55+ BC Senior Games 2015

I was asked by a friend who worked in First Aid at the stadium to help her organize and schedule medical volunteers. She was the Medical Director and my title was the Medical Volunteer Chair Manager. Our medical committee consisted of our Director and three other Medical Chairs who would serve as Team Leads.  This event is formally known as the BC Senior Games.

My role was to manage the volunteers and schedule them as they signed up. Problem was that no one was rushing to sign up. We didn't have group committee meetings so keeping in the loop about things was challenging. In the end, two of the Chairs had left the group and the Director left with only a couple weeks before the event. The worse part was that I had less than ten volunteers signed up less than a month before day 1. In a desperate effort, I Google every first aid training centre in the greater Vancouver area so I could email them and hopefully find volunteers. I received some emails back that they were posting my poster in their kitchen to get some eyeballs on it. However, there was a man, named Derek, who emailed me back and expressed that this was the type of event he was looking for. Training firefighters and paramedics need experience working with different patients and working with seniors was one on their list. He worked at Firemedix and offered to organize a list for me with volunteers. In the end, he sent me 40 medical officers. This was enough to keep the games going if managed properly.

The only other Chair left in the group, whose name was Steve, was quickly promoted to Medical Director and we got together and worked on the schedule as he had more medical knowledge than I did and understood their roles better. After a couple meetings at Starbucks, we came up with a schedule that worked.

The event ran from Aug 25-29th. The games cauldron was lit in North Vancouver at the shipbuilders yard.

The volunteers that showed up were wonderful to work with. We had some broken teeth, collapses and bumps and bruises to deal with but thank god, nothing major. We were based out of the Harry Jerome Centre. Every morning, they would show up, get their assigned shifts and pick up their medical equipment and then head off to their locations. I was very impressed with their professionalism.

On the last day, we had a crazy strong windstorm. I woke up a bit later that day so I could bring somosas for my team. It was bright and sunny in Surrey. As I got closer to North Van, I noticed the dark clouds and the wind. By the time I reached Harry Jerome, there were many small branches strewn about the roadways and the wind was getting stronger by the minute. We checked on our volunteers in each location as the storm got worse throughout the day. One of our volunteers reported back that a tree had just fallen on a house across from where he was. Others at curling and hockey were reporting power outages. The hockey game at the Canlan Ice Sports Centre was postponed once the power went out and was re-located to the Harry Jerome Centre where we were. I made sure my staff was safe and fed them somosas as they returned one by one. Then I sent them home as it really wasn't safe outside.

Steve and I stayed behind until the hockey game ended at our arena. We packed up our room and loaded our cars while we waited for the game to end. We had a paid medical team looking after the players. Once the game was over, we took our supplies back to the headquarters and unloaded everything. Then we decoded to go to our volunteer party which had already started an hour before we got there. We were recognized, given some gifts and fed burgers and salads. Steve didn't stay long as he got called back to the firehouse he volunteers at. I wasn't surprised considering the chaos going on outside because of the storm. All you could hear were the ambulance, fire trucks and police car sirens going off.   I didn't stay too much longer after he left.

I'm glad I got to work with such amazing people on this event. I learned a lot from them.

FIFA Womens World Cup 2015

Anyone who followed Women's soccer was here. Even if they didn't, they were still there. This was one of the biggest events we had hosted this year. This event attracted fans and media from all over the world. I was a Volunteer Manager for this event. I dealt with uniform distribution, registration, scheduling and troubleshooting throughout the games.  At times I would fill in as a media host. I volunteered during non match days because I worked the games during match days at the stadium.
The event itself ran from June 6 - July 5, 2015.

The event started off with a kick off event at an Adidas store on Granville street. They showed off the volunteer uniforms and invited all volunteers to show up. It was in the middle of the day during a weekday so not many were able to get time off work to show up but some did, including me.

My uniform was the full kit and more. It came stuffed inside a small black backpack. Inside was a pair of shorts, a pair of black pants, two red shorts, an inside jacket, rain jacket and a hat to wear. We were also given a three pairs of socks and a pair of shoes. Everything was branded by Adidas.

There wasn't much going on non match days. Marketing was mainly in the building replenishing product and making sure signage was up. Volunteers working at the Fan Zone located at the corner of Beatty and West Georgia were also going in and out. Lunch was served every day and was catered by the stadium, so most people came by to eat. We played foosball and watched the matches in our lounge on TV. We had created a match bracket and the winner received a duffle bag full of soccer clothing and items. I was close. I came in second as I had chosen Canada to go through. Majority of the volunteers had lost when Australia won their match. I had chosen them to go through. In any case, it was fun.

When I worked in media, I was taken to the Westin Bayshore Hotel where my role was to sign in media and then I was asked to be a microphone runner for media questions during the session with the President of FIFA among others sitting in a panel. I wandered over to Jack Poole Plaza one day before my shift and saw the media centre that FOX had set up during the tournament. It was raining the day I went so there weren't many people around.

Game day was interesting. There were three fires reported blowing into downtown Vancouver all day. Thick smoke from Sechelt, Burnaby Mountain and Vancouver Island had also entered the building as the stadium roof was wide open that day. It was a USA final vs Japan and so we had many visitors from the States. There was a family from Florida who came for the games who looked out the windows at the stadium and felt a little uneasy not being able to see much. Science World had disappeared under the smoke. I told them not to worry cause the fire wasn't near. Apparently they don't have forest fires in Florida.

The volunteer party was held at the Electric Owl on Main Street. This was fitting as our FIFA mascot was an owl. We had lots of great food, wonderful company, raffles, photo booths and creative drinks for everyone. Two of my favs were the Voluntini and the FIFAtini.

Our volunteer gifts were just as amazing. A mini FIFA soccer ball, a silver medal, an Adidas coupon and pins. We also received a certificate for volunteering.

Overall, it was a great event and it was fun to see so many volunteers I know volunteering for FIFA. The atmosphere around the city was electric and the patriotism was fun to see. Japan fans were appreciated by stadium staff as they actually brought trash bags to clean up after themselves. In the end, the USA team won but all the women's team were appreciated by the fans.

Prince George Canada Winter Games 2015

After Grey Cup ended, I started to get excited about my next event. It was the Prince George Canada Winter Games 2015. One of my good friends and former Volunteer Coordinate who I look up to, Christine Nicholls, was working on this wonderful event with her friends Stu Ballantyne and Kalli Quinn. The event ran from February 13 - March 1, 2015.

This was the first time that this trio was working on an event without their usual management crew, being us, and we all wanted to be a part of it. Of course Christine and Stu made it happen. They arranged for a coach line to pick us up in various locations throughout the lower mainland and brought us up to Prince George for two weeks. We stayed with billets and had a great time. Some people went for two weeks and others stayed for the full four week duration of the games. I went for two weeks as I had to get back down in time for my Whitecaps orientation.

Some fellow volunteers and I who have been friends with for years went for the first two weeks. On the way up, we also made some new friends. I stayed with Christine for my duration along with her sister and a couple others. Once we arrived, we were sent to the Canada House for uniform distribution and to get our assignments. We had also arranged for Transportation to come pick us up in the morning. I was sent to the CN Centre to work in an administrative role. I found out shortly after I got there that they have no such role there. So, I hoped back on the Transco vehicle waiting outside and went back to the office to see Christine. She saw me right away and re-assigned me to the Athletes Village. This is where I spent my next two weeks.

We started at 6am and our shifts ended at 12pm everyday. This left us with the rest of the day to explore and enjoy the games. We watched many sports like Wheelchair Basketball, Gymnastics, Ringette and Speed Skating. We managed to get Christine to join us for a couple games with us.

We also roamed the pavilions and collected many pins. One of our favorites was going out to the Casino to get the five pin set collection.  We also traded pins with athletes and pin enthusiasts alike no matter how young or old.

Some of the fun had in the pavilions and offices.

We were also interviewed many times. While walking thru the village past the stage, we were interviewed by the host there. A few hours later, we learned that Jay Janower from Global wanted to do a segment on volunteers who follow Stu and Christine everywhere. My friend, Todd, was also interviewed on the street about the games for a local news station.

We had a blast. We met athletes who won medals, made friends with Transpo drivers and showed our appreciation for their service to us by collecting pins for them too, cheered on a girl from Ontario who played on the wheelchair basketball team and even cheered for her. "Ontari-ari-ari-o, Ontar-ri-o!" We went out for dinner one night and had a blast with our waitress. The menu was "Fresh".

We had a wonderful team at the village as all these people who I came up with, all had the same experience I did and we all ended up volunteering at the Athlete's Village and Hotel. There was a volunteer appreciation party on the Friday night before we left. We enjoyed pizza and partied in the village after listening to speeches and the awesome music. 

It was an amazing experience and I'm glad I went. I still keep in touch with my new friends and continue to volunteer with my old friends. The ride home started out early in the morning and was quiet most of the way as we all slept for a couple hours. We stopped and had lunch in Cache Creek before we continued back on the hwy. I was dropped off in the parking lot of the Langley UFO theatre where my brother picked me up. What a trip!

Grey Cup 102nd Vancouver Nov 26 - 30, 2014

As most of you know, Vancouver was awarded the Grey Cup after Winnipeg had construction delays to update their stadium in time. Vancouver had successfully hosted the Grey Cup in 2011 with the strong management crew I work with and we got to do it all over again.

In 2011, I was a Team Lead in Hospitality and got to be a part of many different events. This time, I was on the Management team and my department was Transportation. I worked with two amazing guys, Brad and Ray, who took care of the ground work while I handled all the administrative and scheduling aspect of it. It was a truly amazing experience. We were armed with a fleet of 28 SUV vehicles from Nissan. I started months before Ray and Brad as I was receiving requests for pickups and drop offs from the VIPs who were allowed to use the vehicles for airport to hotel runs.

From Players, Coaches, Mayors, major sponsors to CFL staff, my team was kept busy. While scheduling my driving/dispatching volunteers, I got to know some amazing people. Some of them have been loyal to Brad and Ray going back to the Molson Indy days and those relationships are still going strong. I was lucky to have all of them on my team. My volunteer family had only expanded.

The logo I used above was created by BC Lion, defensive lineman, Keron Williams.

 

Although I was the Transportation Manager for the Festival, I did work as a Team Lead at the stadium on game day. Ray and Brad handled everything wonderfully in my absence. One of the items they were pushing at Guest Services was a poster of Geroy Simon. We had lots of them.

 

 

I was really busy in the Transportation room at the Vancouver Convention Centre, where we were based, so I never really got to go out and see any of the festival unlike 2011. I managed to go out one night for 20 mins to check out the festival before they tore it down. It was freezing cold out but the Calgary fans I ran into didn't seem to feel it as they walked around in t-shirts and shorts. It actually started to snow lightly in Vancity during the week. It wasn't sticking downtown but as soon as I got back to Surrey, I found there was a major snow blizzard in the works and my car was buried under 2 feet of snow. Of course I wasn't prepared for it and ended up having an asthma attack while driving home at almost 2 o'clock in the morning. Good thing I carry my trusty inhaler with me where ever I go!

My days consisted of getting up at 5am and leaving home at 6am to get downtown for either 7 or 8am. I stayed in the Transpo room with my dispatchers troubleshooting and answering the phones all day. I left for home once the last car was back in the lot and usually got back home around 1:30am. Then I would go through many emails sent to me by the CFL regarding various things. Then I would send out emails to my team regarding things they need to know for the next day. Sometimes I would get to eat before sleeping or at least have a cup of tea. Bedtime was around 2:30-3am, whenever I winded down. After a couple hours of sleep, I was back at it again. Tough schedule, but I made it. I know Ray and Brad did the same. We got to sleep once the festival was done though.

Here are some souvenirs I was able to pick up. These black footballs were being tossed around everywhere. I managed to pick up a few for my toddler nephew.



Another item I was able to get was a toddler hat. I was able to get them signed by three BC Lions players. Adam Bighill signed the underside.  My nephew is 3 yrs old now and loves wearing it but not to preschool. He doesn't want it to get stolen. He loves my hat collection from the events I've done so I decided to get started on one of his own.

As the Transportation Manager, the Grey Cup Festival Committee treated us as a part of their group. We received these wonderful Grey Cup Festival duffle bags, pins and black Grey Cup jackets to wear. We were also treated to a nice dinner and raffle by the Operations staff and President of the Festival at Yaletown Brewing in Yaletown for all of our hard work.

Even though the BC Lions were not part of the Grey Cup, our city still managed to host another amazing and successful event and that's because the people I volunteer with are amazing people. The fans alone create the atmosphere and I know that from the emails I received from most of the VIPs after the event, they all had a wonderful time. I hope that everyone else did too! I know I did.