Executive Director's Message

by Rick Henderson
Interim Executive Director

In case you missed it, last week was 'National Volunteer Week'. You might have missed it because it was probably sandwiched between 'National Neuter Your Dog Week" and 'West Nile Virus Awareness Month'. It's hard to keep track.

Anyway, if instead, you were paying attention, you would certainly have seen our ads alongside hundreds of others thanking the many volunteers in and around the community for all of the wonderful work they do.

So what exactly do community volunteers do anyway?

Volunteers are out there doing all of the good works that volunteers do - all the good stuff that never catches the headlines. Some deliver meals to shut-ins, some are candy stripers working at the hospital, others sit on administrative committees in our schools. Not dramatic … not sensational … just a lot of things that would never get done if it weren't for the tireless and relatively thankless work of volunteers.

But we all know that volunteers are also hard to find. Why is that, you may ask? Perhaps it is because people are so busy trying to keep body and soul together that finding the time to volunteer is a challenge in itself. Or, could it be that people have never found their niche in the volunteer world?

So, if your niche is usually a little less traditional, could you be looking to volunteer in the political arena?

How does sitting at a provincial table, rubbing shoulders with some of the best minds of the most experienced people in the English-speaking community sound to you? Or, how about preparing and presenting a brief, on behalf of your community, to a Parliamentary committee?

The volunteers, who sit at our Board of Directors table, often get to experience community politics from these fascinating points of perspective and many others.

West Quebecers' activities quite often immerse our volunteers into some truly interesting work that touches every corner of our vast region and sometimes takes us to every corner of the province. With modern communications, our network is amazingly extensive and with it, we're getting better plugged into every aspect of the social and political fabric of our community every day.

We have always had a good number of young people sitting at our Board and that certainly benefits our association and the community as a result but it also is a great benefit for the young Board members as well. Many have learned to cut their political teeth at our table and have gained invaluable experience that they take into their future careers.

Sitting as a member of our Board of Directors, a student, in the past, may have participated in some very ambitious - even groundbreaking - campaigns such as fighting to get a new community college built (Heritage College) or building a tourism strategy around preserving a scenic train track (The Wakefield Steam Train); both were enormously successful campaigns of ours.

Today, Board members, young and nearly young, are working on some new campaigns like fighting for English services in the new city of Gatineau and working on a Task Force of the Global Development Plan for the English-speaking community of Quebec. They are working on dossiers that will continue to build a regional and provincial network of community associations so that the community's access to services and programs in health and social services, education, heritage and arts and culture can be improved.

Is this better than candy striping or more exciting than the school committee? No, not at all … but it might just be a better fit for some people and it certainly is a terrific opportunity for a young person looking for experience to put on their resume.

Our Association needs committed volunteers to serve on our Board of Directors and our committees. If you think you'd enjoy exciting and interesting discussion that leads to real community-building action, then give us a try. The Board meets only five times a year … but we'll let you work harder than that if you really want to. There's more work to do than we can ever get to.
 

Communications		Page 2 of 11