If you have spent any time on this little island, there’s very little chance that you haven’t encountered Nancy Lee. Lee is a cashier at the place that acts like a community centre, but is better known as the General Store.
The woman who has just won top honours for fundraising for the Movember Foundation Great Canadian Fire Challenge is beaming. She has raised $4500 in a month for men’s health, beating out all the men competing on the island. While she says that she got a big chunk of change in donations for the shaving of Gary Ander’s moustache, the spunky woman says that she could still ”beat the boys,” at fundraising. She has that unstoppable kind of energy that makes her claim believable. She’d come to work with a fake moustache on her face, making it bigger as donations grew.
It was Lee who went up to Anders asking him to shave for charity. At first he said “no,” and then said he’d do it for $4000. Nancy could do nothing but take the councilor up on his challenge. The rest is history. Lee went on to raise more than the asking price, but only in the nick of time, running around to catch bills in a fabric bag as Anders sat beside a barber waiting to see if Lee had met her match. The money kept coming in, more than meeting Ander’s challenge. Lee walked around the pub, posing for pictures, a satin sash with the words “Miss Movember,”draped off one shoulder.
Lee says that wearing a fake moustache to work gave her the opening to talk to curious kids about fundraising for men who might get sick or who are sick. Lee says that one of her favourite things about her job is the kids. She’s been on the island for 20 years and she’s watched a lot of kids arrive, grow up and then fly off.
Lee says that when her husband first suggested they move to Bowen she was completely against the idea. “I was outvoted,” she says. “The next thing I know I’m on the ferry with my puppy, my cat and my bag of fish.” The woman with the big brown eyes and raven hair says that they had been coming to Bowen on weekends while her husband was spending the weekdays working and living in Coquitlam. “I thought he was joking about coming to Bowen. He told me three times before I realized he wasn’t joking.” Once Lee got over the shock of the move she adjusted quickly. ”Now I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
At first Lee was self-employed but heard about the opening at the store and “went to great lengths to write up an elaborate resume.” As a local, the store owners knew her and hired her on the spot.
For the last 11 years, Nancy has been one of the unofficial goodwill ambassadors for Bowen. “People call the store to find out about the ferry, or about power “or other general information. “If you want to find some information, you can usually find it at the General Store. If you want to meet people come to the General Store“ Lee says that she is certain that it is the same at the building centre, “the island is so helpful.”
As for her role, Lee loves to connect people with what they need. “If a visitor comes to the store and gets loaded up with groceries and then asks about walking to Rivendell, I’ll look around and get them a ride. I love being able to do that.” She says she gives tourism advice, and even helps with grocery shopping. “I’ll see a woman leave with a jug of milk, then I’ll see her husband come in to checkout a few minutes later with a jug of milk. I’ll let him know she already picked it up. ” It’s the sort of thing that only happens in small towns. She says she tells people to go ahead and hitchhike so that visitors can have a chance to share in a moment with one of us living here. “Usually there’s 6 degrees of separation between them and us. There always seems to be some connection.” That’s what I love about working here. It always takes an extra 20 minutes when you go to the General Store because it’s where people meet and talk. I get to be part of the circle; connecting people.
Lee runs off. Lunch is over and Miss Movember is on the move.
