I’m incredibly honoured to have the opportunity to spend time this week focusing on the people in our community who serve as volunteers.
Every April a week is set aside to acknowledge the impact of the many individuals, of all ages, who help friends and neighbours and complete strangers in their community. In Cochrane, volunteerism is stronger than ever, and the pandemic has only increased our residents’ commitment to helping each other.
Cochrane volunteers are well known for their many individual and collective acts of kindness which make us the envy of many other communities. When people move to or visit Cochrane, one of the first things they comment on is Cochrane’s friendliness and our culture of caring.
Volunteers are absolutely essential as our community runs on the goodwill of neighbours— You are the glue that keeps our community tightly knit.
Whether you devote one minute, one hour or several days each month volunteering, your contributions are truly invaluable. It doesn’t matter if you are part of a formal group, like a service club, or contribute to an organization with limited or no staff, or if you help out a neighbour now and then by shoveling their walkway after a snowfall— You all contribute to making Cochrane a caring community.
There have been so many challenges for everyone with the pandemic, but Cochrane’s volunteer power is full gas! In a normal year we could get together to celebrate, but this year again we have to be patient as we wait for the situation to improve.
For the time being, I am glad to have met many of our community’s passionate volunteers and look forward to meeting more of you in the near future.
The impact you have is life-changing and I thank each of you for being the foundation upon which our community is built!
Happy Volunteer Week from Town Council and Administration
