By Don Rider
When asked to discuss my involvement as a community volunteer, I was reluctant because I felt the attention should be going to the worthwhile community causes and not to shine the light too brightly on individuals like me. However, when Steve said that the purpose was to demonstrate how easy and fulfilling being a community volunteer is and that it might strike a chord with some of the readers to become more active in worthwhile community activities, I agreed to share my experiences. I hope my story of life as a volunteer will inspire you and others to get involved or more involved with causes, because they need you more than ever.
My personal story is really a lifelong journey of volunteerism through the sporting community.
As a young child I was encouraged by my parents to participate in a variety of youth sports such as hockey, baseball and soccer and it was there that I saw first hand the important role the volunteer convenors and coaches could have in a child’s life. My favorite coaches tried to make it an enjoyable experience for all of the participants as they endeavoured to blend skill development, teamwork, and a positive competitive spirit mixed with fair play and good sportsmanship.
I can remember my very first coach, Max Free, who coached our Little League baseball team of ten-year-olds in the community of Omemee. I do not remember much about the games but what I do remember was his kindness and encouraging nature which he displayed and then the highlight of the evening was his taking the whole team of boys to the local convenience store and buying us all a soft drink of our choice and mine was always a bottle of Orange Crush.
Developing as a teenager into becoming a person filled with self confidence and self worth is not an easy task and often in our journey we may be fortunate enough to meet some amazing mentors that have made all the difference in our personal growth and development. I thank Ron Augustine my high school football and wrestling coach for his patience and encouragement in helping me to gain confidence in my abilities and to enjoy the effort of self improvement as an athlete and as a young man.
It was during my high school years that I participated in a few community walk-a-thons to held raise funds for humanitarian causes dealing with hunger in a variety of African countries dealing with famines. Why did I get involved?
Two of the main reasons were that many of my teenaged peers were volunteering and I enjoyed doing things with my friends but it also resonated within my inner being that this was the right thing to do.
As a child I was taught in church about the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
It feels good to do good. It is that simple. It does not matter whether you are a small child or an elderly senior, when you do good you feel good.
If we look within our communities many of the most active groups involved with enriching our communities are our church groups and international clubs such as the Rotary, the Lions, and Optimist clubs just to mention a few. Each of these organizations’ goals are to improve and enrich the people within their communities.
For me, as I was fast approaching adulthood, I began a personal search for the meaning of life, and it was at this juncture that I began an earnest searching for a reality of God in my life and of His role in mine. This search led to my personal conversion as a Christian and after graduating from High School I volunteered through my Church congregation in Peterborough, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to become a missionary for two years in England. This provided me with countless opportunities for community service while serving the British people. It was there that I truly learned that a fulfilling life is a life of service to others.
My specific Christian faith does not have a paid clergy but uses a lay ministry as well as member volunteers to serve in all the positions of the Church for the betterment of the whole congregation and the local community.
It was while serving in my Church family that I came across the most influential mentor and friend that I could possibly want and it was as I interacted with him that I saw the man that I desired to emulate and try to become.
Wayne Ferguson was a successful businessman, a husband and father of a large family and a person that you wanted to be around. Wayne provided the encouragement, coaching and, if necessary, even the transportation for the athletes to participate in a variety of athletic tournaments throughout.
Wayne was instrumental in promoting the local Coats for Kids community outreach program in the Peterborough community. Wayne sponsored a variety of sporting teams in multiple sports within the Peterborough community including many of the hockey teams that I would head up.
Wayne taught religion classes to the young married couples as well as the college and university aged adults. I too would have this assignment 35 years later.
I was privileged to be assigned with Wayne to be ministering companions as together we would visit elderly shut-ins as well as widows and single mom families each month, offering assistance and encouragement.
This good man became my real-life everyday hero and what is truly amazing is that today Wayne is 92 years of age, and I am 72 and we are still serving as visiting companions. Our friendship has become one of deep admiration and love one for another.
Following his example, I have had the privilege of serving as the Athletic Director for Central East Ontario for our Christian churches from Kingston to Scarborough where we ran monthly sporting tournaments for youth 12 years and older as well as for the adult men and women in a variety of sports. While serving in this capacity I saw that regardless of age, the enjoyment for healthy participation in sports produced a feeling of accomplishment and was improving the quality of life that the participants were seeking.
Very few people have had the opportunity to live the life of a high-profile professional athlete. These athletes are in the public eye and, if so inclined, can use their platforms to promote worthwhile causes which they are drawn to. I experienced this first-hand when I had the opportunity to work with Christian members of the Toronto Blue Jays’ Garth Iorg, Luis Gomez and Jerry Garvin of the then newly formed professional club. When invited, these good men would come and be guest speakers at our annual athletic awards banquets. They encouraged youth and adults alike to be proactive in living a healthy lifestyle and to pursue a life long interest in their favorite sports whether that was as a participant, a coach, a convenor or as a fan. I have taken their advice to heart and have participated in a wide variety of sports throughout my life but focused mainly on ice hockey and soccer which I continue to enjoy to this day.
For most of us our motto could read as Work Hard and Play Hard as we find careers and employment outside of the sports that we enjoy and allow them to be a fun and rewarding part of our lives.
My dear wife and I have been blessed to raise a family with three beautiful daughters and as parents we encouraged them to participate in whatever activities they were interested in pursuing. The girls played recreational and competitive soccer and I feel that they too have seen the value that sports can play in life as they have our six grandchildren involved in a variety of sports and activities, and as grandparents we have become their biggest cheerleaders.
The much-admired and well-documented model for all challenged individuals, Helen Keller famously once said, “I cannot do everything, but I can do something.”
It is our somethings that best define volunteering. You and I may not be able to change the whole world but together we can make a positive change within our own communities and our personal worlds. When volunteering, I suggest you choose things that you enjoy because it doesn’t seem like work when it is something you are passionate about. Start small and become a part of the whole. You are not being asked to run these volunteer organizations but just to pitch in and be a part of the solution in making a positive difference within your community. An example for me was our Church group identified assisting the Five Counties Children Centre as a worthwhile agency in our Peterborough community which assisted with the physical and communicative abilities for children.
Our church’s Women’s Auxiliary began a Christmas gift wrap service at Peterborough’s Lansdowne Place Mall for many years where the volunteers would gift wrap Christmas presents for a fee and the monies was donated to this worthwhile cause. My wife Liz and I started to volunteer to help and over a course of many years our efforts assisted in raising thousands of dollars for this wonderful community agency.
In 1998, I was called to become the lay minister of our Peterborough congregation and I began looking for ways to offer community service in the Peterborough community. One day I was reading our local newspaper which had an article highlighting the Kawartha Food Share food bank and of how the shelves were getting bare and their urgent need for donations. I felt a strong impression that this is where we could assist and when I presented this proposal to our congregation to which they unanimously responded to participate. A committee was organized, and we began the North Peterborough Food Drive which was met with great enthusiasm by the residents of the North End and each year we successfully collected between 6 to 8 tons of food for Kawartha Food Share. Seeing volunteers from all ages working together in a happy and co-operative spirit to assist with those less fortunate in our community to acquire nutritional meals was rewarding and inspiring.
Today, amazing organizers and hundreds of volunteers — including students working to acquire their 40 hours of community service for graduation requirements — have enlarged the food drive to twice a year and it now covers the whole city of Peterborough as well as smaller communities throughout Peterborough County.
Pandemic-induced actions
Issues created by the COVID pandemic and the drastic rise in the cost of food has created a greater need then ever before for food and financial donations for Kawartha Foodshare and food banks across Canada. Do not hesitate to call or email your local food bank to see how you can volunteer.
It is a large undertaking to spearhead a large group of volunteers to assist with a large community need. However, it is easier than you might think to make a difference if you volunteer to do something on a smaller scale, in which many small contributors can and will add up to having a large impact upon our communities. If you are already having a fun activity for your family and friends, think about extending an invitation for members in your neighbourhood to become involved. Here’s an example.
About six years ago my wife and I sold our family home of 40+ years in Peterborough and purchased a new home on Rice Lake where we are spending our happily retired senior years. We began to invite our family and friends to the lake on Canada Day and, in the evening, we would stage an amazing fireworks display. About four years ago as I was ordering the fireworks, the idea came to me that I could invite all my neighbours to view the fireworks at our home and then to ask them to either make a financial donation to Kawartha Food Share or to donate non-perishable food items for the cause. I printed off invitations which I delivered to my neighbours’ mailboxes inviting them to participate. It has become a popular event and fundraising success, and we normally collect about 500 pounds of food as well as cash donations of about $1,000.00. That may not seem like a lot of money but Kawartha Food Share can purchase approximately $6.00 of food for every dollar donated due to their many contacts within the food industry. A thousand dollars can purchase $6000 worth of food. I keep a list of all donations made and send the contact information to Kawartha Food Share, which sends all the donors a receipt for their charitable donation which can be used on their tax return. A win-win for everyone.
Another example of how we can do something worthwhile by piggy backing on things we are already are doing.
I am presently serving as the president of the Peterborough Seniors Hockey Club (PSHC) a not-for-profit recreational hockey club for those aged 55 and older and includes several participants who are well over 80 years of age still playing the game of hockey. The club comprises 19 teams covering three age divisions and runs from mid September to the end of March each year. The emphasis is to encourage all participants to enjoy fitness, fun, and friendship.
This past year we have had the untimely death of four of our members due to a variety of health issues and accidents so as part of our grieving process we decided to institute an educational bursary on their behalf to remember and honour these good men. The PSHC has created an annual bursary for $500 to a deserving student seeking post secondary educational pursuits. The criterium for consideration is that they have combine academic and athletic excellence at their high school as well as a demonstrated need for assistance. This idea was taken to the league executive which approved this worthwhile endeavour.
As president of the PSHC, I can say it does take a lot of work and effort but recently a player thanked me for all that I was doing and asked me, “What do you get out of all of this?”. As we were walking the hallway of the arena past the dressing rooms, I responded, “Listen, what do you hear?”. It was the sound of players chattering, laughing, telling stories and socializing. I responded, “That is my reward. The sound of everyone socializing, enjoying each other’s company, still playing the great game of hockey.”
I have recently been elected to my second term as a Board of Director member for the Ontario Senior Games Association (OSGA). This organization promotes an active lifestyle for all senior men and women 55+ years of age while promoting the social well being of all participants. The organization offers friendly competition at Ontario Provincial Summer and Winter games covering over 30 sporting activities which all seniors can enjoy. The top two teams from each event then qualify to represent Ontario at the Canada Senior Games (CSGA) which are held on even numbered years, with the next Canada Games being held in August of 2024 in Quebec City.
In August of 2022, our Peterborough Mens 70+ ice hockey team represented Ontario at the Canada Games held in Kamloops British Columbia and though we did not medal we did have an amazing time together with our teammates, our provincial team and interacting with fellow like minded Canadians.
On my office wall is a framed quote which emphasizes what I feel is the true value of sports. It reads as follows:
The Real Value of Sport
The duration of an athletic contest is only a few minutes. While the training for it may take many weeks, months or years of arduous work and continuous exercise of self-effort.
The real value of sport is not the actual game played in the limelight of applause, but the hours of dogged determination, and self discipline carried out alone, imposed and supervised by an exacting conscience.
The applause dies away, the prize left behind, but the character you build is yours forever.
When I examine my life and look at what sport and volunteering have done for me in my character development, I believe they have assisted in helping me to see the true merit of teamwork and the needs of others.
Sports are played within specific rules to ensure the safety and fairness for all participants. This has assisted in my willingness to follow the rules of civility and the rules of law within our society. Sport has shown me that not all players have the same skill set but regardless all are striving for the same goal of winning the game. Sport has taught me that at times when I have done my very best and given all my effort that I may still lose the game. Winning and losing are both part of life and being a gracious loser is as difficult as being a humble winner. Understanding that there can be no game without the opposition and that they are not the enemy but a necessary part of the sporting process. Setting goals and striving to reach them often with a variety of outcomes.
I have spent a lifetime enjoying a wide variety of sports which have introduced me to an amazing array of wonderful people, and it has led me to volunteering and helping in my community.
How do I see myself and what do I want my legacy of remembrance to be? We all want to feel we have succeeded in life but depending on who is doing the assessing many may feel less than successful. Today people are too often judged successful by the size of their home, the number of vehicles in the driveway, the size of their bank account, the number of degrees from academia etc. Using these criteria alone may leave people feeling less then adequate or successful.
However, I would use a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote a statement entitled Success, which I feel offers each of us the true recipe for feeling self-worth and of living a successful life.
SUCCESS
To laugh often and much
To win the respect of intelligent people
To win the affection of children
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
To endure the betrayal of false friends
To find the best in others
To leave the world a bit better
Whether by a health child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition, to know even one life has breathed easier, because you have lived and this is to have succeeded.
Using this as a model for success we each can meet these requirements. In conclusion I would like to share a quote that has motivated me in my development and in my journey of “my becoming” which is a call to action:
If not you, who? If not now, when? If not here, where?
We can each be a part of the solution to the problems or concerns within our respective communities and it all starts with each person making the decision to wanting to become involved. I commend all that are making a positive difference by volunteering in your communities and invite those less engaged to come join the fun and remember: It Feels Good to Do Good!
Donald Rider is president of the Peterborough Men’s Senior Hockey League. Before retiring, he worked as a production and inventory control specialist at Canadian General Electric in Peterborough. He also worked in Quality Assurance at General Motors Canada in Oshawa, Ontario. He has a Diploma: Manufacturing Studies, General Electric Peterborough, Ontario; a Bachelor of Arts History/Psychology (Trent University, Peterborough Ontario); and, a Bachelor of Education (Queens University, Kingston Ontario)
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