Winnipeg, MB - At an event this morning, Councillor Mike Pagtakhan honoured the excellent work that Winnipeg's community centre volunteers do by helping to provide recreation service to our communities.
“We’re so fortunate in Winnipeg to have a contingent of incredible volunteers who manage and operate our community centres which are providing a broad range of sport, recreational, and leisure activities to our residents,” said Mike Pagtakhan, City Councillor for Point Douglas and Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Protection, Community Services and Parks. “I’m committed to ensuring that our volunteers get the recognition they deserve, and have access to digital tools that can make volunteer planning easier.”
Working collaboratively with the General Council of Winnipeg Community Centres (GCWCC), the City of Winnipeg has made a web-based volunteer management software system available for community centres to use. The goal of the software is to provide community centres with a tool that will make it easier to schedule and communicate with community centre volunteers.
“The system has been a great asset to our Community Centre,” said Steven Bemrose, General Manager of R. A. Steen Community Centre. “The Centre has been able to incorporate it into many aspects of operations, including programming.”
To show appreciation for community centre volunteers, the City of Winnipeg and the GCWCC developed a Volunteer Appreciation Award, which includes a $100 City of Winnipeg Healthy Living recreation facility/Leisure Guide program credit. Each Community Centre is welcome to nominate up to two volunteers annually for this award.
“This is just a small way that we can honour our community centre volunteers who do such amazing work to run our clubs,” said Councillor Pagtakhan.
The credit can be used towards any of the following activities:
- Drop-in admission
- Facility passes for general admission during public hours at any City of Winnipeg aquatics facility or leisure centre
- Active living passes for general admission during public hours at any City of Winnipeg aquatics facility or leisure centre and for any City of Winnipeg drop-in Active Living Class
- Facility rentals, including room rentals, ice rentals, birthday party rentals, etc.
- Leisure Guide activity registration
- Merchandise such as goggles, swimming caps, earplugs, etc.
To use the credit, volunteers can visit any City of Winnipeg aquatic or leisure centre, register online, or phone 311.
The City of Winnipeg is committed to ensuring diverse, safe spaces at our community centres, and volunteers help to achieve that goal. In order to support volunteers, an online cultural sensitivity video was created to help capture Winnipeg’s rich cultural diversity, and to enhance awareness and build cultural bridges among volunteers and community centre patrons.
Over 17,000 volunteers run the City’s 63 community centres, which amounts to more than 1 million volunteer hours contributed to recreation. For more information on the City of Winnipeg community centres, please see City of Winnipeg - Community Centres.