For more than 40 years, Annie Boyle has been going door-to-door in her Charlottetown neighbourhood, raising funds for organizations and providing company or drives for people who need her.
When COVID-19 restrictions prevented some of her usual charitable activities, Boyle looked for new ways to give back to her community.
Boyle has been involved with many non-profit organizations over the years, including but not limited to the Arthritis Society, the Diabetes Association, the Kidney Foundation, the Orange Lodge, the P.E.I. Seniors Citizens Federation and the Women’s Institute of P.E.I.
Most of her work for these organizations has been doing door-to-door campaigns, raising up to $250,000 in total over the years to support people in need in the community.
About
- Annie Boyle, aged 78.
- Does domestic work for living, like cleaning homes and looking after children.
- Has been doing charity work for 40 years and she has been involved in many non-profit organizations in her community.
- Boyle has been a member of the national Orange Lodge organization for 60 years.
- Friend Anne McMullin says: “Like they say in the volunteer world, ‘Want a job done? Give it to a busy person!’ And that’s Annie Boyle.”
When the Kidney Foundation had to cancel its annual fundraising dinner due to health restrictions this year, organizers reached out to supporters asking for donations instead.
“I helped them contact people and companies that usually go to the dinner to see if they would make a donation in place of the dinner,” Boyle said. “We had wonderful responses.”
Boyle also regularly helps out Camp Gencheff, knitting and crocheting afghans to sell tickets on at its fundraising dinner in support of people with intellectual and physical disabilities.
Without her door-to-door responsibilities, Boyle found more time for handcrafts this year and decided to make extra lap blankets for a local long-term care home where residents might be feeling lonely.
“You see the different needs of different things,” Boyle said. “I have more time on my hands to do different things, so I do them.”
“I quilted 15 lap quilts then donated them to the Whisperwood Villa,” she said. “It took me about four months to complete them.
“I did it by myself,” she said with a smile.
Besides campaigning, Boyle has also spent time over the years visiting seniors and help them with their needs, she said. One of her most frequent visits is to a 95-year-old woman’s home.
“I go in probably once a week and play some card games with her to entertain her,” she said.
“If people need me because they don’t have transportation, I would drive them to local card games,” she added.
Anne McMullin has never forgotten the time Boyle stopped by her house with knitted pot scrubbers and dishcloths, just because Boyle was on her way to Camp Gencheff and decided to give her the gifts.
“She is one special lady,” McMullin said.
She remembered one time Boyle told her she was making a toque for a man and he had her re-do it a few times until it suited him.
“Patience seems to be her middle name,” McMullin said with a smile.
Boyle says providing assistance to others is a huge part of her life.
“If someone approached me, and asked why I am doing this, I’d say, ‘Someday, you might require some assistance from some of these organizations.’
“Today, I have good health. Tomorrow, you don't know what tomorrow is going to be,” she said. “So it's important to help out to make sure the need and the help is available out there for people.”
