For the past 15 years, Eaton has been a volunteer at the Manna Food Bank on Fraserburg Road in Bracebridge.

April 27 to May 3 marks volunteer week across Canada, and Eaton is just one of the many volunteers working behind the scenes in the Bracebridge area.

Since moving to Bracebridge 42 years ago, Eaton has been an active volunteer throughout the community. For the past 15 years, she’s worked at the food bank.

Despite a cold and rainy day outside the food bank earlier this month, several clients sat in the tiny waiting room for the chance to collect a few items.

Inside, Eaton and a team of three fellow volunteers busily interviewed potential clients, and collected bottled and canned items from the shelves before crossing them off a checklist.

On this day the team served 17 people, a slow day, but there was still an hour left before the bank closed. Sometimes they serve double that number, and they average between 50 and 60 people a week, despite being open a total of only six hours.

“Volunteering here brings some satisfaction and a great deal of sadness. You hear some tragic stories,” said Eaton, who conducts the interviews. “Most people think of Muskoka and they think of fancy cottages. They’re totally unaware of the problems that are going on here.”

Eaton said behind Muskoka’s reputation as a high-end summer destination, the area has huge problems with poverty, which are compounded by a lack of transportation and affordable housing.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “A lot of these people are ill and can’t work. Those that can are often kept under a certain number of hours so they stay part time and don’t receive any benefits.”

Eaton said she has volunteered in one way or another all her life, and her parents and grandparents were also active volunteers in their communities.

“What’s the point in living if you can’t do something for people who are having a hard time,” she said. “As long as I can still see and hear, I’ll keep it up.”

The food bank has a full complement of eight teams, said Eaton, and a plethora of volunteers ready to step in at any given time.

“We have plenty of volunteers; it’s donations we’re looking for,” she said. “Most of my friends are volunteers. Not everyone realizes it, but Muskoka simply wouldn’t function without its volunteers.”