Giving back to the community through volunteer work has been ingrained in Joanne Nicholson since she can remember.
Both her parents were active at the local Buddhist temple since she was a child and her father was active at the Steveston Community Centre, when first established. One of her first volunteer experiences was in the early 1980s, when her younger sister asked her to participate in a pilot project that would see girls participate in scouting for the first time. Nicholson did, as a scout leader. When she started having kids, she got even more involved with volunteer work, juggling work and family life.
“I saw my parents volunteer throughout their lives and I fell into that,” Nicholson said. “Whenever my kids were involved with something, such as swimming, soccer, lacrosse or Judo, I got involved.”
The special needs educator started volunteering for the Steveston Salmon Festival about 10 years ago, when her children were taking judo at the community centre. She feels volunteering builds a stronger community and helps people feel fulfilled.
“There is more to life than than the daily grind and paying the rent,” Nicholson said. “People more and more are talking about having a balance in their work and personal life and when you volunteer, it takes you out of just thinking about you, and gives you the opportunity to think about others, which is a great benefit to them and to you.”
For the Salmon Festival, Nicholson has primarily helped with the preparing and serving of the chow mein, which is about as popular as the salmon bake. It takes up to 70 volunteers two days to chop the 600 lbs of vegetables that are used to make more than 2,000 servings of the dish, and a further 65 volunteers to sell and serve it.
Nicholson’s three children are now grown up with the oldest being 27 and the youngest 18, but she still continues volunteering at the event.
“We have a lot of fun,” Nicholson said. “And when you get to know each other, this becomes the one time you can see everyone again.”
Volunteering for a number of organizations, she has seen the number of volunteers drop over the years. While young people must volunteer for a certain amount of hours in order to graduate from high school, she wonders how volunteer work became something almost forced upon us instead of something people just want to do.
“When I got involved with volunteering, it wasn’t you have to have so much hours for high school,” Nicholson said. “It’s not just about getting that magic number for school.”
Nicholson added that without volunteers, the offerings at the Steveston Community Centre, such as swim clubs and the various martial arts courses would be unaffordable to most families.
“The costs are kept low because a lot of people are volunteering their time and knowledge,” Nicholson said. “Hopefully this will continue. Volunteering builds a strong community and strong ties to it, which is what people look for when deciding where to live.”
