Great Summer Games needs people power

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This article was published 14/11/2016 (3491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The organizers of the 2017 Canada Summer Games want your help.

The event, which takes place in Winnipeg July 28 to Aug. 13, 2017, will feature 16 sports, more than 250 events and a major cultural festival. Organizers need 6,000 volunteers to make it all happen.

“We know what makes this city great is the people, and that’s motivating me to want to get Winnipeggers and Manitobans engaged,” says Daniel Lussier, chairman of the volunteer-engagement committee and a volunteer himself.

The event is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017. Organizers want to make it spectacular for the 4,000 athletes who are competing and the 20,000 people who are coming to cheer them on.

“We need all the support and excitement and enthusiasm we can get, and we’re hoping Winnipeg will step up,” Lussier says.

Colleen Jury is one Winnipegger who has already stepped up. The 63-year-old retiree began volunteering in the Games’ volunteer-recruitment centre this past August.

Jury says her interest in sports, coupled with her experience volunteering at the Manitoba Summer Games in Minnedosa and Neepawa in 1992, led her to get involved.

“I’ve never been involved in a sporting event at this scale, so it’s very exciting for me to see how it’s all put together,” she says.

Jury volunteers once a week, providing support for the activities that happen in the recruitment centre. That includes helping people apply to become volunteers.

A recent highlight for Jury was meeting an 80-year-old man who came to the centre to apply. It was an inspiring encounter.

“When I’m his age, I want to be like him: still involved,” says Jury, who grew up in the small farming community of Oakville then spent most of her adult life living in Minnedosa.

“Things don’t happen in smaller communities unless there are volunteers,” she says. “This experience in the recruitment centre has shown me that same spirit exists in a larger community.”

Lussier says his committee is looking for people to volunteer in a variety of capacities.

“We really want to match the volunteer’s real interests with the jobs we have available,” he says.

To that end, he encourages anyone who is interested in volunteering to sign up as soon as possible so the volunteer-engagement committee can get to work with the screening, training and scheduling involved.

People can fill out an application form at 2017canadagames.ca.

In recognition of Manitoba’s diversity, and the fact the Games will take place on Treaty 1 land, organizers are looking for 1,000 volunteers who speak both French and English, and they hope to attract at least 500 indigenous volunteers as well.

Lussier wants volunteering at the Games to be a memorable experience.

For Jury, it already has been.

“It’s just been incredible to see how busy people are already with volunteer activities but want to continue to support the city through helping with the Summer Games,” she says. “We have a lot of people in the city who are passionate about volunteering.”

If you know a special volunteer, please contact aaron.epp@gmail.com.