Volunteer Story: Diane Hayward

Diane Hayward has a passion for helping children. So, in 2015 when she saw that The Children’s Foundation was seeking volunteers for the Trees for Tots program, she knew that’s what she wanted to do. She jumped right in to help behind the scenes with registration and has never looked back.

Diane explains that the idea of helping children to attain better lives is extremely important to her. She feels that supporting a better start in life provides children with a better chance for achievement throughout the rest of their lives as well.

After Trees for Tots, it didn’t take long for Diane to be involved with many of the other fundraising events for the Children’s Foundation. Diane has also volunteered with the Annual Fore our Kids Golf Tournament, helping with registration and selling 50/50 raffle tickets as well as verifying hole-in-one results.

This past May, she also helped out during Smile Cookie Week by going to several different Tim Horton’s sites to help decorate Smile Cookies. “I’m always amazed at how the efforts of staff and volunteers can raise so much money” Diane says and she is happy to be “a small piece of the puzzle”.

Not only does Diane help out on the big event days, but she also often volunteers her time to come into the office and help out with event prep. Diane prefers to work ‘behind the scenes’ and she is instrumental in assisting with a variety of administrative tasks such as entering tax receipts and assisting with third party fundraisers.

Outside of volunteering, Diane loves to travel. She has been to Mexico and has her sights set on Spain, studying Spanish on Duolingo to help pave the way. She has lived in Guelph for many years but she and her husband will soon be moving out of the City, perhaps to Eastern Ontario. She will be missed!

We wish her all the best in her new adventure and thank her for her passion and commitment in support of the Children’s Foundation.