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Catching the Spirit Donors' Day Last Saturday, August 17, Catching the Spirit restoration camp was visited by several of the program's donors and sponsors, as well as CTV and CityTV news crews. They are all very excited about the program and wanted to know how the participants are enjoying volunteering in the Pacific Spirit Regional Park. This Donors' Day was especially for the donors and sponsors from last year's program; hence, Laura Winter, a returning peer leader from last year, and I, a past participant turned peer leader, had the honour of taking these dignitaries around for a short "tour." The program organizer, Mr. Ed O'Brien, picked us up from the campsite early Saturday morning to get prepared to meet the donors/sponsors. We came back to our trailer at the Park Centre to put up program's promotional posters from last year as well as pictures from this year. Mr. O'Brien didn't want us to organize the trailer too much for the donors, as they will probably want to see the trailer in its original shape. The TV crews soon arrived and wanted Mr. O'Brien to take them to the campsite to interview program participants and film them in action. Therefore, Laura and I were left alone to show the donors/sponsors around. At first, I wasn't quite sure that we would be able to make a good presentation, but as we went along and got to meet some of the donors/sponsors who are all very eager to hear about the program's progress, we relaxed and went along with the program. After the donors/sponsors took a look in our trailer, we took them outside to unveil a plaque and flower bed that we had set up to thank last year's donors/sponsors as part of the "ceremony." Then we took a short walk to Lily of the Valley trail, where we did some gravelling to resurface the trail. The donors/sponsors were most interested to know about how the program had affected our outlooks and what we thought the program did for the participants. They also wanted to know what kinds of work we do for the Park, how we like what we do, and what we thought about the work that we do. Then we took a drive to 16th Avenue and Sasamat trail to continue our presentation. We showed them the Huckleberry trail that we had resurfaced during camps this year. In total, there were about 25 youths, whom worked for 125 hours cumulatively, to resurface about 500 meters of trail. The donors/sponsors were rather impressed with our work. Then we walked a short while to this year's campsite at Camosun Bog (close to Imperial Road). In comparison with last year's "camp site" at the upper parking lot near the Park Centre, this was certainly a much better experience. We then visited the working volunteers at the Bog. The TV crew had already visited that morning, and now everyone was working hard. It was on this same day that we finally finished the Camosun Bog boardwalk! This was something exciting to all, as this was what the Camosun Bog Conservation group, various community groups, including last year's program, had been working on and off of the past little while. The boardwalk prevents the delicate ecosystem of the bog from being damaged further by Park activities. The Donor's Day was a success. The youths that I have met here are great assets to our community as they are all very eager to help in and around the Park, by patrolling, participating in the Park's management programs, and participating in restoration program. But altogether, this program would not have been possible without our donors/sponsors and we are all very grateful to our program donors/sponsors for making Catching the Spirit summer youth volunteer program possible for all interested youths to attend. |
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