Volunteering in New England - Townsend Lions Club - Canoe Race2015

Many people volunteer in many different ways and for many different reasons. Overtime I have given time to physically working retail and inventory management in HFH as well as online doing transcription for the Smithsonian Institute. Additionally, for the last 20 years I have been volunteering in my local community as a Lion. It is one of the most rewarding activities I have ever engaged in. I have my late husband to thank for this as I started volunteering with him long before I became a member.
Everyone has their own skills and can contribute in their own way. My skills are often related to online activities. Having worked at DEC, Compaq and HP for 35 years before retiring helped build those skills and reinforce the ability in that area.
However, Regardless of skill being a Lion exposes you to many different types of activities, some of which you adapt to or are comfortable with and others not as much. You learn a lot about managing activities and events and working with local vendors and businesses, promoting events and managing volunteers.
One of the main charitable events of your year has just concluded on April 18th the club hosted it's 32nd Annual Canoe/Kayak race on the Squanacook River in Townsend MA. It is a challenging course and no matter your age you should not underestimate the task. This year the race was in memory of a man from Townsend who was a loyal participant and a fearless competitor, Andrew Gustafson. He opened up our race by years ago asking us to add a Kayak class so that he did not have to compete with 2 man canoes in his 1 man kayak. We obliged and the class grew. Later as time went on and he was well over 50 he asked us to add a class for Over 50 as we had years before for canoes. We obliged and that class grew. He passed away in May 2014, right after the race had been held and then we realized why we had not seen him in the last couple races. Being able to acknowledge his contribution to his family was a highlight of this years event. It was done along side the awarding of the trophies.
For many years we have gotten support from a local radio club (a MARA chapter ) who volunteers their time to "spot" along the river to insure we have a safe event. We are a small club and without them we would have great difficulty pulling off the day.
Recently in the last couple of years we have had the great luck of a local photographer taking and interest and documenting the event in a way that we have never had before.
With this long horrible winter we had, if you have an interest in canoeing, Lions, beautiful days along the river this is a site for sore eyes.
Mindy Randall Photography