Question: Have you ever been lonely; have you ever been blue?
Answer: (to question posed by song) Alan and Shirley Horner have, for the most of their lives, provided an antidote.
They’ve been volunteers with Telecare since its inception in 1977. The local organization, one of 16 in Canada at the time, boasted as of 2011 some 90 volunteers from all walks of life. This practical 24/7 caring association listens to some 15,000 calls a year from the four county regions. Volunteers and callers are anonymous to each other. Well-trained volunteers provide time, talent and energy to keep the lines open and listen to callers sharing joys, or sorrows affecting their world.
The Horners attend to duties explicit in the Telecare operation. Although Alan and Shirley have retired from the phone lines, they remain active administrators for this valuable service. Shirley Horner was one of the original Telecare members in Peterborough.
It’s safe to say this needed community service would be less effective, without the Horners.
Alan Charles Horner died in 2017.
- photo courtesy of Lance Anderson, Peterborough This Week / MyKAWARTHA