Boards and committees need more volunteers to join the fun

Two community boards, the Communities in Bloom Committee and the Community Services
Advisory Board, recently presented to the Whitecourt Town Council to provide updates on last
year and share their strategic plans for 2025. Both boards had successful years but highlighted
an important issue: a lack of volunteers.
One of the Communities in Bloom Committee’s (CIB) initiatives returned over the summer and
was very well received by homeowners. In the past, the “Love Your Yard” campaign featured
nominations from CIB members for community yards they felt displayed a beatification effort, be
it a small, well-kept flower bed or a full-decked out green-thumb-loved yard.
This year, the campaign allowed community stakeholders and the public to join the fun and
nominate their fellow community members. “It was a neat development that started. People
would go through our website or talk to me at the Millar Centre and let us know that they had a
neighbour with a beautiful yard, and they wanted to recognize them,” explained Kelly Sadoway,
Manager of Recreation, Arts & Culture. She added that they received positive feedback on the
program.
The Communities in Bloom provincial evaluators were back this year. The community was
judged in August, as CIB and Council members toured the judges throughout Whitecourt and
showed them what the municipality had to offer. But the results still haven’t been released due
to a last-minute change. “The provincial awards for CIB were cancelled as not enough people
attended, so we don’t know how we did yet, but we’re hopeful that we did great. It was a fun day
getting to show off some stuff. We have a great community, so it was easy to brag,” said
Sadoway.
In cooperation with the Whitecourt and District Public Library, CIB held two composting
workshops. “At those workshops, we distributed composters. We helped give people a head
start in learning how to compost and then having the means to compost by having a composter.
It was pretty cool,” explained Sadoway.
The group has plans for next year, including putting out way more Love Your Yard signs,
continuing their partnership with the Whitecourt & District Heritage Society, and promoting
composting and recycling at community events. However, they need more volunteers. “It’s not a
very big committee and, probably like lots of committees we talk to these days, volunteer
numbers are an issue. We are limited to the projects we can do by how many people we have in
our ranks,” said Sadoway.
She said there are ideas of things they would like to do, but they need help to do them. Ann
Blackwell, CIB member, joined Sadoway for the presentation and said the problem needs fixing.
“We do have a lot of problems with volunteers (numbers). It’s a major problem right now.
Hopefully, we can find some more people who are interested.”
Councillor Derek Schlosser, who has sat on the committee in the past, asked if the volunteer
issue was due to people not wanting to sit on the board. “Are more people hesitant to come to
meetings and commit to that meeting thing? Or is it projects and an overwhelming number of
things to do? We found a little bit of success when I was on CIB, when we had projects. If we

had a small project, people would come out and do a work bee. They were happy doing that,
but they didn’t want to sit on a committee,” he said.
Blackwell said that people wanting to do work, but not monthly meetings was a common theme.
“One of my friends said the same thing. They didn’t want to sit in for a meeting. We did have a
volunteer sheet written up, and we called ten or fifteen people, and they would say great, I’ll be
there, and no one would show up. It doesn’t work as well anymore.” To which Schlosser
responded, “That’s pretty frustrating.”
The Community Services Advisory Board chair, Brigette Moore, presented next and echoed the
same sentiments. “Community groups are always saying how there’s a lack of volunteers.
People are too busy. I don’t think it’s a lack of wanting to, just a lack of their own resources and
availability,” explained Moore.
The Community Services Advisory Board (CSAB) is one of the busiest boards, with members
helping with community-minded events and programs, including recommending
changes/upgrades to Festival Park, the creation of events and programming, and helping dish
out money to deserving groups. One of the most popular programs at the AJMC, Doors Open,
expanded this year and saw an over 200 percent increase in youth attending it.
This year, CSAB helped create the town’s first Whitecourt Youth Week. “Even though it’s one
week, it’s a start,” said Moore. She added that events that feature food, like cooking, especially
with seniors, remain popular programs. She credited town administration for “keeping their
thumb on the pulse and seeing what people are wanting.”
Moore explained that aside from the lack of volunteers, the three other most important issues
facing Whitecourt from CSAB’s purview were financial strain due to inflation, a need to carry out
projects in the Sportfield Master Plan and a need to increase support for arts and culture
organizations and community arts and culture programming.
Speaking to financial strain, Moore said they could see it when comparing paid and free
programs. “(It) sometimes means a decrease in the use of paid programs. However, the free
ones have skyrocketed in their participation. Those are definitely appreciated.” She added that
community groups are feeling inflation, too, with costs for goods and services.
Residents interested in putting some of their time towards one of the boards or committees in
the community should check out the Town’s website or call the Town Office. Communities in
Bloom is looking for several members to join the fold and are a lovely bunch. Call the AJMC to
learn more.