TOPSFIELD | Without volunteers, a Council on Aging is like a car with an empty fuel tank | without their time and energy it just can't run.

In appreciation of all their efforts, the Topsfield Council on Aging welcomed those helping hands to an annual luncheon at the Gould Barn on April 12. The COA also honored three specific volunteers with their Silver Tree Award for volunteers of the year.

Pinned with a Silver Tree pendant were Jackie Scudder, a Topsfield resident for almost 50 years, and Leo Wilson, who's lived in town for 15 years. Also recognized was Grace Lynch, who was in Washington, D.C., and unable to attend the ceremony.

Council on Aging Executive Director Sheila Field addressed the more than 25 attendees, and thanked them for their efforts.

"Without you, I couldn't do the job that I do," she said. "Whether it's one day a year or one day a week, you all make a difference."

Field noted that the number of volunteers stepping up for the COA was exceptional for a town the size of Topsfield. One hundred volunteers | 30 of whom are under the age of 18 | help the council perform its activities and provide its services. When Field held the same position in Beverly, she had about the same number of volunteers | from a city of 40,000.

To further recognize the three award-winning volunteers, Cheryl Gresek, an aide from Congressman John F. Tierney's office, presented them with congressional citations.

Scudder, a member of the Friends of the COA for six years in addition her other good works in town, was a humble recipient and was quick to shift the spotlight to her many volunteer friends.

"I feel very honored," she said, "although I certainly don't think that I deserve it. There are people that do a lot more than me."

Wilson works as a systems engineer for Verizon, a job that allows very little free time. But the spare moments he does have are often spent volunteering for the Council on Aging. He was a member of the Topsfield COA board of directors for four years, and served as chairman until June 2006. He decided to relinquish the position to care for his wife through an illness, but still makes time for the COA.

His passion for the Topsfield COA came when he saw how the organization treated his ailing father in the last years of his life.

"My father was a resident for two years before he died of Alzheimer's," Wilson said, "and the Council on Aging was wonderful to him."

As the volunteers and guests chatted over their complimentary lunch and enjoyed an acoustic guitar performance by Rockin' Ron Toleos, it was evident that volunteering for the Council on Aging wasn't all work and no play.

"I enjoy doing it," said Scudder, who just returned from the COA trip to New York City. "It's a lot of fun and you meet a lot of different people."



2007 Topsfield Council on Aging Silver Tree Award Recipients

Grace Lynch

Jackie Scudder

Leo Wilson