Halifax Community News

As the Cape Breton Hospice prepares to open to residents in Membertou in January, a pilot project will be kicking off two first-time volunteer programs being formed.

As the city most involved in Canada's effort during the First World War, Halifax was a hub for troops heading overseas and those returning from the horrors in Europe, and its harbour was filled with ships carrying supplies. And on the morning of Dec. 6, 1917, these realities merged in a horrific event known as the Halifax Explosion. It remains the worst disaster in Canadian history, killing 2,000 people and injuring 9,000.

In Nova Scotia, the Canadian Red Cross recognized two volunteers with its highest honour for their humanitarian work. David Williams of Halifax and Mary Macnab of Dartmouth were two of 11 volunteers across the country recognized by the Canadian Red Cross with the humanitarian organization’s highest volunteer distinction during a virtual event on Saturday.

Since April, 3,082 Nova Scotians have signed up for volunteer time slots in the province’s rapid testing campaign, including 1,385 people assembling rapid test packages at smaller sites — making this, as Stanford understands it, the greatest volunteer mobilization of this kind anywhere in the country.

Donate items or volunteer your time There are plenty of other ways aside from donating money to give back during the holiday season.

Vince Steffens mans the Salvation Army red kettle at the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation store in Sydney Mines. Steffens said someone stole his mountain bike while he was volunteering at the store Saturday. Although old and rusty, it was his only transportation.