BY KALISHA MENDONSA
Lacombe Express
Lacombe is lucky to have many kind and caring people residing here, with one woman in particular recently recognized for her years of dedication, kindness and community mindedness.
This past weekend, Mildred ‘Millie’ Snow was officially awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Business and Community Awards Gala.
Humble and shy, Snow smiled gently as she accepted her award as she quietly thanked the crowd and those who nominated her for this event.
“At first, I tried to get out of it,” Snow said with a quiet laugh. “I thought maybe they’d made some kind of mistake, but after a while I kind of adjusted to it.”
Snow said she couldn’t believe she was chosen because she doesn’t feel as if she’s done anything out of the ordinary.
She said her actions are simply driven by doing what she enjoys, helping others and being part of the community.
Snow has lived in Lacombe for over 40 years and has taken on several roles in the community due to her desire to help others. She has been the general manager of the food bank since 2005 and director of a local thrift store since 2004.
Since her work began at the food bank, she has helped to manage the growing needs of Lacombe and area, working tirelessly to ensure those around her have what they need to survive but also to be happy.
She cares deeply for her community and feels a strong sense of commitment to helping others, fostered through many years of working with soup kitchens and local organizations.
“I started out serving soup out of a thermos outside of what was the Rancher’s Inn in Red Deer. We had a table and a thermos with soup in it and that was it,” she recalled.
“From there, I went on to Edmonton and helped start a soup kitchen there and then started one in Calgary. I also travelled to Moscow and with a team to Latvia to work with soup kitchens in those places as well, which was very interesting to me.”
She said these experiences helped her come to realize the needs in Alberta, but also to see how fortunate Canadians are to have the help and services they need.
“I didn’t realize how fortunate we are here, and how fortunate I was. It really made me realize how blessed we are to have what we have,” Snow said about her travels.
“In Latvia, they would cook a great big huge cauldron of porridge or soup, with people lined up down the street with whatever they could carry food in. Some had bowls, some had pails, some had buckets - anything they had to bring some of this food home.
“That experience was very valuable to me.”
Snow has remained in Lacombe over the years because she enjoys the people around her. She says she is happy to work in a community that is so kind, giving and caring and that she has always cared a great deal about the way people live in this City. “It’s really about the people, first of all,” she began.
“I’m sure there are people like this everywhere, but it seems people in Lacombe are very generous and caring people. There is a really big need to help out right now, even if people don’t notice it,” she said, adding her thanks to all those who are doing their part to help out the community.
She said some of the things she is proud of include the impression she is able to make on people, and that it fills her with pride when people are able to say, “Thank you” to those who helped them through a rough time.
“I’m proud of when people come back to you and let you know you’ve made a difference when you don’t think you’ve done anything out of the ordinary.
“I’ve had people say I’ve helped them when this or that was going on and it’s very nice,” she said quietly.
“I had a young fellow come into the food bank a little while ago and he said he used to work there about five or six years ago. He was putting in community hours for some program. He said, ‘I learned a lot here. I learned how to respect other people but<span class="A