Volunteerism – once a hallmark of the community in Cochrane – is facing challenges.
Community groups involved in recruiting volunteers are finding it tougher and tougher to convince people to contribute their free time, regardless of the cause.
The phenomenon was most recently notable last week, when the Cochrane and Area Events Society (CAES) had to put out a last-minute appeal to the community for more volunteers to staff Canada Day celebrations.
In a normal year, they need 60 to 70 volunteers. As of noon on June 30 they only had 40.
On Canada Day a couple of kids games were not opened as planned, and a couple others closed a little earlier than planned.
Kailey Mitchell, Event Coordinator for CAES, was scrambling the day before Canada Day to find more people to help out.
“We certainly have a hard time getting volunteers,” she said. “I think people want to attend the event, versus being volunteers, especially because these events haven’t happened at this capacity for the last couple of years.
“I’m hopeful we have a few last-minute people step up and show up.”
Mitchell thinks people don’t realize that a lot of the events in Cochrane are put on by volunteers.
She has heard people talking over the years about how sad they were that the town is cancelling events, when lack of volunteers was likely the real cause.
“It takes the people who are passionate about the events and bringing the community together, who are taking time out of their lives, and they work full-time jobs,” she said.
Marni Fedeyko came to Cochrane 11 years ago and decided a good way to meet people and get involved in the community was to become a volunteer. She now is a realtor, town councillor, and volunteer.
Her latest volunteering effort was a few weeks ago when she put the word out for volunteers to take part in a clean-up day all over town, (which she had organized in previous years). She was a little let down that more people didn’t show up.
“I definitely noticed this year, a lack of participation, which as an organizer can be disappointing,” she said. “It leaves you a little down.”
She said it’s the same basic group of people who form the core of volunteers available for all events in Cochrane, and fatigue can occasionally set in.
The fact the town is growing in population so fast could be good news as far as availability of volunteers, Fedeyko added.
“If you’re new and you want to meet people, the best way is by giving back to the community – there’s no better way to meet really good humans,” she said.
She thinks one idea to help newcomers figure out where they might want to give some of their time would be to have something like a volunteer fair, which would help describe all the opportunities.
She said she meets a lot of new people when wearing her realtor’s hat, who want to get involved in their new community but don’t know where to start.
“I think it would be a great idea, whether the town puts it on or not,” she said.
“Because if we’re not careful, we’re going to burn out all these groups, then the events people love will eventually not exist.”
Melia Hayes is Program Director at Helping Hands Society of Cochrane and Area. They are short of volunteers because the demand for help has risen due to the pandemic.
“It has most definitely been a challenge. But I cannot say enough about how amazing the people who want to volunteer have been,” she said.
Through the pandemic, the demand for help with mental health issues created by isolation went way up, as did the need for help with everything from snow clearing to minor home maintenance.
So, even thought they have roughly the same number of volunteers as pre-pandemic, they need more to keep up with rising demand. Their client list grew by 57 per cent last year.
“I’m always recruiting,” she said.
They are particularly short of volunteers for their Movers with Heart program, which helps people in need to move their households within Cochrane.
For more information on Helping Hands, go to helpinghandscochrane.ca.
Ryan Baum of the newly-formed Rocky Mountain Rotary Club said the struggle to enlist new volunteers is something he noticed started getting worse about three years ago.
“In the past, it seemed like there were always enough volunteers for everything and now people are asking but aren’t getting the same response,” he said.
Baum’s not sure the recent decline in interest is fully pandemic-related, or even pandemic-related at all.
“You could blame it on the pandemic, with people staying in their homes and isolating from each other a little bit more, but I also think at public events like our golf tournament, people love socializing,” he said.
He likes to view the pandemic as maybe a positive influence, charging people up to get out and get involved in the community.
“I like to say they’re caffeinated. The people that want to socialize, the people that want to get out and volunteer, you’ve turbocharged them,” he said.
He said there are passionate volunteers who will continue to offer their time, no matter what the world’s situation is.
There are no easy solutions to the challenge of volunteer recruitment, and figuring out what role the pandemic is playing is also not easy.
“It’s a strange topic. It’s tough,” he said.
