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Could it be the lake water?
By Cam Tait
September 5, 2006
The Labour Day weekend is a great way to start back to the fall grind. But they say it's Labour Day. So how many times do we sit back on the beach enjoying a campfire on the Saturday of the weekend, thinking about how we're going to celebrate Labour Day? You get my drift. So from The Nobody Asked Me Department, I have a suggestion of how we could turn the September long weekend into a four-day weekend. And it might remind us of our priorities.
Why not tack Community Day onto Labour Day? It sounds like a plan to me. Make it a holiday and ask people to really think about doing something in their community. It could also be a good time for charities - especially around September when all the fall campaigns are coming up - to get a few extra things done. But Community Day wouldn't just have to be limited to fundraising campaigns. It could be visiting someone in the hospital, or cutting your neighbour's lawn, or helping (you fill in the blank.)
And here's where I think it might be the most interesting: we could share the weekend with our families, doing all kinds of fun stuff, like going for that last water ski of the season, followed by a family dinner. The next day we could take a few hours for ourselves and think of Labour Day and how we could maybe even become better employees - really look into the future and consider what dreams we would like to chase.
Then, on the Tuesday, we'd go out to be a part of the community. Now, think about the foundation built into those four days. Sharing time with family is perhaps the most important priority there is, because if you have a good home background, everything else seems to run along smoother. Same with your job. When you're comfortable with your job, things become easier and you can probably gain confidence and new skills. And guess where you could share those new skills? With a community group. Why not?
I appreciate and understand why we have National Volunteer Week. It's a great chance for volunteers to be recognized throughout the country and a chance for others to be inspired by their work. But there isn't a call to action, really, to have volunteers help out on a certain day.
Community Day would do that. It could even become a family event that happens year after year. We have come to know Labour Day as the last weekend of summer. (I can hear the groans from all over the country.) And it is good that we salute that. I just know there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who really care about their community. I also hear the countless queries of, "where's a good place to help?" Community Day could do that. Who knows? It might even help people find that 'good place' to volunteer on a regular basis.
Community Day could be a great day to begin the new fall season. Send me your feedback. Does this make sense to you? Would community groups support it? Or should we just leave Labour Day alone? Or, perhaps better yet, should I just wheel down to the beach and have another shot of lake water and come up with a different idea?
Cam Tait is a sports reporter for the Edmonton Journal. He covered charitable issues for almost 20 years. Thoughts, comments, ideas or a simple hello are welcomed at cam@charityvillage.com.
Opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CharityVillage.com®.
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