THUNDER BAY – Robin Cooper doesn’t volunteer at Shelter House for accolades and awards.
Instead, she leads a bi-weekly dinner service volunteer group out of respect and empathy, her way of making Thunder Bay a slightly better place for everyone, regardless of their social status or economic background.
Still, her efforts have not gone unnoticed.
On Thursday Cooper was awarded the Respect Award at Diversity Thunder Bay’s annual celebration breakfast for the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
It was humbling to get the call, she said afterward.
“It’s very overwhelming. I’m very honoured,” she said, having spoken briefly to a sold-out crowd, who arose in the dark to attend the early morning event at the Victoria Inn.
“But I really appreciate the shout-out and I’m really lucky to be able to do what I do.”
Cooper said she was encouraged several years ago to volunteer at Shelter House by a friend who worked there at time.
She’s been at it ever since.
“We started and it just really snowballed from there,” Cooper said. “I asked people to help me and they said yes. There were more and more people and we just found more and more things to do and we saw people were really appreciative of our efforts, so it made it really easy.”
Cooper is now in the midst of trying to recruit 30 other groups in 30 days to volunteer to serve meals at the south-side homeless shelter, knowing just how much of an impact it could have for the facility and its clients.
Cooper said it’s important to step up and give back to the community.
In her case, she added, it was simply because she could.
“I feel very fortunate. I’m someone who has the time. I have the support of so many other people to do that. I’m a parent now, so I want this community to be a better place for my son and I think many other parents feel the same way,” Cooper said. “When you become a parent, all of a sudden you look at the world in a different way. I want the world to be better for all children.”
Toronto Star reporter and columnist Tanya Talaga, author of Seven Fallen Feathers, was the keynote speaker at the breakfast, and brought a message of hope to the community, telling the audience that this is Thunder Bay’s moment and that it was time to set the example and be the change the city needs.
“I hoped to point out that while the national media seems to have a lot of attention on Thunder Bay right now and Thunder Bay may sometimes feel that we’ve had podcasts, we’ve had books, we’ve had newspaper reports and people on us constantly all the time, but turn it around. Be the change that Thunder Bay can be,” Talaga said.
She pointed to efforts being made at the Thunder Bay Public Library, the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board and the Thunder Bay International Airport as ways change is already being effected in the community.
“There are lots of other examples in the room here. Thunder Bay should be proud of that and should do more of that,” Talaga said.
