NEWS & IDEAS

How one volunteer has made death wait for 50 years

POSTED ON 02 01 2012 BY Caroline Connell
UNDER Volunteer Profile

Volunteer David Mansfield, left, with Amanda Rogers, Heart Month coordinator for Ontario’s Niagara Region.

On Mary Street in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., people start looking out for David Mansfield around this time each year. Mansfield has been knocking on doors along Mary Street every February for as long as most people can remember, collecting donations for the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s annual Heart Month campaign.

In fact, Mansfield has been a Foundation volunteer for an astonishing 50 years. He’s been canvassing Mary Street for about half that time. And he works hard at it, calling back as many as seven times to make sure he gathers all the donations he can.

So what keeps him committed to the Foundation, decade after decade?

Rewind to 1960, when Mansfield was an administrative assistant for the city of St. Catharines, Ont. Representing the mayor at a meeting of what was then called the Ontario Heart Foundation, Mansfield was intrigued to hear the guest speaker, a doctor, talk about the development of the first pacemaker. Sitting next to him at lunch, Mansfield recalls, “I became fascinated with the heart and the development (of the pacemaker).” He also realized that money had to be raised to make such success possible.

Mansfield started canvassing that year in St. Catharines. He continued to volunteer when his work led him to London, Ont., and later when he landed in Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1985.

Over the 50 years, Mansfield has been involved in many facets of the Foundation. He served as secretary to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Chapter; he participated in the Mother-Daughter Walk in 1996; he wrote to the federal government supporting tobacco legislation; he’s even marched in the Santa Claus Parade to represent the Heart and Stroke Foundation! And he has attended more Heart Month kick-offs than he can remember.

Along the way, heart disease has touched him personally. His wife, Irma, had successful bypass surgery in 2004, and Mansfield has had two stents implanted.

Now 92, Mansfield finds that the connections he makes while canvassing help to keep him motivated. He remembers a gentleman who used to wait for him each year to come around collecting donations. Then one year, the man’s wife informed him that he had passed away from heart disease. Mansfield said, “One gets the feeling, could I have done more for the Heart and Stroke Foundation?”

It’s hard to imagine anyone doing more.

Meanwhile, on Mary Street this year, they’re getting their cheque books out. They know David Mansfield doesn’t like to go away empty-handed.

• Find out more about volunteering with the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Millions of Canadians are at risk for heart disease. Our long-term goal is to reduce deaths due to heart disease and stroke by 25% by 2020. You can help us reach it.

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