Right in the centre - Not always as it appears

Details

Published on Thursday, December 15, 2016

By Ken Waddell

The Neepawa Banner

Over the years, I have personally experienced many situations where things weren’t always as they appear. In business, in community work, in our personal lives, we are always learning more about how things work. I have learned for example, that in politics, it is about ability but it’s also about availability. Fortunately, we get some very competent people into politics, but we lose out on the contribution of many competent individuals because they may not be available. Maybe they are too busy to get involved or too timid to step forward.

In community work, it is much the same, so we often miss out on getting the most opportunity in our communities and our activities, because many are simply too busy to get into volunteer work. Volunteer work was the backbone of rural Manitoba communities at one time. It still is to some extent, but it is definitely dropping off. It has been reported in studies that people over 50 volunteer a lot more than those under 50. I believe that is generally true but it wasn’t always that way. I started volunteering in Neepawa when I was 22 years old. Many who volunteered at that same time are still doing so, but there aren’t nearly as many 20 to 40 year olds volunteering as there used to be.

There may well be a good reason, as most households have both adult members out working so that is part of it. That said, many years ago, women who worked outside the home in employment or self-employment were also the mainstays of volunteering in their community. 

One of  the major changes in people’s lives and community and volunteering is that home is much more often the fun place to be. Home wasn’t always the “fun” place to be. Sure, home was where you spent time with family and where you ate and worked. There are far fewer farm homes today than 50 years ago, but a farm home was also where you worked, sometimes long and hard.

To have fun and meet people you needed to “get out of the house” to do stuff. That might have been attending a lodge meeting, going curling, skating or watching a ball or hockey game. You might go to the fair or a sports day. 

Today, perhaps, not so much. With cable and satellite TV, iPods and iPhones, the “world” can come to you wherever you are. The upside is that we have an opportunity to participate in more things, to learn more, to be more informed perhaps. Not sure we are a lot smarter, but we certainly have a lot more information.

But what if the trend continues and local team sports are replaced even more with the big screen TV highlights plays of the week? What if we stay at home more and more all the while staying “linked in” to the electronic world? Just look at a group of people around family or friends dinner table. Nearly everyone is on their iPhone, in their own world. God help you if you interrupt to ask a question. 

It’s interesting to note that the highest level of hockey in Manitoba, after the Jets, the Moose and the Brandon Wheat Kings, is the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. There are 11 teams, including three in south-western Manitoba. On average, the 11 teams only derive 25 per cent of their income from ticket sales. The rest is fundraising. The income from ticket sales, from actual fan participation is even lower in the high school hockey teams and the senior teams. It’s the same all over. I watched a bit of junior hockey on-line this winter in an Ontario junior hockey league, as we a have grandson playing there. A recent game was was in a huge multi-million dollar arena that can seat 4,000 people. The game involved the highest level of hockey available in that community and there might have been 200 people there. I have come to the conclusion that, as a community, we want lots of things happening but we have become so diverse in our interests that we must do things differently.

In order to keep our communities, our teams, organizations and facilities, we have to do a few things differently. We need to apply a strong business model to all our endeavours. We need to equip and harness the available volunteers. That’s right down to the person who can only give two hours a season to a particular team or event. We have to really examine our budgets on both the income and the expense side.

Most of all (And I haven’t even discussed this topic here) we have to quit being negative and quit fighting each other. I know I have ticked off a few people over the years and I am sorry, I apologize.

If communities are to stabilize or even grow, we need to re-think how we do a lot of things, but encouraging and enabling each other is the main key.