HAY RIVER - Melvin Larocque of Hay River says his desire to help his community is an inherited trait.

As president of the Hay River Lions Club, Melvin Larocque sometimes volunteers to wear the club's mascot costume to various events. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

His commitment to give comes from his parents, Sonny Collins and Florence Larocque.

"My dad would give you the shirt off his back," he said, adding his mother is the same way.

One of the ways Larocque gives to his community is as a member of the Hay River Lions Club for the past 15 years.

He is in the midst of a one-year term as club president, and he has been president for at least a couple of years in the past.

His wife, Joletta Larocque, first joined the club, he noted. "She really enjoyed it and got me into it," he said.

The club offers a wide variety of help to the community, such as a Christmas dinner for seniors, a recent fundraising bingo to beautify Woodland Manor, and donations to minor hockey, schools, the Hay River Soup Kitchen and others.

"We focus on community members, usually seniors and youth," Larocque said.

The club also has collection boxes around Hay River where people can donate their old glasses, which are sent to people in Third World countries by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

Each year, the club also sponsors one young person with a disability to attend Alberta's Camp He-Ho-Ha, which stands for health, hope and happiness.

Larocque said if someone needs help, you help them.

"You don't want to see anyone struggle," he said. "That's what makes a healthy community, you help each other up."

It feels rewarding to help people, he added.

This year, the Hay River Lions Club will again be organizing Relay for Life, part of a national fundraising effort for the Canadian Cancer Society.

The event was first held in Hay River two years ago. It alternates between Hay River and Fort Smith in the South Slave. Larocque said Relay for Life is a big event, since everyone is touched by cancer in some way.

He said the success of the first Relay for Life in Hay River was "phenomenal," noting it raised $204,000 when the goal was $60,000.

"No one could believe it," he said. "No one foresaw that."

This year's Relay for Life is set for June 11. The overnight walking/running event is set for the track at the Diamond Jenness Secondary School.

"It's a high-energy and high-emotion night," Larocque said. "At the end of the day, you're giving people hope, and that's the main goal."

The Lions Club is looking for participants, volunteers and entertainers for Relay for Life.

Larocque said the support for Relay for Life shows what Hay River is all about.

"I don't think I want to live anywhere else," he said.

Larocque was born in Fort Resolution, but has lived in Hay River since he was 10 years old.

Today he is a 44-year-old father of two.

Until January of last year, he was executive director at the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre on the Hay River Reserve. Now, he works as a program adviser with the NWT Housing Corporation.

Larocque also serves on the Hay River District Education Authority.

The Hay River Lions Club officially has about 10 members, although some are more active than others. In the past, the club has had up to 20 members.

Larocque said, like other service clubs, the Lions would welcome more members.

"As long as you've got a commitment to helping your community," he said, "that's all we ask."