Driving force behind Centre Greene is WMA's Citizen of the Year

With those words, Mary Anne McNally accepted the Westmount Municipal Association's 2009 Derek Walker Volunteer Citizen of the Year Award, presented each year to a Westmount resident who has given selflessly of themselves to the community.

The award was given out last Monday at the WMA's annual general meeting in Victoria Hall.

Many of McNally's accomplishments have involved Centre Greene, Westmount's main youth-oriented community centre. But as fellow Centre Greene board member Erica Bloom pointed out in her introduction, McNally is a seasoned volunteer who began serving the community shortly after arriving from the U.S. in 1959. While raising a family and establishing herself professionally as an artist, she found time to volunteer in the Westmount Park School library and later helped introduce a breakfast program at the school, along with Joan Rothman. She became involved with the fledgling Centre Greene in 1996, was appointed to the board the following year, and has since been involved in initiating most of the centre's many community events.

In order to illustrate McNally's modesty and importance to the community, Bloom quoted one of Emily Dickinson's most famous lines: "We never know how high we are, Till we are asked to rise." "I'm humbled and delighted to receive this award," McNally said. "Centre Greene continues to serve the community so well with grace and affection."