Shopping and traveling sounds like a pretty great retirement.
But it takes a rather serious turn when non-profits are heavily relying on the skills of the shopper to choose items that will appeal to a wide variety of tastes in the community of Prince George in order to make their efforts a success.
Sharon Willoughby is a member of the team of four Festival of Trees gift shop supervisors that make the magic happen with unique gifts and found treasures available for sale during the 10-day event hosted by the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation.
"I am a crazy-for-Christmas person and combine that with shopping and how do you say no to that, right?" laughed Willoughby, recalling when she was asked to volunteer for the position in early 2014. The four key volunteers work in teams of two and work every other day during the intense 10-day, 12-hour-a-day schedule of the festival held at the Civic Centre each year.
When Willoughby agreed to help with the gift shop, she was told that for the longest time there was one volunteer supervisor, Anne Ankney, who was doing it all by herself.
"It took four of us to replace her," said Willoughby. "And she's just an awesome, awesome person."
Brenda Bell, Elvie Birks and Marcia Martinson complete the supervisory team that is heading into their third year together.
"I remember going into our first year our main concern was how we were going to work the tills," said Willoughby. "It's evolved to the point that this year we're responsible for the design and set up of the space."
Birks and Willoughby went to Toronto's five-day Gift Fair last January, the biggest trade fair in Canada, to purchase items for the gift shop.
"It was awesome, but it was scary because it was a huge responsibility but we're pretty excited about the stuff that we've got for this year," said Willoughby. "I think for the first day we were at the fair we walked in circles for the first six hours because we were just so overwhelmed."
Willoughby said it's been fun because while they bought the items in January, the stock started to arrive in June and July and it was a nice reminder of the lovely items they purchased and as a team they have priced the items as they come in so the other supervisors were able to see the merchandise as well. At this stage, all the items have been shipped to Prince George and are priced, waiting to be put into the gift shop.
"I've always gone to the Festival of Trees but until you work behind the scenes you don't realize what it takes to put on an event like this," said Willoughby.
There are more than 700 volunteers that make the fundraising event happen and it takes about 50 volunteers working about 550 hours to help run the gift shop during the festival - and that doesn't include the set up and take down.
"It really is quite overwhelming when you think about it," said Willoughby. "It's such a wonderful cause - how do you not get behind something so important as the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation? And everyone who attends is in such a great mood because we all love Christmas. It's a very positive environment even though the hours are long."
In the gift shop, there will be Christmas decorations from glitz and glam ornaments to birch bark and everything in between. If you're looking for a gift for your girlfriends or for someone at the office, you'll find it at the gift shop while 100 per cent of the proceeds go to the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation, she said.
Flip through The Citizen's Volunteer City series, featuring stand-out volunteers in Prince George:
Willoughby has also volunteered as a silent auction item recruiter/coordinator for the Prince George Community Foundation, the local branch of the CNIB and SPCA.
Willoughby's volunteer efforts are always inspired by the people that invite her to help with a cause.
"Noreen Rustad is a wonderful, wonderful lady and it would never have occurred to me to ever say no to her,' said Willoughby. "We have worked together for 10 years and we have quite the system now. We make a pretty good team getting the silent auction together for the Community Foundation at their annual Citizens of the Year event, which is one of their major fundraisers each year."
Willoughby, who is an avid golfer and proud member of the Prince George Golf and Curling Club, has volunteered to help put on golf tournaments at the club for many years and she's always quick to credit the events as team efforts.
"I don't do anything alone," said Willoughby. "There's always a huge team when you volunteer and you're all working towards a common goal and you just build on that."
