Bilingual citizen Donna Coates decided to profit from this advantage by giving her time to both the English-speaking and French-speaking communities. Whether for seniors or youth, Ms. Coates is keen to offer help in ways that are adapted to each person.

«I don’t have the money to help, but I volunteer my time and I like it because it makes me feel good to help others,» she said. Coates has volunteered for almost 30 years. Previously a stay-at-home mom, when her children started daycare she began looking at ways to get involved with people almost everywhere. «You meet lots of people from all over the place too. It’s great fun,» she said.

A volunteer driver and a member of Meals on Wheels, Moisson Haut-Saint-François, the Seniors’ Table, and Lire et faire lire (Read and Teach to Read), Coates enjoys getting involved with all age groups. For this last activity, she enjoys going to English schools to read, but last year she decided to try something new, to do the activity in French schools. «I challenged myself to go read in French and it went well,» she said. Although she found it more difficult because French is not her mother tongue, she enjoyed it. Lire et faire lire is an association that offers an intergenerational reading program. Volunteer seniors are paired with groups of children between the ages of 2 and 8 to read them stories, giving them a taste for reading.

Having the opportunity to work with both linguistic communities, Coates is well aware of the different needs of citizens. «There are not many services available to the English,» she said, adding that it can be difficult for a unilingual English speaker to get adequate services. “As an English speaker, I see the difference. My mother did not speak French and services were less available for her, ”she said.

Despite the pandemic, Coates shows imagination in continuing to help her loved ones, but admits she is looking forward to a return to normality. «It’s pretty quiet, and yes I miss it a lot. I can’t wait to be in touch with everyone again instead of being locked in our house,” Coates said.