More than 170 volunteers from 30 sport, culture and recreation organizations in the city were honoured at the second annual Mayor's Volunteer Appreciation Reception April 24 at Gallagher Centre.
In his opening remarks, Mayor Bob Maloney stressed just how important volunteerism is to the community saying, "without volunteers nothing happens, including an SJHL championship," referring to the Yorkton Terriers' recent victory in the Canalta Cup.
Leslie Gosselin, manager of advertising and community relations for SaskEnergy, the reception's major sponsor, outlined the Crown corporation's commitment to volunteerism across the province and handed out certificates to ambassadors from each of the volunteer groups.
The highlight of the afternoon was a lively and entertaining presentation by Brenda Robinson, a consultant, author and speaker specializing in organizational training and development.
Her talk focused on the accelerating intergenerational nature of communities and the need to engage the vastly different styles and strengths of various age groups in order to keep organizations viable moving forward.
The bottom line, she said, in a world that changes too fast to ever catch up and in which there are fewer people to do more work is not to "do more with less," but to "do better differently, together."
She also stressed that Generation "I"-the matures and veterans who make up the bulk of the volunteer workforce and represented the majority of the people present at the reception-need to take a page out of the book of Generation Y (or Gen Why, currently the twenty-somethings), and have fun.
The Mayor's event was scheduled to coincide with National Volunteer Week, which ran from April 21 to 27.
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