Good turnout for Smoky Lake County Rural Crime Watch AGM

By Irene van der Kloet

On March 6, Smoky Lake County Rural Crime Watch Association (SLCRCWA) held its annual general meeting, and as usual with AGMs, it was a night for awards, appreciation and education. Appreciation for all the school children from Smoky Lake H.A. Kostash School, Holy Family Catholic School and Smoky Lake Hutterite Colony who had submitted posters in the poster contest. The winners’ posters were collected for a calendar available through SLCRCWA (check their Facebook page). Usually, the province would put on this contest for a provincial calendar, but this year that was not the case, and as not to disappoint the kids and appreciate their talent, SLCRCWA decided to put on the contest themselves and create a Smoky Lake County Rural Crime Watch calendar. Apart from an award, each winner received a gift certificate donated by local businesses. The highlight of the evening was a presentation by Vicky Shaughnessy from Volunteer Alberta. Volunteer Alberta is a provincial organization that works with volunteer centres and helps develop best practices for recruiting and retaining volunteers. “Who all volunteers?” she asks the audience. Many, if not all, hands went up. “We distinguish between formal and informal volunteering. Formal volunteering is a process with many checks and balances; informal volunteering is, for example, donating to charity or doing anything voluntarily to better the community. Reasons for volunteering can be many; we found most people volunteer because of the social benefits, sometimes career and personal benefits (it looks good on your resume if you have volunteered), and mental and physical health benefits,” she explains. What was interesting to hear was that the demographics of volunteering are changing. It used to be that older people were volunteering, but they seemed to burn out, and now younger people are volunteering. There are changes in motivations and expectations: where people would volunteer for “anything,” the trend is now toward volunteering that aligns with an individual’s values. Vicky emphasizes several critical components of the recruitment and retention of volunteers. “First of all, supervision and support are key. Keep your volunteers growing and developing. Anticipate volunteers’ needs and debrief them on why they leave and their experiences. Another key element is engagement and recognition. Offer new training opportunities and new roles, and solicit feedback”. One of the many questions is whether volunteers should be paid an honorarium. Some groups do that for volunteer positions that take up a substantial amount of time, such as club secretary. This group may discuss this at another time. Vicky’s presentation shows that volunteering needs a group’s attention and care; volunteers must be engaged in the cause, for which this AGM was an excellent opportunity. Next on the agenda were the reports from several related groups, like the RCMP and Fish and Wildlife. Eric Graf von Platen, Fish and Wildlife Officer, is leaving the region for a different position, and someone else will take his place, so Smoky Lake County will not be left without a Fish and Wildlife Officer. The audience thanked Eric for his service. Last but not least, it was time for volunteer recognition and service awards. Russell Petryshyn and Lori Tychkowsky received an award for their service (each five years), as did Marlean Skoreyko and Patty Franchuk (each 15 years), Danny Savic, Gerald Babichuk and Penny Tychkowsky (each 25 years) and Trevor Tychkowsky (30 years). The AGM was also an opportunity for the association to recruit new members. New members will be added to the fan-out to update them on crime in their area. With 36 people attending this AGM and an engaged audience, the SLCRCWA can look back on a successful evening.