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2019 Canada Winter Games Volunteer Centre opens

Apr 21, 2018 | 5:17 PM

Officials with the 2019 Canada Winter Games Host Society marked the opening of their Volunteer Centre with an open house on Saturday.

Held during National Volunteer week April 15 – 21, the event gave central Albertans a chance to visit the centre located at the Ing & McKee Insurance office on Bremner Avenue and check out the volunteer opportunities available for next year’s Games.

Scott Robinson, Chief Executive Officer, 2019 Canada Winter Games says they will need over 5,000 volunteers in place once the Games begin.

“Everything from social media bloggers, to ticket takers to transportation and medical services,” explains Robinson. “We have areas like food services and village operations and of course sport operations and event services, so there’s over 40 different areas that you can get involved in. It’s exciting because it’s really for everybody.”

According to Robinson, over 1,000 people have already registered to volunteer for the once-in-a-lifetime event, with well over 100 more registering during Saturday’s open house.

“We’re tracking on where we thought we would be,” states Robinson. “For anyone whose thinking about volunteering, the sooner the better, it gives you a better chance at different opportunities as well. I think the more we get people on board early, it helps us to prepare and plan and make sure everybody gets everything that they need to have a great experience.”

He says anticipation is truly building in our community with the Games now less than 10 months away.

“Every month we seem to have something now where we’re being more public,” exclaims Robinson. “This is a great example today with a Volunteer Centre opening. It just kind of gives you a sense, you can see when people are coming in, they really want to be involved, they’re excited about the opportunity and they’re excited to learn more about, so it gives us some energy and it’s exciting and just going to continue to be.”

Visiting the 2019 Canada Winter Games Volunteer Centre will give current and prospective volunteers access to a number of services, including assistance completing their application, having their picture taken for their accreditation, getting volunteer program related questions answered and completing steps along their volunteer journey.

Hours of operation for the 2019 Canada Winter Games Volunteer Centre are Tuesdays through Thursdays from 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

The 2019 Canada Winter Games take place in Red Deer February 15 – March 3, 2019.

For more information, click here.