Every day in Jasper, a host of individuals donate their time, ideas and energy in an effort to make the community a better place. This year, National Volunteer Week runs from April 6–12, and to mark the occasion the Fitzhugh is highlighting six volunteers who have sweat behind the scenes to ensure your plate is full at the community dinner, your trails are clear and accessible, and that the Jasperites who need support get it.
Ted Turnbull:
Nearly every week for the past three winters, Ted Turnbull has taken Sunday evening off work to prepare food for the community dinner at the Jasper Activity Centre.
The 30-year-old first volunteered at a dinner as a favour for organizer Patrick Mooney three years ago, and he was blown away by the event. He remembers seeing “the entire breadth of Jasper” sitting down for a meal together, and thinking how great it was.
“I know what it takes to get through the long, cold winters. Getting a sort of home-cooked meal can bring a smile to people’s faces,” he explained.
And Turnbull said that even though he’s been helping to cook them for three years now, he hasn’t once sat down to a meal himself. It’s not that he doesn’t trust his own cooking, he jokes, it’s just that he wants to make sure there’s always enough for everybody.
“I can remember being at a dinner where we ran out—and I’m not there to get food, I’ve got food in my fridge. I just think that if I have a plate myself it could be a plate that we end up being short,” he said.
“Having been in Jasper as long as I have I’ve been extremely lucky in the people I’ve met who have done things for me, and it’s the least I can do to pay a little bit of that back.”
Bob Worssold:
If you’ve ever strapped on your skis and made the trek up to Shangri-la—that magical little cabin tucked into Jasper’s woods—you should thank Bob Worssold.
After a trip to the cabin decades ago “left a mark” on him, Worssold became one of its biggest proponents. He has volunteered for years as the de-facto maintenance guy at the cabin, and when the Maligne Lake Ski Club formed to facilitate trips there, he joined the board as treasurer.
“I volunteered quite a few days of my life out there, but they were without a doubt some of the best days of my life,” he said, explaining how a trip out to the cabin can be a life-changing experience.
“When you take a difficult ski trip with people you create a bond. Sometimes that lasts for a decade, and sometimes it just lasts for the weekend. But, you know what? If you see them 10 years from now and you’re sitting in a bar over a beer they’ll always remember their first trip to Shangri-la, and that’s a pretty unique bond between people.”
Worssold said the cabin is a remarkable place that helps forge lifelong friendships and promotes a connection to nature, and he is proud that he has helped more people experience that. “I believe people will remember the experience forever, and that’s my reward as a volunteer,” he said.
Kathleen Tyrrell:
In a world where too many bad things happen, Kathleen Tyrrell is doing what she can to make a difference. Tyrrell likes to keep up with what’s going on in the world, but said it’s so easy to get depressed by it all. So she works to combat that by making a difference here in Jasper.
“There’s so much going on in the world that you can’t control, and it’s so sad if you just sit and think about it and feel powerless. So I just get out and do something.
“I can’t help things in Syria because I live in Canada, but there’s places that need help all over—even in my own backyard,” she said.
And Tyrrell does a lot to make her backyard a better place. Along with her volunteer work with the Jasper Community Action Team and Jasper Food Bank, she puts on a lecture series aimed at giving the town’s senior’s access to interesting speakers.
With a proud smile she explained that she’s organized workshops on the healing power of music, dealing with depression and anxiety, and has plans for even more workshops in the future.
“It’s easy to think that there’s not much to do, but there’s always ways you can help,” she said.
Chiharu Nakata:
She’s only been in Jasper for a short time, but Chiharu Nakata has already made a big impact on some of its citizens.
The Japanese physiotherapist came to town about five months ago, and has been volunteering at the Alpine Summit Senior’s Lodge since she arrived.
Staff at the lodge say Nakata is a “a little ball of sunshine,” and that residents took to her right away.
And why wouldn’t they? Nakata said she spends time at the lodge three or four times a week, doing activities and excursions with the seniors there.
She explained that she loves talking with residents at the lodge because she learns so much about life, history and nature from them.
“They have good experience. They have been alive for a long time. So I hear about all their experiences. It’s good for me,” she explained.
And while many with Nakata’s level of English might have been intimidated, she said she doesn’t let her language barrier get in the way. She said that when the seniors don’t understand her she writes notes back and forth with them instead of speaking.
“The seniors in Alpine Summit are very kind [and] they teach me a lot of things,” she said. “They are always smiling and it makes me happy.”
Rachel Baker:
Rachel Baker is a born and bred Jasperite, whose volunteer work is felt across the community. She’s spent most of her life in town, and says she’s been volunteering here for “a long time.”
These days you might find her down at the Alpine Summit Senior’s Lodge helping call the bingo game, or testing her pipes at the sing-along. Or maybe you’ve seen her cruising through town, picking up collection boxes and putting up posters for HIV West Yellowhead.
Right now, Baker explained, she and the rest of HIV West Yellowhead are also working hard to prepare for their biggest fundraiser of the year—the Spring Fever Ladies Gala.
In fact, she loves helping out so much that she has to consciously make an effort not to get involved in too much—to give herself some time to relax.
After she graduated from Lakeland College’s Transitional Vocational Program—which teaches life skills to individuals with special needs—a few years ago, Baker started giving her time to HIV West Yellowhead, an organization she said she loves being a part of.
“I just like the environment—whenever I get in there I get happy, because all the people are so nice,” she said, “it’s pretty amazing.”
Dale Rhyason
Dale Rhyason has been coming to Jasper National Park for nearly his whole life. For 50 years he’s camped here in the summer and gone skiing in the winter, and he continues to spend time here to this day.
Coming to the park several times a year, Rhyason, who lives in Folding Mountain, eventually found himself a member of Friends of Jasper, although he jokes that in the beginning he really had no altruistic motives for joining.
“You know what did it, is the fact that we did a lot of shopping at the store. So one of the things that first attracted us was that you get a discount,” he said with a laugh.
But once he and his wife became members, they started volunteering their time, and quickly grew to love and respect the organization and its board. So when he was asked to chair that board a few years ago, he took the job on with pleasure.
And he took to the work with fervor. As chairperson, Rhyason explained that he is expected to put in about 10 hours a month, but usually goes well beyond that.
“I enjoy it—and I’m a strong believer in if you’re going to do it, do it right. So I probably spend more time than I need to,” he said.
“I have a lot of respect for the organization. And since getting on the board, I have even more respect,” he said.
