Pipestone Flyer
The Wetaskiwin and District Heritage Museum will be paying tribute to all the many volunteers, past and present, who have made Wetaskiwin City and County better places to live, who have helped to build civic pride. A special program will be held at 1:30 pm, Saturday, June 14th. You are asked to submit names of those whom you would like to have receive a certificate as a representative of those many volunteers. You may submit names, including your own, by a phone call to the museum (780-352-0227) or drop into the museum and fill out a Volunteer Tribute Form by June 6th.
Volunteerism has been an integral part of this area from the very beginning. In the early Pioneer Days, it was called “helping out” or “being a good neighbour.” Whatever needed doing got done, whether it was building a house, building a barn, or taking off a crop when a farmer was injured. It was a way of life. A lot of that informal volunteering continues, enriching the lives of all it touches and making the community a better place to live.
As the years have passed, the realization has grown that many goals are better achieved if we organize to work together, so boards for not-for-profit organizations came into being and proliferated. These volunteer boards are ultimately responsible for the governance and operation of programs serving the community in a multitude of areas. Some raise additional funding for hospitals, for many types of medical research, for support of patients and their families, and for other health based needs. Some focus on learning and enjoyment in the areas of music, theatre, arts, crafts, and culture. Sports programs outside of schools are dependent on boards and volunteers to operate. Parent groups work to raise funds and to enhance learning opportunities in the schools their children attend.
There are the Family Resource Centre and the Wetaskiwin Community Literacy Program. The list can go on and on. A quick count revealed over 90 such volunteer boards in Wetaskiwin alone, and most of them also are involved with considerable volunteer work beyond the board level. It is fair to say that the quality of life in a community is determined by the amount and quality of the volunteerism in the community. Volunteers have a huge roll in building a community to be proud of, in building civic pride.
Therefore, it is very appropriate that tribute be given to all volunteers, past and present, by presenting certificates to as many representative volunteers as names are brought forward. The Wetaskiwin and District Heritage Museum would like to have those names by June 6th.