Today is International Volunteer’s Day, which means a great deal to us. SONG is run by a volunteer board and has more than 50 volunteers helping at any given time with rehearsals, accompaniment, fundraising, special events, concert program creation, snack distribution, t-shirt laundering…you name it, a SONG volunteer is doing it.
We tried to make a photo collage of our volunteers to thank them on this special day. Our volunteers are present at every rehearsal, meeting, and event related to SONG, but do you think we’ve got photos of most of them? Nope.
Why is that?
Our volunteers are the blurry people in the back of our pictures of proud SONG members mastering a new skill.
Our volunteers are the back row of singers in a concert group photo, as well as the caring adults scattered throughout the children singing and playing in the orchestra.
Our volunteers are the group of hardworking people seated around a board table each month ensuring SONG has the money to keep running and the support to run well. (As you can imagine, no one takes group photos at these meetings!)
Our volunteers are everywhere SONG goes, but they are never featured in pictures. Why? Because they always melt into the background to let our kids shine. Without exception, our volunteers have the children of SONG front of mind in everything they do. Their absence from photographs shows just how PRESENT they are as the backbone of our mission.
Today is a great reminder to us to thank our volunteers – and maybe one day we’ll get a group photo of the whole crew of them!
Thank you to each and every one of our volunteers:
Sally-Jo Aisbitt
Laura Andrews
Leslee Argue
Amelia Bowler
Miles Bowman
Cadence Brak
David Bryson
Denise Burnham
Laura Burnham
Lucy Caldwell
Ricardo Canlas
Mary Liz Clark
Sydney Cole
Abby Corkery
Carly Cunningham
Derrick Cunningham
Wernfrid Doll
Trish Dryden
Janet Dunk
Tanya Earle
Lisa Elliott
Christine Flindall
David Furuya
Laurie Gelfand
Barb Harnden
Rob Hearst
Dale Heffernan
Barb Henderson
Elizabeth Heon
Rachael Hinman
Brandon Howlett
Lori Latendresse
Alison Lester
Lynn Liddell
Merike Lugus
Meaghan Macdonald
Susan Main
Jan Marani
Jo-Anne McLachlan
Narissa McLean
Cathy Nevin
Jessica Outram
Andrew Randall
Carlotta Rutledge
Hudson Scott
Chris Sharp
Paige Skaliks
Hugh Stewart
Andrea Storm
Edie Stuart
Heather Stubbs
Barb Swallow
Dave Swallow
Louise Swallow
Diana Tipoff
Lee Vittetow
Janita Wiersma
Johanna Wiersma
Marjorie Willoughby