There is no slowing down 87-year-old Waimate man Charles Alsop.
Mr Alsop is the Volunteering Mid and South Canterbury July volunteer of the month.
The award honoured the time and effort he had put into Age Concern South Canterbury.
Mr Alsop said he was ‘‘very embarrassed’’ to be acknowledged.
‘‘I didn’t expect it. I do it for the love of it.’’
He said not only did it get him out of the house, but ‘‘it’s something I enjoy doing’’.
Mr Alsop said in his role as volunteer visitor he simply chatted, laughed and told jokes.
Age Concern’s visiting services manager Alice Sollis said he was a hard-working and valuable volunteer.
In her nomination, she said she could rely on Mr Alsop any time to help.
He became a volunteer visitor for the organisation in December 2022.
Mrs Sollis said there were signs even then that he was a special person, as he was keen to travel from Waimate to visit people in Timaru.
She said Mr Alsop was a very active and caring man.
‘‘Charles volunteers to pick up other Age Concern members for various events and has a strong ethic to keep helping others and keep busy. He always puts up his hand to help and travels regularly from Waimate to Timaru to do this and visit his clients.’’
As part of his visits, Mr Alsop was paired with a man he visited right up until the man’s death early this year.
‘‘Charles was keen to visit more people and now he calls in to see a lovely gentleman who lives in St Andrews, and a Timaru couple who think the world of him.
‘‘We would all be better off if we had more people like him in our lives.’’
Along with being a volunteer visitor, Mr Alsop was part of Age Concern’s Tuesday Club, and assisted with setting up for the Friday Club.
