The Sooke Rotary Club represented the local volunteer community in Volunteer BC’s National Volunteer Week photo contest.
The Sooke Rotary Club submitted seven different photos, depicting their volunteers doing community-oriented work like holding Salvation Army Kettle Drives and handing out water to Subaru Sooke Triathlon runners.
“The Rotary Club of Sooke carries out numerous volunteer activities around Sooke and I thought it would be nice to showcase members in action,” said John Bridal, Rotary club member, through email.
“Volunteers give up their free time to help others in need. They are the glue that holds the community together. Their time and dedication should be honoured,” he said.
Marlene Barry, Sooke Volunteer Centre Committee co-chair, sent out contest information to different non-profit groups in Sooke, but the Rotary Club was the only one that participated.
“The Rotary sort of picked up the ball and sent some pictures off to represent Sooke,” she said, adding the competition will give Sooke, already considered volunteer capital of Canada, national recognition.
“This is a national competition, and we’ll see who wins, but people from all over the country are looking at all of the submissions and there’s a number of them from Sooke.”
Groups from across Canada submitted 80 photos in total, which were posted online for viewing during National Volunteer Week from April 15-21.
The top three winners were Volunteer Prince George, Victoria General Hospital, and Lower Mainland Green Team.
According to the Volunteer BC website, the purpose of the contest was to help tell the story of volunteering in B.C under the theme of “passion, action and impact.”
