They live among us; every day we run into them on the street and at the stores without even knowing. They're volunteers.
In recognition of National Volunteer Week April 23 to 29, last Wednesday the local community showed their appreciation for the people that offer their time and effort to make Bonnyville a better place to live.
“They're the drive of the community. They run the organizations, without them we wouldn't have the supporting groups and organizations,” said Diahann Polege-Aulotte, Bonnyville FCSS community programmer and event organizer. “You don't get paid as a volunteer. This acknowledgement, it's just a small token of thank that we can give to the volunteers.”
Hosted at the C2 field house, the volunteer appreciation event was an opportunity for local groups to not only thank their volunteers, but also recruit some more. Organizations from the Girl Guides to Protection for the Unprotected set up booths to show residents the benefits of volunteering.
“For us, we don't have any paid responding members. We're all volunteers. If nobody volunteers then we wouldn't have a fire department,” said Laura Regenwetter of the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority's Bonnyville station.
With around 35 volunteer firefighters, and an allowance for up to eight junior firefighters, the local department is always looking to bring in new faces. In addition to Tuesday night practices and being on-call to respond, the members play a vital role in the community by promoting public education through the schools and open house. They also further volunteer their time around town through events such as the sidewalk clean up.
“It just feels good to help out and know that you're doing it for your community. It gets you contacts around town, business owners, people in the community; you're always out there helping,” said Regenwetter, who has been a volunteer firefighter for three years.
“I thought it would just be a cool thing to do. I'm from here so I thought it'd be nice to help the hometown, get involved, and meet people.”
Currently the only responding female, she encouraged anyone who's interested to give it a try.
“We're definitely always recruiting. Stop by the fire hall or come to Tuesday night practice and check it out to see what it's like.”
At the Bonnyville Boys and Girls Club, volunteers are relied on heavily to run their various programs and give children a safe place to go after school. Serving 63 kids, the club has around 10 active volunteers, but they're always looking for more people who are willing to share their talents.
“If you're good at crafts or knitting, kids would love to participate with different people in the community… We're really looking for more talents, especially men. We would love to have some guys to show the kids how to play hockey or do ‘boy stuff,'” said executive director Patty Cowden, noting they also are on the hunt for volunteer board members as well.
Providing the funding for the volunteer appreciation event was the Lakeland United Way. A solely volunteer-run organization themselves, president Colleen McEntee knows first-hand the impact people who donate their time can have.
“Volunteers are people helping people; without volunteers jobs don't get done. The majority of the work that's done in the world is volunteer work. It's done unpaid; it's done for your satisfaction and the satisfaction of other people.”
The Lakeland United Way raises money, which is them distributed to groups in need of funding in the Bonnyville – Cold Lake area. Currently, they only have four executive members, along with volunteers that come together to assist with special events.
“We're really looking for some Bonnyville directorship. This year, we allocated more than $209,000 and over $120,000 of that came to Bonnyville. With that kind of money coming to Bonnyville it really does need representation… We want the people of Bonnyville to be involved in those decisions as well,” explained McEntee.
With so many charitable organizations and not-for-profit groups in the area, there's always someone looking for more volunteers. If you're wanting to get involved but don't know where to start, Polege-Aulotte said the best thing to do is ask around.
“Ask your friends and neighbours where they volunteer, see what's out in the community… You can meet some amazing people, learn some great skills, and enhance yourself.”
