Why volunteering is easier, and more important, thank you think

The smallest actions make the biggest difference. Feel good, make friends, and build a meaningful community around you with ease.

 

It's scary out there lately. You don't have to look far to find online posts about taking care of ourselves and forgetting about our neighbours. What happened to what we as Albertans (and Canadians) have always been proud to embrace: a strong sense of community? The good news is that it hasn't gone anywhere. Ask anyone you meet if they want their community to flourish and succeed and their answer will be a resounding "Yes!"

If that's true, then why aren't more people doing it? Well, there is this mentality that you need a lot of free time, a lot of money, and the heart of a saint to make a difference. This is so far from the truth. There are lots of ways you can make a meaningful impact on your community doing something you enjoy with little investment of both your time and money.

Animal Lovers and the Great Outdoors

If you have a sixth sense when it comes to animals or are blessed with a green thumb, there are a few hands-on activities you can participate in with organizations like B.A.R.S.,  Barrhead 4-H, or the Community Garden. Whether it's playing with animals, getting your hands dirty, or doing some research on places to buy vegetable seeds, there is something your skills are invaluable for - with very little time invested.

People Persons Wanted

If you have a knack for connecting with fellow humans, there is no shortage of fun and rewarding groups awaiting your arrival. Unleash your inner child and spend a night showcasing something new to the kids at FCSS Youth. Maybe you love a good game of cards - the folks at the Hillcrest Lodge have countless opponents to challenge. The impact you can have on your neighbours can change the world, even if all you have to offer is a few meaningful hours on a single day.

Anything Less People-y?

So maybe you don’t want a lot of face time with new people. No problem! The Barrhead Public Library can't wait to give you a solitary project. They are always working on new events and activities for the community and they would welcome someone who wants to do a bit of research or event planning. So is the Barrhead Museum & Historical Society.

I’d Rather Call The Shots

Your leadership skills can absolutely be used to make big decisions while other agencies or volunteers do the grunt work. Every major event in Town has a committee that does the planning and organizing like the Pumpkin Walk Committee. The SDAB needs people to hear appeals and render decisions on future development in Town - and they meet twice a year at best. Decide how to showcase Barrhead to international guests as a member of the Twinning Committee. The list of power positions available is almost endless.

 

If nothing else, take with you that volunteering in your community is so much more than ladling at a soup kitchen (unless you love it in which case, carry on!) There are many easy ways to enrich your community while doing something you actually like. Check out the organizations linked above or search for something completely new in our Town Directory.

 “Great things are created by a series of small things brought together.” -Vincent Van Gogh

 

Barrhead Mural

Communities in each province and territory across Canada will create sections of the overall mural that will connect Canada through art. Every participating city or town will create a section of the mural made up of 400-750 individual tiles that symbolizes their community.

Each of these Community Mural sections will stand alone as a mural for that particular community. Then, each of these sections of the mural will be become one of the many storybook pages within the overall mural to form the ultimate visual time capsule and create a legacy for a proud nation.

As each painting is part of a community mural, each community mural is part of the Canada Mosaic Mural. Each community mural virtually connects to other community murals resulting in a massive coast to coast uniflied mosaic.

Throughout the Country, this equates to 100,000’s tiles that will comprise an overall image of train cars connecting Canadians from far and wide!

How it works:

The Canada Mosaic Mural team consults with each Community to learn about important and interesting moments that define the community, its history and its citizens to design key elements for mural.

Lewis Lavoie designs a conceptual mural for approval by the Community.

Your community invites participants to paint in workshops facilitated by our Canada Mosaic Mural team.

With 4×4 inch aluminum primer-coated panels, brushes and paint, participants will be encouraged to leave their mark by creating a painting that represents their community from their own creative perspective.

Every painting will be a story and will become a piece of a much bigger story.

The completed tiles created by the community are assembled into a large mural grid, magically transforming the paintings into a unified mosaic that will represent your community.

There are NO DIGITAL EFFECTS – the mural will be 100% hand painted uniting to form another image.

Upon its completion, the community mural will be permanently assembled and protected so it will stand as a legacy piece for decades to come – becoming a key piece of the Canada Mosaic Mural.

After a Community Mural is installed, unveilings can be turned into big events.

Participants make up large crowds to see how their personal artwork finds its place in the big picture and come back time and time again to show friends and family members!