Jim Milton
Date: December 12, 2019
Program: ASK! Community Information Centre
Position: Commissioner
Jim has been volunteering with ASK! Community Information Centre since April 2000
What brought you to LAMP?
I had recently retired and wanted to do something useful.
What other causes or issues are you passionate about?
Conservation- Canadian Lands, Forests and Waters
Family (12 Grandchildren)
Do you have a favourite memory or accomplishment from your time volunteering with ASK! Community Information Centre?
A lady from Turkey wanted to divorce her husband but, had no money. So I helped fill out the forms and Tony our lawyer advised and we managed to complete the divorce over about a year.
What do you do when you aren’t volunteering?
Investment, Exercise-Weight and Gym, Travel and Reading
What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?
My dad said always be able to look at yourself in the mirror without regret.
Thank you Jim for your incredible commitment and contribution to making our community thrive!
Najwa Aziz
June 2019
Program: East Mississauga CHC Dental Program
Volunteer Since: 2017
What brought you to LAMP?
I was looking to volunteer at senior public health centre, so I did search online and I fond the East Mississauga Community Health Centre
What about the EMCHC Dental program made you want to volunteer with them?
Senior’s dental program
What other causes or issues are you passionate about?
Senior dental health. I have volunteered at a food bank (Compass food bank) about 6 years ago. I did meet with many people without teeth because they can’t afford to pay for dental and denture service. Since that time I have great sympathy to those people, so, as a denturist, I decided to find way to help those people.
Do you have a favourite memory or accomplishment from your time volunteering with ASK! Community Information Centre?
Yes.
I like the dental team at East Mississauga Community Health Centre. The manger (Maridavid Rankie) the dentists, the Hygienists, assistants and the receptionists all of them work very hard to deliver best service to EMCHC patients.
I feel I’m making a big impact while I’m helping to explain the denture procedure and denture care to patients and answer their questions.
What do you do when you aren’t volunteering?
I’m licences denturist I work with mobile clinics part time.
What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?
Every time I go to volunteer at EMCHC, I learn something.
I learned from Dr Steven Kerner how to be patient with older people and help them to accept and learn to use their new prosthesis.
Anything else you would like to share about volunteering?
I would like to share some of my opinion.
I think is very important to use a visual aid (pictures and video and diagram) to explain the treatment plan, denture problems and denture care to patients.
When I was student at GBC, there is a program of taking students to Jamaica to make 5 mile smile, I was thinking college should take students to make few kilometers smile in their country first.
Also, think we (Canadian) live in great country and all Canadians deserve to be in good health and shape.
Thank you Najwa for helping LAMP bring smiles back to seniors in East Mississauga!
Elizabeth Slone
December 2018
Program: ASK! Community Information Centre
Position: Income Tax Filer
Elizabeth has been volunteering with ASK! Community Information Centre since 1999.
What brought you to LAMP?
I figured that volunteering was the fasted way to get over the blues. In 1998 I ended up on Ontario Disability Support Program. I was not working at that time. I had to get out and do something with my life. Since I lived in the neighborhood I came to LAMP and met with Cathy Wallace. This is how I started my journey volunteering at LAMP.
What other causes or issues are you passionate about?
I am passionate about seniors issues, housing issues, basically about life and helping people. I really like helping people.
Do you have a favourite memory or accomplishment from your time volunteering with ASK! Community Information Centre?
Yes, I do. When I started volunteering I did not have much experience with computers but Ernie French that was running the income tax clinic suggested to me that I should help with the income tax. I became a copier, that was the time there were no programs and you had to do everything from scratch. I was copying and Ernie was doing the income taxes and I was copying his work for clients. I did that work for a couple of years. Ernie then encouraged me and told me that I should try doing it on my own, that I should start with the simple ones. I followed his advice and I did just that. That how I have been doing income tax for more than 15 years now. I saw how everything was progressing from the simple copying to doing it on a computer. In 15 min you can complete two income taxes.
What do you do when you aren’t volunteering?
I am very busy. I sing in a church choir. I take classes with Learn 4 Life Toronto District School Board either its computer classes, and now its Bridge. I attend art classes. I love photography. I am passionate about life altogether. I often go to Village Mosaic which is the senior center on Lakeshore and they have excellent crafts workshops. The Toronto Library has great crafts workshops as well.
What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?
The best advice I have received was from a volunteer at LAMP. Her name was Judy Wallace. She was supportive of me. One day I asked her for advice and she told me that the worst someone could tell you is “no”. From then on, I was not afraid to ask for something because honestly that is the worst they could say. That was the best advice I have received over 18 years of volunteering for LAMP.
