Community service brings Sue Girling many rewards

How can you tell that volunteering is in your blood?

When you do it for 25 years in Steveston and still get a sense of joy from serving your community.

Such is the case with Sue Girling, who decided to trod down this path after graduating from high school - just for fun. This sense of fun has sustained her as a member of the Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society where she served on the Board of Directors and sat on various committees. It has also swept her to the peak of her volunteer career when, in 2002, she was elected as the chairperson of this organization. Along the way, Sue also shared her time with the International order of Job’s Daughters on the Bethel Guardian Council, Brownies and Girl Guides, Richmond Visitor Industry Development Board, Steveston Business Association, Gun Lake Ratepayers Association, Steveston Brochure Committee, BC Packers Advisory Council, and the Richmond Museum Society.


Sue Girling and Mayor Malcolm Brody presenting a gift from the Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society to Crown Princess Masako of Japan on her visit to the Cannery in 2004 during Sue's term as Chair.

But Sue is more than the sum of her years of community work. She is also a mother, a devoted wife of 35 years, a home-based business owner for 25 years, and an active promoter of Steveston to locals and tourists alike.

"I have worked for myself for over 25 years. My husband Norris and I started a home-based business that provided computer consulting, desktop publishing, and image setting services. To parallel and enhance some of my volunteering, I have published The Steveston Villager Business Directory for the past 22 years. I also own the community website that features the Historic Village of Steveston as a community " explains Sue.

Having a home business has allowed Sue to raise two daughters, Lesley and Ashley, without the aid of day care and given the Girlings considerable freedom to travel and spend time at the family cottage at Gun Lake -- blessings for which she feels truly thankful.

"Steveston has provided me with self employment and sense of community like none other. I have been able to bring up two wonderful daughters and still be home for them after school. They have been brought up in a small town within a city, by wonderful caring businesses and community groups, and they would live nowhere else," she adds.

Sue's husband Norris retired last year and she considers herself semi-retired though still very much at the helm of her home-based enterprise. Sue is enjoying spending lots of quality time with her husband and, yes, heeding the occasional call for volunteers in her favourite community.