The Humboldt Broncos are more than halfway through their regular season. Soon it will be playoff time, and before you know it, the month of May will be here.
That's when the team hosts the RBC Cup, the national Junior A hockey championship that will be played out at the Elgar Petersen Arena, May 5-13, 2012. It's an event that hosts teams nationwide, but the success of the event depends a lot on volunteers, and they are still being recruited.
What are some of the advantages of being an RBC Cup volunteer?
Humboldt resident Susan Saunders, who is chairing the volunteer committee, spoke from past experience about the benefits of volunteering for these kinds of events.
"You meet so many people, friendly people, and you meet people from all across Canada," she said. "It leaves you with a good feeling that you have accomplished something and you've made new friends.
"It's also a way of giving back to the community, especially for kids and students, she added. "It sets them up to learn the benefits of giving back to your community through volunteering, and you learn lots of different things that you wouldn't normally get involved with."
At last count, 115 people had signed up to volunteer for the event.
Saunders says they need more than twice that number, about 280 in total.
"We're having a blitz night Tuesday, January 24, from 7-9 p.m., in room No. 3 at the Uniplex," she told the Journal. "We'll have laptops set up if people want to register online, and criminal checks will be done again. They just need to come with two pieces of ID."
Saunders said they will also have samples of the volunteers' uniform for them to try on at that time as well, for proper sizing. All volunteers will be provided with an RBC Cup jacket and shirt.
This year, the committee is asking each volunteer for a $50 deposit and to guarantee a minimum of 12 hours volunteer time during the event. They will shred the cheque, or reimburse the volunteer if they pay with cash, once the event is over.
"We're just trying to cover ourselves," Saunders said about the deposit, "because they (previous RBC Cup organizers) have run into problems with that kind of thing before.
"Obviously if something were to come up, such as a health issue or a death in the family, that would be different," she added.
The committee will accept volunteers from age 15 and up, and Saunders is hoping to get students from the schools in the area to participate.
"We're going to need parking attendants, or help selling programs, and we need mascots, too," she noted.
Training for all positions will be held sometime in March or April, Saunders says. As well, they will be having a volunteer lunch in April, and an appreciation supper for all the volunteers after the event, all of which has been fine-tuned with Hockey Canada.
Anybody that signed up at the 2011 Humboldt Trade Show and any of the city-wide registrations still need to go online and fill out an official volunteer application.
"You may have put your name in and signaled that you were thinking about volunteering," Saunders cautioned, "but you still have to fill out the official volunteer form, as is required by Hockey Canada."
Simply go to the website for Hockey Canada, click on National Championships, then 2012 RBC Cup. Under the heading "Events" is the option for a Volunteer Application. There is also a link on the Humboldt Broncos website.
