After hundreds of hours of blood, sweat and tears, the volunteers of FCSS and Town of Westlock council-appointed committees let loose April 20 at Volunteer Appreciation Night.
After hundreds of hours of blood, sweat and tears, the volunteers of FCSS and Town of Westlock council-appointed committees let loose April 20 at Volunteer Appreciation Night.
About 150 volunteers came down to the Rotary Spirit Centre for dinner, a pat on the back and games organized by town and FCSS employees.
'It is FCSS Westlock's 50th anniversary this year so we've decorated with FCSS colours and we have 50-year balloons to recognize that it is our 50th anniversary -a little bit of a celebration that way," said Maureen Schiller, FCSS program co-ordinator.
Once the guests and half a century of FCSS was recognized, volunteers that gave so much of themselves over the past year filled up on supper.
Unbeknownst to them, behind the curtain that divided one half of the arena from the other lay a room of red and white colours where volunteers could work off the meal with a round of games.
'Because Canada is having their 150 Celebration, the other side we decorated with the maple leafs," Schiller noted.
The booming sound of falling jenga blocks echoed around the arena as the adults took part in a few games from their youth like paper airplane races and bowling.
The Volunteer Appreciation Night crew set up a game of dice, a human-sized horse race and a supersized, but alcohol-free game, of beer pong.
Winners at each of the tables earned raffle tickets that they could enter into the prize draw.
Guest Geoff Talbot, an FCSS volunteer, took a shot at the elastic pistol shoot.
'It's a lot of fun. I'm really enjoying myself," he said. 'I like giving back to the community. I believe it's everybody's duty and I like helping people. It's nice to be involved and meet nice people. I hope to (continue) as long as I can."
Browsing the raffle table were Anita and Norm Kitz, who committed 16 months to the 100th Anniversary Committee.
'I chaired the 75th anniversary and I thought it would be fitting to take part in the 100th anniversary, so I sat on the committee," said Anita, who was last year's parade marshal.
'We had an excellent turnout, the weather was good, all the facilities worked out perfectly, the people were happy - that was the main thing."
Norm on the other hand designed the logo for the anniversary.
'I'm behind the scenes," he said.
But what the couple enjoyed the most about volunteering was getting out and about.
'Meeting all the different people, meeting the different committee members, trying to get a few different things," Anita added.
'We did have a great chair, Shirley Morie was our chair, and she did an excellent job. It was most interesting."
