Calgary Food Bank celebrates 42 years of one volunteer
Terry Deets retires after four decades at the food bank, where his tireless work helped shape the organization from a church basement into a multi-million-dollar operation.
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Terry Deets walked away from the Calgary Food Bank this week after 42 years, leaving behind an imprint on an organization that's become far larger than he ever imagined when he first answered a volunteer wanted ad in 1984.
Back then, the food bank was just two years old and operated out of an East Village church basement. Today it's a multi-million-dollar charitable organization running two warehouses with hundreds of staff and volunteers. Deets had a hand in building it.
Melissa From, president and CEO of the Calgary Food Bank, called him one of a kind. "They broke the mould with Terry," she said. "He always came in with the best attitude — he worked hard, he got the job done, and he actually wasn't afraid of kind of kicking other people in the butt to make sure they were working hard, too."
Deets, known as the food bank's "honourary mayor," rotated through every task imaginable — sorting fruit, helping hamper collection drivers, whatever needed doing. His favourite part was the variety. "I just like to keep myself busy, because I just don't want to be sitting around on the couch all day," he said.
The food bank announced a new fundraising campaign in Deets' honour, aiming to raise $15,000 to help residents facing food insecurity. The organization estimates its volunteers will contribute over 200,000 hours this year, making up nearly 60 per cent of the workforce. Because of that volunteer power, the food bank can return 94 cents of every dollar to delivering food supplies.
Deborah Lewis, who worked with Deets decades ago at the Vocational and Rehabilitation Research Institute before reconnecting with him at the food bank, remembers his consistent good mood. "It's very few of us who can say that we volunteered in a place for as many years as he has, and had so many people connect with him," she said.
In a city where thousands pass through the food bank each month, one volunteer's 42 years of presence is the kind of permanence that quietly holds things together.