NEW GLASGOW, N.S. – When Michael Legere first started running into Wayne Vacheresse at the Pictou County Sports Heritage Hall of Fame, Vacheresse was usually somewhere near the ceiling hanging jerseys or arranging some other artifact.
“For the last 12 years he was so dedicated to this place,” he said. “He’d climb the ladders and hang stuff.”
Vacheresse also volunteered for the Salvation Army Thrift Store, along with his wife Virginia, as well as at the Pictou County Military Museum.
“I thought, that’s a fellow that deserves to be recognized,” said Legere.
That’s exactly what happened on April 16 at the very Hall of Fame where he’s given so much of his time. Other volunteers and local politicians joined together to thank him for his contributions.
Vacheresse has ALS now and uses a wheelchair, so he has cut back some of the time he spent volunteering, but he still regularly helps out. Tuesdays are his day to come to the Pictou County Sports Heritage Hall of Fame.
“I just enjoy it. I get more back from it than I give to it,” he said. “It’s a chance to get out and visit with people.”
Vacheresse had grown up in Trenton where sports were huge. He moved away when he was 17 but came back when he retired in 1988.
During that time, he’s given back to the community in every way he could.
“You are a role model in so many ways for the ideal community citizen who volunteers their time, not just here, but in other roles as well,” said New Glasgow Coun. Clyde Fraser.
New Glasgow Mayor Nancy Dicks also expressed her gratitude towards Vacheresse.
“There’s nothing nicer than to be able to recognize volunteers in our community,” she said. “Without them we can be assured there wouldn’t be this beautiful place in our community to celebrate all thing sports and our history.”
The town presented him with a certificate, thanking him for his volunteer work and he was presented with some gifts as well from his friends at the Pictou County Sports Heritage Hall of Fame.
“It was definitely a surprise. I didn’t expect all this,” said Vacheresse.
