National Volunteer Week is fast approaching, and so is a new program that Jasperites can be a part of.

Volunteers Count! is a new endeavour to track all the volunteer hours in Jasper and across the province throughout National Volunteer Week.

While thousands of Canadians volunteer everyday to organizations and groups, Volunteers Count! is a way to measure just how many communities across the country volunteer.

Volunteers in Jasper can register online at Volunteer Alberta’s website, www.volunteeralberta.ab.ca, where they can submit their volunteer hours throughout National Volunteer Week.

Several events are planned for Jasper, including the volunteer banquet on April 18 at the Jasper Activity Centre. Volunteer recognition will be on display in the window of Super A, and the Jasper Adult Learning Centre will have a free course for the week.

“Collecting the data from volunteers and organizations on the ground, rather than through surveys, allows Volunteer Alberta to better represent Alberta’s diverse voluntary sector,” said Karen Lynch, executive director of Volunteer Alberta in a news release.

Some of these challenges she speaks of are significant, she said, such as the global economic recession, which has led to a large reduction in corporate community investment, personal donations and government funding. However, numbers still suggest that people continue to volunteer in Alberta, building on an estimated 214 million hours in 2007.

Volunteers during National Volunteer Week – which runs from April 18-24 – will be eligible for prizes for the organizations they support.