Volunteer recruitment blitz at WDM; learn how to become a volunteer
For persons interested in becoming volunteers and learning more about Saskatchewan’s story and history, the Western Development Museum (WDM) will be hosting a volunteer blitz on Saturday, January 20 at its Moose Jaw location, 50 Diefenbaker Drive.
Volunteer Blitz will commence at 2 p.m. and will give persons the opportunity to learn about WDM’s unique benefits and opportunities and how you can become part of the team as a volunteer.
The museum needs volunteers as events are growing. There is a need for volunteers who can help to share knowledge of Saskatchewan’s history with the large influx of persons and groups who visit the museum during its busy seasons.
Volunteers will get a chance to share knowledge in volunteer roles such as: artifact preservation/restoration, special events and heritage demonstrations, gallery ambassadors, steam program and office assistance. Volunteering is a big part of WDM’s operation and anyone can become a volunteer, which promises to be an exciting educational adventure. Across all four museum locations including the Curatorial Centre in Saskatoon, the Western Development Museum has over 1,400 volunteers. Moose Jaw currently has 113 volunteers. Karla Rasmussen, education/public programs co-ordinator in Moose Jaw, says some of the volunteers are very active and help wherever and whenever they can. “Others have one specific event or task that they enjoy helping with and some have rather specialized skills, such as those who work on our restoration projects, who are here almost every day for the duration of a project.”
“We have volunteers of all ages, from children who come with their parents, to empty-nesters, as well as seniors who bring a wealth of knowledge to their roles at the Museum. Since our first Volunteer Blitz in 2017, we have gained 31 new volunteers in Moose Jaw and it has been wonderful to work with them all,” she added. She says over the last year, WDM’s events have grown and as a result, more volunteers are needed. “We need more volunteers to help our functions run smoothly and efficiently. We offer at least one public event or program per month, and sometimes two or three, depending on what’s happening. Some examples would be our Halloween event, where we saw almost 300 visitors over four hours. In that event, we can use more volunteers to help run our children’s crafts and activities. For our Kids’ Secret Shopping and Shortwave to Santa event in November, we had the largest attendance to date and we need a small army of volunteers to help the children shop for their family’s gifts.”
In addition to activities and events, WDM facilitates educational programming that also requires volunteers. “Many of our events involve a component of demon- strating a heritage skill, like churning butter, milking a cow, sewing, writing with a pen and ink, blacksmithing and more. If anyone is interested in learning one of these skills and helping to teach it to visitors, volunteering at the WDM is a great opportunity to do so,” she explained. “As well, we have a large number of school children who visit the museum as part of their field trips in the spring and volunteers are needed to act as gallery ambassadors to be on hand to help the students with their scavenger hunts and make sure everyone follows the museum rules.”
With WDM’s construction nearly complete on the Short Line 101 track repair project, museum staff and volunteers will soon be looking to the summer months when the Vulcan steam engine is able to return to the rails to provide train rides for visitors. “We are looking to build up our steam program, as we will need engineers to drive the train, conductors who can share their love of trains with visitors, and a maintenance crew for the tracks, buildings and train coaches. One of our guest speakers will be Tim Pomeroy, conservation manager from our curatorial centre, who will specifically be talking about the volunteer opportunities with the steam program.” Additionally, WDM is looking to expand outreach programming this year over the summer months. She said this will be another opportunity for volunteers to be out in the community with a staff member/summer student to promote upcoming programs, play artifact games with visitors and help represent the museum at events like sidewalk days and the farmers’ market.
WDM volunteers receive free admission to all museum locations, including most special events and a discount at the museum’s gift shops.