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KCR: No experience necessary

These columns are contributed by the KCR Community Resources
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Jane Fletcher isn’t a swimmer, but for the past 10 or so years she has been actively working as part of the hard-working, purely volunteer run Interior Savings Across the Lake Swim event.

“I used to sit around the meeting table with all these fit swimmers and feel out of place,” laughs Jane, “but I had skills they didn’t.”

Jane has enjoyed sharing her skills as a volunteer coordinator because she is strongly connected to the values that the organizing committee share.

“What makes this group of volunteers so great, to me, is they respect each other and no one area is more important than the others,” explains Jane. “They love the volunteers, and appreciate them, which is what you need in an organization that relies on them.”

The 74th anniversary of the swim, which is the largest and longest-running open water swim event in Canada, takes place on Saturday, July 16, starting on the Westside and finishing at City Park. Since the beginning, the event has been more of a demonstration of swimming ability than a race, with newly minted swimmers and seasoned racers testing what they have learned and mastering the 2.1 kilometer distance.

The event also helps to raise funds to send every student in Grade 3 in the school district to swim lessons at the YMCA. To date the non-profit society that organizes the local lake swims has raised over $145,000 and sent over 16,000 students for lessons.

While a core group of about 20 people organize the Across the Lake Swim, a full team of over 100 volunteers is needed to make the event itself run.

“Volunteers make the event safe, fun, and run smoothly,” says Jane. “They assist with putting up and taking down fencing, tents, tables, and signage. They monitor the City Park parking lot, assist swimmers leaving the water, and run the gear tent along with many other smaller duties.”

“Volunteers are everything,” adds Jane. “What has been hard, is our volunteer population is aging out and since the event doesn’t fall during the school year, it makes it hard to recruit students who need to complete their volunteer hours. I rely on the TELUS community ambassadors and Kelowna Sunrise Rotary Club, both of which I belong to, to provide the bulk of the help.”

Helping is simple and requires a very limited time commitment on either July 15 for set-up and race package pick-ups or July 16, the event day, says Jane. “Our only requirements of volunteers is that they be friendly, mobile and able to complete their 2.5 hour shift.”

If you are interested in getting involved learn more at https://acrossthelakeswim.com/volunteer/volunteer-positions/ and you can sign up directly for a shift, or contact Jane at volunteer@acrossthelakeswim.com. As an added bonus, all volunteers have the chance to win their very own SUP (stand up pad

Dorothee Birker is the communications and development coordinator for KCR Community Resources. If you are interested in sharing your volunteer or organizational news, please contact Dorothee at dorothee@kcr.ca.

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