And Frail is certainly not new to volunteering.
The Westfield resident started the breakfast program at North Queens Elementary School about a dozen years ago. She volunteered with the program for about six years before stepping down.
“I just felt there was a need in the area,” says Frail about why she started the program.
“You can’t learn on an empty belly.”
The Board of Trade recently nominated Frail as a volunteer, and Frail was one of the 2012 representative volunteers for the Region of Queens.
She was recognized for her many community contributions at a luncheon at the 38th annual Volunteers Awards at the Westin Hotel in Halifax on April 2. Marilyn More, minister of Labour and Advanced Education and minister responsible for the voluntary sector, recognized the volunteers.
Peter Waterman, councillor with the Region of Queens, and his wife accompanied Frail to the awards ceremony.
Frail has a lot of volunteer hours under her belt.
She started a seniors’ group in Westfield called Seniors A-Day-Out-Club. The group meets once a month and ranges in numbers from about 15 to 30 people.
The club has a variety of activities, explains Frail. One month there might be a games night. Another month there might be an educational speaker. And sometimes there’s live music.
Last December, the second Santa Claus parade hit the streets of Caledonia. This was also part of Frail’s work.
She says when she thought of the idea she spoke with Peter van Dyk, president of the North Queens Board of Trade. With van Dyk’s help, things got going.
The first parade was in 2010, and both years there have been about two-dozen floats. To organize the event, Frail says she began by going to local businesses to see who might be interested in participating.
“People got excited about the idea and got aboard,” she says.
Frail also helps with Meals on Wheels, and she developed the idea for the memorial tree-lighting services. Initially there was one at Westfield Baptist Church, but according to Frail, the idea took off.
“But I handle the one at the united church,” she says.
The tree-lighting service is when people donate money in memory of loved ones at Christmas, Frail says.
As a member of the Westfield Hall committee, Frail helps to organize suppers, and children and pre-teens’ dances, among many other things.
“I was very honoured,” says Frail about being nominated and chosen.
But she says she doesn’t like “blowing her own horn,” and she says she doesn’t volunteer to be recognized.
When Frail was told she was chosen as a representative volunteer, she says she was “floored.” There are a lot of people who do things, she says.
Frail emphasizes the fact she couldn’t have done the projects she has done without everyone else who has been involved. She says being recognized is also an honour because it helps to acknowledge everyone else, too.
