The town’s Snow Angels program is looking for committed volunteers to shovel snow for seniors this winter.
The goal of the program is to help seniors remain in their own homes and not be transferred to a care facility.
Volunteers are each assigned one senior and have 48 hours to shovel after a snowfall.
“I have a lot of seniors calling me and I put them on a list, but if I don’t have any volunteers, they have to pay someone,” said Sylvan Lake FCSS senior services co-ordinator Brittney Buehler.
Seniors must live in their own homes, have no family living nearby, be of low income status and be 65 or older to receive the program’s services.
Volunteers must undergo a criminal record check before shovelling snow.
Hockey teams and families were among the groups who supported the program’s 30 seniors involved last winter.
Buehler said she typically receives between 30 and 35 calls for assistance each year. The biggest challenge faced by the program, she feels, is finding committed volunteers.
“We have volunteers that start but don’t finish, and some say they shovelled, but I hear otherwise,” she said. “Volunteers can be anyone — it can be a senior helping a senior. I would love to see everyone shovelling for each other and not have to sign up for this program, but that doesn’t happen.”