April has been a busy month for the 2015 Canada Winter Games. As the countdown clock fell below the 300-day mark last weekend, the momentum continues to build. A number of initiatives were launched in preparation for the nation's largest multi-sport and cultural event coming to Prince George in February 2015.
National Volunteer Week kicked off the month of April, with the 2015 Games donating $2.15 to Volunteer Prince George for every volunteer who signed up. 205 new volunteers became part of Team 2015, bringing the total to over 3,000; our 2015 Games-time goal of 4,500 volunteers is in sight. An experienced team of volunteer hosts is just one of the legacies that will be left from the 2015 Games, prepared to host future national tournaments, meets, and races in the years to come.
Additionally, our new comprehensive volunteer registration system was launched this month. Volunteers who had previously signed up between 2010 (during the 2015 Games Bid) and March 2014 are now able to complete their volunteer profiles and choose their role, hours, week, and venue of choice during the 2015 Games. If you've received an email to register, or you're a new volunteer, simply go to the volunteer section of our website and sign up. All of our volunteers need to be signed up by October of this year.
Do you speak French? 10 per cent of our volunteer workforce will be bilingual during the 2015 Canada Winter Games. We already have 336 bilingual volunteers out of the 450 we'll need, but we welcome the opportunity to exceed national standards.
During the 2015 Games, we will host hundreds of elected officials, sponsors and senior sports representatives. Our VIP Gifting Program was launched last week and will provide these special guests with gifts of original art submitted by northern BC artists--an important aspect of telling the northern story. From now until May 9, we invite artists 13 years and up to submit photos of their art to the 2015 Games. Successful applicants will be contacted directly.
The 2015 Board of Directors was recently provided a summary of the excellent work done in our community by countless volunteers and local sports organizations as we hosted a number of national, provincial and regional sporting events. These test events were used by the 2015 Games to test our capacity. We reviewed areas such as the field of play, the training of officials, equipment, venues, signage, spectator seating, medical requirements, food services, transportation, ceremonies, results and information technology. Many of these test events wouldn't have come to Prince George if we weren't hosting the 2015 Games. While we took away key lessons, it was overwhelming to hear such positive feedback on the state of facilitates and how well organized our local clubs were in delivering these events. There were many notable quotes from the visiting teams and national sporting bodies. A few that stand out are: "...arguably one of BC's finest race runs," "...outstanding test event for the Canada Games," and "...went beyond all expectations." Finally, the Montreal Gazette commented, "The next World Cup snowboarder won't necessarily need to come from a huge mega-resort like Whistler Blackcomb or historic Red Mountain. Thanks to the awarding of the 2015 Canada Winter Games to Prince George, BC, he or she might come from the 800 vertical feet found at Tabor Mountain."
Now wouldn't that be a legacy to be proud of?
