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SCOTT SCHMIDT
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Less than two weeks remain until the start
of the 2008 Alberta Summer Games in Medicine Hat and the host
committee is having its first major issue since being awarded the
event four years ago — they desperately need more
volunteers.
“We need them, we can’t
function,” said volunteer manager Henk Hof. “For
instance, in the athletes villages we need people to work midnight
to six in the morning.
“We need them, we have to have them
otherwise that village can’t operate or we have to have
people working 24-hour shifts.”
In April the committee estimated 3,000
would be an ideal number of volunteers to run the Games. In June
they said 2,200 to 2,300 would certainly provide a comfortable week
— the same number used by Red Deer in 2006.
Currently the count sits at 1,539.
Hof says they are closer to the amount
they need than it looks.
“I would think we need somewhere
just below 100 (more),” said Hof, who says 15 of those are a
must for the villages. “Somewhere around there and that
should do it.”
The extra volunteers must be signed up by
July 31 because background checks must be done.
The number isn’t a cushion either.
That would only get the group to the bare minimum.
The volunteers already signed up are
looking at covering what Hof says is around 3,000 different duties,
meaning jobs are doubling up.
To volunteer for the Games, the committee
asks that you contact the Games office at 403-581-2008. |
