We are all guilty of, from time to time, taking the amenities of our community for granted.
Facilities such as Fort Battleford and history, natural history and art museums operate with various levels of government funding, but all have one thing in common - they would crumble and disappear without a dedicated corps of volunteers.
The Western Development Museum is just one example, but a press release this week puts that organization in the spotlight. The four WDM locations in Saskatchewan are reporting a whopping 61,592 hours of volunteer service. Of those hours, an astounding 7,325.5 were donated to the North Battleford location, placing it in third place ahead of Moose Jaw in the "most hours donated" standings.
Saskatoon heads the leader board at 36,415, followed by Yorkton at 9,387 and Moose Jaw at 6,521.
North Battleford has bragging rights for numbers of volunteers, however, with 521 reported. Saskatoon has 421, Yorkton 216 and Moose Jaw, 106.
The release provides an interesting breakdown of categories of activities to which volunteer hours were donated to North Battleford WDM: fundraising - 964; Gas Club - 1,443; Steam Club - 120; Car Club - 457; Horticulture Club - 48.5; education programs - 920; summer programs - 1,793; other special events - 632; promotions - 93; and planning workshops and meetings - 855.
Even at minimum wage those donated hours add up to a substantial sum - almost $68,000. Province wide the tally is $570,000.
The Battlefords is truly a "community of volunteers," and hats off to each to all of you, not just those who support the WDM.
