NIPAWIN 鈥� Morley Doerksen, the president of Pineland Co-op鈥檚 board of directors, has been presented the Lifetime Co-operative Achievement Award in Regina.
The award serves to recognize individuals in volunteer or elected positions within co-operatives and credit unions who gave a long, varied and meritorious service.
鈥淚t makes me feel like I鈥檓 older than I thought I was,鈥� Doerksen said before laughing. 鈥淚t was good; it was an honour for that. I鈥檓 sure there are lots of deserving people besides me, but I really appreciate it.鈥�
For him, the achievement award makes him feel appreciated for the work that he did over the years.
鈥淭he acknowledgement is nice to receive, for sure,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always nice.鈥�
Doerksen has been president of Pineland Co-op since 2013, and served on the board since the early 2000s. Before the Co-op he served on a board for the credit union in Nipawin before it became Diamond North.
For three years, he worked on the resolution committee for Federated Co-operatives Limited.
鈥淲e did changes to the terms of reference. We kind of brought democracy back to the grassroots. It was getting where more decisions were made at the annual meeting at Saskatoon, so we brought it back where everything has to be passed by the local retail boards 鈥� all the resolutions had to have a home, the retail board they came from.鈥�
Doerksen said that initiative took two attempts to get it passed, and wasn鈥檛 without stress.
His plans for the future include slowing down and taking it easy, step by step.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still farming, trying to get our fun, kind of roll over in the farming role. Hopefully I can slow down, for sure. Take it easy a little bit, which might be hard for me to do but it鈥檚 what we strive for.鈥�
The award was presented on Oct. 15 in Regina.
