In honour of National Volunteer's Appreciation Week, we decided to talk with one of the busiest volunteers you will see around Estevan and the southeast. Lynn Trobert has been involved in a large number of things from the Estevan Motor Speedway, the breakfast program at Spruce Ridge School, the Relay for Life, the Midale Manor, and the one she's most well known for being the United Way, and the list could go on.

Trobert is well known for her work around multiple places around the area, and she's been involved in so many things for so long simply because of the feeling she gets while doing it.

"It's so wonderful to see the difference that people can make in a community, and that's what volunteering is all about, and everyone that can do. Even 10 minutes of it just to help somebody out." 

Before we go too far into the article, Trobert wanted to to make sure that other volunteers around the area get some of the recognition they deserve as well.

"One name that comes to mind is Pat Steinke. Pat has volunteered in many, many, many things in Estevan over the years. She deserves a thank you for that. She's likely involved with in way more things than I am, and she's one of the ones that just sticks out in my mind. Another one is Melody Pierson. That lady helps more groups and clubs and things in town than we can even think about."

For Trobert, a lot of the reason she volunteers as much as she does is because she simply enjoys doing it. There are a lot of things around Estevan and the southeast that we are lucky to have but need volunteers to keep going, and if a little extra work is required to keep the things we love here, Trobert is happy to do it.

"It mostly takes up a few hours, but really and truly it's nothing because if you enjoy doing it, really the time doesn't matter. I mean the United way we spend a lot of time in meetings and things in the committees, and its' the same at the race track. We do stuff that people don't even see and don't even realize what we're doing to keep that place going. But as far as counting hours, no, I love doing it, so to me if I have to put four or five hours in a day or a racetrack day if it's 10 hours, that's the way it goes."

While there isn't one particular moment that sticks out in her mind that from all the volunteering that she has done. There is, however, a collection of memories that happen every year at the United Way Telethon that bring everything into perspective a little bit more.

"I guess doing some of those interviews that we do. Some of those stick out in my mind and you listen to what other people are going through. That gets emotionally hard at times. You think about them and think 'you know, maybe we are making a difference'."

At the annual United Way Telethon, it's a bit of a running joke that at some point Trobert will tear up a little bit, which is something that she has a good sense of humour about. While it is something that she can laugh about, Trobert says that the emotion she feels when they start to see the final totals come in and the difference they have made in their community is a strong one and makes all the work that goes into it every year worth it.

"They do tease me about that, don't they? They usually bring the Kleenex box. When you see what you've done and especially for United Way, we see that the community itself comes together and does so much work for it. I don't know, I've always cried, I'm a crier."