Evidence of Nancy Jackson’s 50 years working in aid of the Canadian Cancer Society and others is strewn all over the couch of her Grand Falls-Windsor home.
There are newspaper clippings, letters of congratulations and cards of thanks all laid out on the blue furniture.
The 83-year-old Jackson recounts how she first started working with the group going to door-to-door seeking donations.
Then she started knitting prayer shawls, organizing meetings, selling daffodils and a host of other activities over the last half-century.
“I just wanted to help,” said Jackson. “My daughter used to call me Mother Theresa.”
In 2001, she was the Canadian Cancer Society volunteer of the year for this province. On this afternoon, in an interview with The Central Voice, that award sits next to her latest piece of recognition.
Earlier this month, Jackson and a group of others from this province were recognized with the Cancer Impact Award for their contributions over the years.
To be nominated was quite the surprise for Jackson, and gives her pride.
“It was just super (to be recognized),” she said. “It keeps me young.”
That desire to help will continue this year for Jackson and she encourages others to get involved in the Relay for Life and selling daffodils.
Cancer touched 22-year-old Alison Bennett in 2013 when her mother was diagnosed with the disease.
She was in high school then and was unable to travel to Daffodil Place to be with her parents as her mother received treatment.
Still, Bennett wanted to help. She organized a three-on-three basketball tournament to raise funds for the cancer society and Daffodil Place in particular.
“I heard all of the great things about it and I wanted to give back,” she said.
The three-on-three tournament continued for the next number of years and was one of the reasons Bennett was recognized with a provincial Cancer Impact Award.
Bennett has also been a part of the annual Relay for Life since 2014. She has also volunteered with the cancer society in Grand Falls-Windsor, selling daffodils and helping at a number of other events.
“It was humbling,” she said of receiving the award.
In accepting the award, Bennett believes it isn’t just her being recognized. Instead, she said, it is an award for all the people who have helped her organize the basketball tournaments and the other fundraising events along the way.
“It is not just my award. It is for everyone."
