This is National Volunteer Week in Canada, which means it’s the perfect time to celebrate our amazing team of volunteers!
Over the past few days, you’ve been hearing our volunteers on-air tell us why they love CKUA in their own words – a collection of stories that from amazing to heartfelt.
Despite not being able to get together for their traditional 6am-9am Friday morning phone volunteer shifts, Cam’s Hams have nevertheless come up with a way to share their inimitable volunteer spirit with us.
“Hop on, hang on and enjoy the ride!”
– Stu Muir, Cam’s Hams Volunteer
Whether doing data entry, volunteering during the fundraiser, working in the library, promoting CKUA at venues, or taking a group of students on a tour of the station, their contribution is essential and appreciated by all of us at CKUA. Although we can’t meet face-to-face these days, we know that our CKUA volunteers are still with us.
“In the late 60s and early 70s I occasionally used the educational programming in my classroom, as a teacher. I developed an appreciation for jazz while listening to Mary Lou Creechan’s program. When my parents visited from BC, the Candlelight and Silver program was usually on at mealtime. They raved over the lovely music as there was nothing like that in Kelowna at that time. So CKUA has been part of my radio listening life for many years. My volunteering is a way of giving back for all the wonderful music and interesting programming I’ve been privileged to enjoy.” – Johanne Kasha
Can you guess when CKUA had its first volunteer?
It was in 1927 – when W.W. Grant helped set up CKUA’s first transmitter. Since then, there have been hundreds of volunteers in almost as many roles. In 2007, CKUA held a special ceremony at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, complete with fancy awards and speeches. The celebration honoured all volunteers who had been with CKUA prior to the 1997 shutdown. Jill Day calls it her “JUNO”!
“I love to support CKUA and the joy it brings to our community of listeners. We are all connected through CKUA My efforts are rewarded 100-fold when people come to up to me and share a CKUA story when I am at an event volunteering. When I was manning the CKUA booth at South Country Fair, a woman came up to me and told me what CKUA meant to her and to thank me for being part of CKUA. A BC resident at the time, she had married a man from Alberta and moved here to live some years back. Her husband was an ardent CKUA listener and fan and had introduced her to the network. With tears in her eyes she explained that her husband had passed two years previously, and listening to CKUA always reminded her of him. We shared a hug and she smiled and went off to enjoy the Fair. CKUA can reach people on so many levels.” – Dan and Millie Prairie
“A number of years ago I was on the phones during campaign and a lady phoned in and said she had been in Alberta for a speaking function and had just discovered CKUA. And said it was the best station she had ever listened to. She had just crossed into Montana and lost the signal and asked what frequency she could dial too. She was so disappointed when I told her there was none. She did perk up though when I told her she could listen through the internet on her computer (WAY before the app). By the way, she introduced herself – Margot Kidder! I was speaking with Superman’s girlfriend!” – Carlyne Murphy
“In these days of self-isolation, CKUA remains a constant familiar voice in my home especially now that I am working at home. As a CKUA volunteer school tour guide, I’m missing the fun interactions I regularly with students and teachers visiting the Edmonton CKUA office and showing them how CKUA is an essential voice for Alberta art, music and culture. I am very proud to help them learn how CKUA supports Alberta artists, musicians and local venues by promoting them on the network and at live events across the province. Together, I have no doubt that the CKUA family and crew will get through this difficult time and I am happy to make my donation to keep CKUA strong going forward. I want to also give a big shout out to my fellow CKUA volunteer school tour guides especially Joan, Harper and Peggy. Hope you are all doing well!” – Roger Bryan
“During one phone volunteer shift, I encountered a not-too-distant but hitherto unknown relative who came in-person to deliver his donation (his surname was what gave the connection away). He was equally delighted to see a relative he never knew existed.” – Beth Storheim
“I have been a listener for over 50 years and was a monthly donor for 10 years until my retirement 2 years ago. In September of 2002 I dropped by the old CKUA studio. Marilyn Workman, the Volunteer Coordinator at the time, took me up and introduced me to Bill Coull during his afternoon show in the tiny phone booth sized studio on the 5th floor. It was a real privilege to meet him.” – David Armstrong
Volunteer, Colleen Emmott has a bit of a family connection to CKUA in that her uncle’s father (H.P. Brown) was the first studio director. Find out more about HP Brown here
“It’s about how far and wide CKUA reaches. A year or so ago, I took a contract in Istanbul where not much English is spoken. It was so nice to just go to CKUA.com and get a piece of home, daily. The same happened while I was in Tasmania and now I’m in the Arctic for a period of time. Not only is CKUA online but I am also hooked up to satellite. Lo n’ behold CKUA is one of the channels available here… it’s so nice to feel the warmth of home at CKUA. The music and information provided on CKUA, no matter where in the world one might be, is inspirational and heartwarming. Just to know I can be part of the CKUA legacy by contributing financially, volunteering and helping to inform the world, while enjoying the various programs just as if I’m at home, is comforting and makes me proud when a new listener says, “What was the name of that station, again?” – Jerry Bernard
“In the late 60s and early 70s I occasionally used the educational programming in my classroom, as a teacher. I developed an appreciation for jazz while listening to Mary Lou Creechan’s program. When my parents visited from BC, the Candlelight and Silver program was usually on at mealtime. They raved over the lovely music as there was nothing like that in Kelowna at that time. So CKUA has been part of my radio listening life for many years. My volunteering is a way of giving back for all the wonderful music and interesting programming I’ve been privileged to enjoy.” – Johanne Kasha
Thank you so much CKUA volunteers!
CKUA volunteers:
• We have 350 volunteers on call, 150 active in the last year
• Our volunteers worked 6030 hours last fiscal year: 3300 Fundraiser, 1500 Library, 600 Venues/Festivals
• Volunteers support the Fundraiser, the Library, Fund Development, Venues and Festivals, the Casino, School Tours, and our Arts & Cultural Events calendars
• Our volunteers are responsible for $175k in contributed labour
Alberta volunteers:
• Average 161 hours per year
• Contribute $3220 per volunteer annually, amounting to $8.3 billion worth of value to the province
Canadian volunteers:
• There are 12.7 million volunteers in Canada
• Total work hours amounts to roughly two billion hours per year
• The value of their work is $55.9 billion, or 2.6% of GDP
• 44% of Canadians volunteer an average of 156 hours/year
To learn more about volunteering, now or in the future, at CKUA, visit our Volunteer Page.