The image of a true volunteer
April 25, 2005
By Cam Tait
We'll never really know whether, 25 years ago, when a curly-haired
kid from the Vancouver area dipped his leg into the Atlantic Ocean,
he was planning the event to coincide with National Volunteer Week.
Nevertheless, it's fitting that the annual week that honours and salutes
Canada's volunteers is the same time of year when we celebrate Terry
Fox. It was especially evident this year, it being the silver anniversary
of Terry's Marathon of Hope.
What do you think of when you hear the name Terry Fox? Hero might come
to mind...and for all the right reasons. Terry is a great example of
what we can achieve when we follow a dream. We could also call him a
visionary, someone who could see what was possible, something that could,
and surely did, make a difference.
Terry was also an athlete. He ran 75km a day. But for the most part, we really don't view him as
an athlete and, still to this day, I wonder why we don't.
He was compassionate and wanted to keep his run at a very grassroots level. He
refused corporate offers, saying it might distract from his priority.
It's interesting how times have changed. How many people in
today's marketplace would say the same thing?
Terry was a fundraiser. Absolutely. Even though his instrument was running, the
key to the deal was raising funds to beat cancer. Now, a quarter of a
century later, the Terry Fox Run remains one of the largest fundraisers for
cancer research and care.
So Terry was a lot of different things. But I really have to wonder
if people think about the one thread that kept Terry's roles in line.
He was a volunteer. Terry Fox wasn't paid; he didn't go through a job
interview with the Canadian Cancer Society. He wasn't sponsored by a
running shoe company or a motor home dealership to advertise their product
down the TransCanada highway. And he didn't compete against other runners
from across Canada to have the right to do the Marathon of Hope.
He did it of his own free will. It was his idea, his vision, his way
to make a difference. And what a difference he made - not only by raising
millions and millions of dollars for cancer research, but by becoming
a great example to us all. Terry's strength and dedication is something
we all can learn from and something we all can try to achieve at certain
levels in our own lives.
We've debated and asked the question of how we can recruit and maintain
volunteers in a country where volunteers are slowly leaving their roles. There
are, to be sure, some practical and philosophical reasons that professionals
far more versed in the subject than me can bring to the table.
But whenever we wonder if volunteers can make a difference, all we have
to do is close our eyes and picture this: a hill in the background,
a light drizzle of rain, red and white flashing lights, a young man
on the shoulder of the highway, hopping along, never stopping, always
looking straight ahead. As he comes closer to you, you see the determination
in his eyes, and the odd wince of pain on his face, but his actions
tell the entire story. When he's within earshot you hear the thump of
his prosthetic leg hitting the pavement hard, and you secretly wonder
how he can go on.
That's a volunteer in the truest sense.
Cam Tait is a sports reporter and columnist for the Edmonton Journal. He covered community investments and volunteers for 19 years. E-mail Cam at cam@charityvillage.com with thoughts, suggestions or ideas.
Opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CharityVillage.com®.
