likes helping others and those who are less fortunate. Pat has been a Sendial Volunteer in Nanaimo’s Port Place store for 15 years; first as a Shopper, then as a Phoner and now as Captain, while filling in both Phoning and Shopping as needed. She likes helping customers, thinks of the Volunteers as a happy family and enjoys working with Thrifty Foods’ staff. A neighbor Pat hardly knew became a Sendial customer and was having difficulty obtaining a flyer. Pat’s husband started providing one to the neighbor, which was the start of a relationship and they are now good friends. Pat believes that Sendial is wonderful, helping customers to remain independent. She also enjoys helping by screening prospective Sendial Volunteers. Pat is thankful to Thrifty Foods for offering Sendial and for the kindness shown to Volunteers and customers.

Meet Bea. Bea was born in Scotland, first came to Canada in 1970 and has been married for 52 years. She believes that being productive and useful is in her nature, which is what attracted her to Sendial when she first saw Sendial Shoppers at the Colwood Thrifty Foods store. Bea began volunteering as a Sendial Phoner 19 years ago, then transitioned to shopping, first at the Colwood Store and then at the Belmont Store. She now leads the Wednesday shopping team as the Shopping Captain. Bea enjoys contact with customers, being useful and helpful and the friendship she has developed with fellow volunteers, even outside of Sendial; all of which she would miss if not for the Sendial Program. She encourages others who may be interested in volunteering for Sendial to try it – it’s fun!

Meet Carole. After 32 years of military life, this native British Columbian moved to the Comox Valley in 1995. She and her husband thoroughly enjoy spending their summers fishing and camping. This avid volunteer came to Sendial by responding to a newspaper ad in 1995 and since then, has become an experienced volunteer phoner, shopper and Captain.

Carole values her contact with customers, Store staff and other wonderful volunteers and has an especially fond memory of a particularly special volunteer, Rose, who volunteered as a shopper until the age of 99! She likes the exercise, socializing and good feeling which Sendial provides her. Carole also volunteers for the Comox Valley Head Injury Society. She is adamant about receiving much more benefit from her volunteering than what it demands from her.

Meet Doug.  A Seattle native, Doug earned a post graduate social sciences’ degree after serving four years in the Air Force during Viet Nam.  He feels fortunate to have immigrated to Canada in 1974 and worked for the BC Government in Trail before transferring to New Westminster.  After five years with the WCB, he returned to Public Health as a Consultant in Victoria, where he retired and still lives with his wife of 48 years.  Doug’s life philosophy is akin to Taoism.  He delves into metaphysics and parapsychology and is a supporter and promoter of animal welfare. Doug stumbled on Sendial in 2014 and since has been a Special Assignments Volunteer – assisting the Head Office Program Coordinator with manuals, forms, training, on-site store reviews, promotion and interviews and write-ups of volunteers for special recognition.  Doug’s role helps keep him stimulated and challenged while also supporting and contributing to a needed, well received and appreciated service.  Doug’s been amused by some of what he’s encountered as a  Volunteer and looks forward to contributing to a sustainable future for Sendial.

Meet Eleanore. This native Victorian sees herself as inquisitive and curious to learn about things and people. She has 4 children, 7 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. Eleanore likes the outdoors, walking and gardening in memory of her late husband.

Eleanore enjoys interacting with and helping others. Since 2011, she has become an experienced volunteer phoner, shopper and Captain at the Thrifty Foods’ Store in Sidney. She likes that Sendial enables her to regularly get out of the house and to talk with many other people.

Eleanore thinks the Store staff are great and supportive, is proud to be a Sendial volunteer, believes the experience is challenging and wonderful and wishes that more people could benefit from it.

Meet Gary. This native Vancouverite moved to Nanaimo in 1989 and retired in 2013 after working 39 years for Telus. He enjoys reading; traveling, especially on river cruises, and music, particularly playing the drums, which he did professionally for 20 years. A Sendial ad caught Gary’s attention and he began volunteering as a Shopper in 2014. Since 2015 he has been a Shopping Volunteer Captain and has assisted in training many new volunteers. Gary feels great giving back to the community and has expanded his volunteering to seven more organizations, including installations for the Lifeline Program, and now volunteers over 600 hours per year. Sendial provides Gary with a sense of self-worth; purpose; contribution to a unique, personalized service and assistance to his neighborhood. He has found phone communication with Sendial customers during COVID has been a particularly positive experience.

Meet Helen. Helen is a people person who believes a sense of humor is important and takes her personal commitments very seriously. She began her volunteer journey as a child, being brought up in a family which believed in volunteerism. After losing her husband and battling health challenges, Helen needed a diversion. She found out about Sendial from asking shopping volunteers in the James Bay Thrifty Foods Store what they were doing. Since then, over the next fifteen plus years, Helen has volunteered in several stores as a phoner, shopper, checker and captain. She is currently a phoner and shopper in the Thrifty Foods store in Duncan. Helen enjoys her peer volunteers, store staff, Sendial customers and the challenge in her volunteer role. She suggests that others give volunteering for Sendial a try – it’s great camaraderie and fun. Of particular note, Helen believes that the staff who work at Thrifty Foods stores deserve special kudos for their support and role with Sendial.

Meet Jennifer.  Jennifer was born in England and came to Canada at the age of five.  She moved around a lot as a child, and eventually settled in Tsawwassen, where she has lived for 46 years.  She likes to be active and enjoys sports, especially golf and tennis and travels around to take in various tournaments. Jennifer volunteers because she has the capacity to do so, likes to help people and finds it enjoyable.  She has volunteered at the Tsawwassen store for about 5 ½ years, mainly as a Shopper, but also as a Checker sometimes.  She likes interacting with others and getting to know a variety of people; becoming acquainted with staff and chatting with customers.  Jennifer values being of help and contributing to a very much needed service; a service that delivers grocery orders right to a customer’s door, which she thinks is great.  To someone contemplating becoming a volunteer, Jennifer would say that Sendial, enables one to give of oneself and learn about different food and that it makes her feel good.  She also feels that the lives of people are enhanced by the volunteering that they’re able to do.

Meet Joanie. This former registered dietitian has two married daughters, each with two young children. Health and exercise, especially walking and bicycling, are important to Joanie. Her hobbies include some gardening, cooking and a long history of knitting. A close friend and Sendial volunteer inspired Joanie to begin volunteering after she retired in 2014, first as a phoner and then shopper at the Morgan Crossing Store. She likes the social contact volunteering provides, the contribution she makes toward people’s health and the good feeling she experiences by giving something to the community. Joanie believes that Thrifty Foods plays an integral part in helping people to “age in place” and Sendial helps people to remain in their homes and stay healthy. She enjoys enriching grocery shopping for others and creating a welcoming feeling for new Sendial volunteers who join the program.

Meet Lois. This long time Victoria resident and her husband recently celebrated their 54th anniversary, enjoy a leisurely life and look forward to traveling again. Lois retired in 2010 from a 35 year University of Victoria career. She believes that helping others is enjoyable and important, especially assisting seniors to stay independent.

Lois has been a Sendial volunteer for 9 years, first as a phoner at the Fairfield store and currently as a screener for prospective Sendial volunteers and, also, customers. She remembers a 103 year old customer who could live independently with her husband in their home just because of Sendial. Lois feels very privileged to be a part of the Sendial team and enjoys being part of an organization which makes a positive difference to the well-being of seniors in the community. She also volunteers with Oak Bay Volunteers, is very involved with her condo community, and volunteers for various activities with her husband’s Lions Club.

Meet Pat. This native Victorian has two children and three grandchildren, all of whom reside in Greater Victoria. Pat likes to keep busy. She is an avid camper, being a chapter member of two RV groups; a chapter member of the “Red Hats”, women’s group for those over 50, and delivers the weekly community newspaper in her community. Pat heard about Sendial from a friend and has been a Program volunteer for over 20 years. She is the Wednesday Shopping Captain at the Admiral’s Walk Thrifty Foods store in Victoria and has also done some phoning over the years. Pat enjoys helping others, contributing to the community and interacting with store staff and peer shoppers. She considers her organizational ability and attention to detail to be strengths that serve her well with and for Sendial and feels it is a wonderful, rewarding program. Pat recalls a customer who once provided her with extensive information about a product and told her that if the wrong one was selected; he would let someone know where to shove it!

Meet Suniti.  Suniti is an outgoing, former teacher who likes cats, knitting, reading and laughing. She enjoys helping others and believes in service before self. Suniti has volunteered in Victoria’s Central Saanich Store for 24 years, previously as a Phoner and Shopper, and then as a Shopping Captain. She appreciates contributing to the community, values the relationships with Thrifty Foods’ staff and friendships with fellow Volunteers. Suniti remembers once when another Volunteer thought that the items she was shopping seemed to be for making cabbage rolls. The customer was phoned, confirmed the volunteer’s suspicion and agreed that some cabbage should be added to the order! Suniti views her fellow volunteers as enjoyable, funny, and warm. She says as a group, they are like a sisterhood. Suniti considers Sendial a valuable experience and encourages others to volunteer.