By Taylor Chartrand

Medicine Hat community arenas need volunteers

Nov 16, 2018 | 1:57 PM

Medicine Hat- A favourite past time here in Canada is to lace up the skates and hit the outdoor rinks.

Unfortunately, that may not be able to happen unless volunteers start surfacing here in Medicine Hat.

Randy Taves is the manager of the Parks Department here in the Hat and says it’s fairly typical to have a shortage of volunteers at this point in the season.

“We’re certainly short on our volunteer numbers this year,” explained Taves. “Not only do we need rink assistants but we need rink leaders as well. Basically, we’re looking for people to take care of these facilities on a day-to-day basis.”

Taves was then quick to point out that the City of Medicine Hat will make sure their volunteers are taken care of.

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“We will train them so they know how to do the task at hand and have all the equipment that they need. We will also provide all of  the necessary supplies. All we really ask for is that the volunteers supply the labor. We try to make sure that any expenses are not coming out of the volunteers pockets.”

Taves then added that if we have a really heavy snowfall, the city is also prepared to help volunteers out  if they need any additional services like larger equipment.

So, how many outdoor arenas are there and how many volunteers does the city actually need?

“Well, we have a number outdoor rink locations and frozen ponds throughout the community. I’d say there is about 12. Of those, we’ve probably got about 7 high-profile locations that we’re still looking to get volunteers for.”

Taves said if these roles are not filled, it’s worst case scenario for those looking to hit the ice. 

“It’s simple. If there are no volunteers, there are no rinks opened. That’s the way the program works.”

Now let’s say you volunteer and decide it’s not for you.

“Well, that becomes a problem,” stated Taves.  “We ask that they would line up some sort of replacement or we’ll make a general inquiry to the public. If say someone were to have a medical emergency and couldn’t continue, the city simply could not pick up this work. We’d just hope like heck that someone within the community would step up and take on this task.”

Taves finished his statement by saying this:

“Our only appeal is that we’re still looking for a number of volunteers for some of the busier arenas around Medicine Hat. We would hate to see these areas not have skating like they have in years past.”

If you’re interested in volunteering to keep these public facilities going during the winter-months, you can contact the Parks Department at 403-529-8333.