Volunteers keep Calgary community associations growing
Calgary’s 160 community associations (CAs) rely on volunteers to share social, recreational and educational opportunities, such as community gardens, with their neighbours. Sheryl Normandeau is one of more than 20,000 volunteers, supporting her CA as president and director of the community garden.
“I just want to give to my community,” says Normandeau about her double-volunteer role. She’s been a Calgarian for more than 30 years and has been involved with the Somerset-Bridlewood Community Association (SBCA) community garden for more than eight years. First as a CA member, renting and growing a plot until COVID hit, when she took on the volunteer role of director, for five years. This is her first year as president of the CA.
In addition to part-time work as a Library Experience Facilitator with the Calgary Public Library, Normandeau dedicates up to six hours a week to providing opportunities for her community, putting on events, connecting neighbours, growing food bank donations from the garden, and keeping 23 raised bed gardens, filled and growing.
The SBCA does not have a community hall, or building, so their community garden, at 100 Somervale Drive S.W., acts as a gathering place, event space, and community hub. So, Sheryl, and all of her fellow community gardeners, help to beautify their community, and make a welcoming gathering space.
“It is my role to make sure it all happens and make sure it all goes smoothly,” says the very humble Normandeau. “I feel that bringing people together in as many ways as possible is incredibly important and necessary". The SBCA has a very dedicated board and core volunteers, who all work together to plan and host events and activities for residents.
Across more than 250 Calgary communities, volunteers give more than two million hours to support CA programs, events and operations.
“We are lucky that Calgary has so many volunteers like Sheryl,” says Tim Mowrey, City of Calgary Manager, Community Partners. “This month, we want to celebrate the great work of Sheryl and all our CA volunteers, and also to encourage all Calgarians to consider volunteering, becoming a member of their community association, or joining their CA board.”
The City supports community associations through Neighbourhood Partnership Coordinators, who attend CA board meetings, connect CAs to funding, resources, and helps them lease and manage buildings and facilities, including community garden land. CAs are very important community partners.
The Federation of Calgary Communities is a Civic Partner, who helps give voice to CAs by working to build their capacity, delivering resources, workshops and professional services. Together, we celebrate Community Association Awareness Month (CAAM), the 65th anniversary of the Federation, and the backbone of Calgary CAs, the dedicated volunteers.
About the Federation of Calgary Communities
For 65 years, the Federation of Calgary Communities has been a support organization for CAs and other grassroots non-profits. We provide the services, tools, and advocacy needed to sustain the unique volunteer-led model that makes Calgary’s neighborhoods the most vibrant in Canada.
In 1962, the Federation launched Community Association Awareness Week, which received its first Mayoral Proclamation in 1981. Since then, the initiative has evolved into CAAM, a city-wide celebration.
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