The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

l Well, I wish I could tell you that that was the end ofa happy story. It was not a very happy story. Because as a retull ot‘all this inistering in the village. taking care ftfttll .lr own children. taking care of the chores, being the provider in the house because my grandfather ltad been laid off. Doing all these things, Mary herself. my grand mother. became ill and died. My mother never had a mother for very long. And I often asked her later because ofthis supreme act of volunteerism, givingr her life 30 another could live. ‘Mom, did you ever resent this'?‘ ‘Oh son.‘ \he said, ‘how could lever resent a legacy like that. Maybe people would think it wax foolixh that she would sacrifice her life and her family to save that of another. But son. if you don't have that attitude. how are you going to make a difference in the world‘.’ If you can't think beyond yourself, how can you possibly be a volunteer"? ' [see women dedicating their lives. sacrificing themselves so that others might enjoy more. And in every oneol' you in this room there is. that volunteer. And in ever) single one of you there is the remembrance )f my grandmother Mary and the continu~ ation of her spirit. ...You are the caressmg hand, you are the crooners, you are the smellers of the flowers .,.You are the ambassadors of their hope. ...Thr(tughout the entire world there's beginning to emerge a CttnSCanSnESfi ofthe need for women to Win the day and to become the daughters. of destiny and the guiderx oftomorrow. There's a belief. even among men, that we cannot live without the guiding touch of the volunteer woman who has a sense ol'compassion, collaboraâ€" tion, cooperation, courtesy, Civility, that men have not been known to have. .. The truth ofthe matter is with a woman. her heart is fused to her soul and she‘s not Selfâ€"conscioux about that. “There's a belief even among men, that we cannot live without the guiding ioucb ofthe volunteer woman. " In high action] I lived with my grandpar~ ents and I used to come home occasmnally from some heartthrob experience as a teenâ€" ager. And I'd walk through the front doorway and my grandfather would greet me and «mile at me and be ObliVlOUS to my pain. But m} grandma would look and she would fiee She had that inner eye. Grandma knen lwas in pain. And so she would get up \\Illt that terrible arthritis of hers and walk over to the stove and put the kettle on. And pour me a tea. And oc a- \ltll‘ttlll)’ when I wanted to talk too quickly about ll \he'd put her fingers on my lips and say Not yet.‘ first the tea... And then she would hold my hand. And I would tell her, I knew she'd eome. There were times when I had toothaches and we didn't have a dentist in town. Grandmother would come and whixper into my mouth and soothe it away. And when I had earaches because we didn‘t have a doctor in the community she would come and whisper into my ear. And soothe it away. I knew she‘d come. Many times throughout the course of my life when l have seen difficulty and privation and pain and anguish. I knew she would come. Who ever she was. And she generally looked like you. like each one ot you in lhh audi- ence. [We] knew that you would come because there is a sense oi'iiptimixm \i. hen the soul IS fused to the heart. ... My Grandmother Mary did notdie tor not, she died to inflame my mother vi ith the sense of the need to help. to sen e. that has inflamed my \vite, has inflamed my Sl'sIef. has inflamed my daughter. and Will in, flame my granddaughter because we never. never let them forget the \tor} The stories must be told hceauxe _\ou are the ambassadors of the past and the great har- bingerx of hope for the future You love each other. you love your predecessorx. you |o\e those that are com- ing to replace you and you |o\ e humankind just plain people. e\er_\ :iLe. etery shape, e\er) form. \\ here\ er they are. And that in your legacy \mnti Ii’tltili CFO. I‘iiieliiirit i'lltili'lltt’ fur Lt‘tldt (\lllfl and L7 tHIItlllllit AHMFA ACCW 23rd Triennial Conference Thursday, june 14, 2001 A Scene horn A Canadian Mosaic Dancers wearing provincial tartans take to the air.