Now that the program is well-established (Donna works with an average of 125-140 tutor/student pairs each year), I wondered what Donna would do if she had some additional funding. Her answer surprised me. "I would take a week off and just give this place some thought," she said pensively. "I'm sure this program could run more smoothly if a person just had time to think about changes and ideas and new approaches. When I get home at the end of the day, there's no time left to start any new thinking."

"I'm sure that there could be some sort of tiered responsibility. Tutors could be responsible to other tutors. There could be head tutors for example who might interview new tutors. They might even train new tutors and give support to other tutors. I just know there's a place for volunteers to be involved in other ways in this program - they could do the newsletter or help with month-end statistics. But all this takes time to sit down and think through and right now I just don't have that kind of time."

Donna recently completed the Volunteer Management Program through weekend courses and home study at Grant McEwan College in Edmonton. I asked her, with her experience and educational background, if she views herself as a professional. "How do you define professionalism?" Donna asked me. "I have had to appear in front of a TV camera and talk about literacy, deal with inner-city people telling them, 'Hey, when you're ready for help, we've got it', then meet with the President of the College - all on the same day! You have to be able to change hats and switch roles very quickly. There is no training for that kind of adaptability."

"I do know though that I am good at what I do. I'm intuitive; I read people well. I can tell when a tutor is getting bored or when a student isn't making progress. I can tell when I interview a tutor what kind of student will be appropriate for him/her. My matches have all been pretty successful because I have a good sense of people."

Diane motioned through the window in the office door that it was time to go; we had made plans to join Barb and Sylvia for lunch and they were already waiting for us. I packed up my tape recorder and thanked Donna for out interview. She suggested that I try and contact David Thompson to fill in the gaps of the history of the program after Joanne left and before she starred.

As we came out of Donna's office I heard Barb congratulating Sylvia on a newspaper article that had recently been published in the Red Deer Advocate. Barb handed me the paper and I read the headline - "Volunteer goes beyond call of duty". There was a big picture of Sylvia and a well-written article about her involvement with the Community Information and Volunteer Centre. Sylvia tried to dismiss the article pointing out that it could have been written about anyone of the volunteers at the Cencre but the others wouldn't have it. Sylvia managed to change the subject, asking about the health of a former student. Barb brought her up-ta-date about a number of the students they both used to work with as we all left South School together.

Shortly after visiting Red Deer, I met with DAVID THOMPSON in Edmonton at his home near the University of Alberta. David is working on his Masters Degree in Educational Psychology, attending school with both his teenage daughters.