When Yumi Nishizawa first came to Canada in 1999, after touring the eastern part of the country, she was headed to the mountains. 

She’d planned to stop in Calgary, but she hadn’t figured out where to stay. A fellow traveller mentioned there was a place in the city where she could get a free meal and a free bed. Nishizawa was interested.

“He said it was called the Mustard Seed,” Nishizawa recalled. “I thought it sounded too good to be true.”

In a way, it was. The Mustard Seed is a shelter and a social services organization for people struggling with homelessness. But when Nishizawa showed up and realized her error, instead of moving on, she was convinced to stay. Some welcoming faces put her to work serving meals to the long line of clients who were obviously down on their luck.

It was her first volunteer gig in Canada. And it opened her eyes to a secret: serving different community organizations is a good way to serve one’s self.

“Maybe it sounds self-centred, but I volunteer for me,” she said. 

Two decades after her discovery at the Mustard Seed, Nishizawa is one of Jasper’s most consistent volunteers. She’s a regular at Parks Day, Tourism Jasper’s Dark Sky Festival and the Jasper Museum’s coffee hours. She sorts clothes at the United Church Thrift Shop, visits with seniors at Alpine Summit’s Designated Assisted Living facility and helps keep food out of the landfill with the Jasper Food Recovery Program. 

Nishizawa has fond memories of getting a behind-the-scenes peek at reality TV when The Amazing Race filmed in Jasper, and she remembers (less endearingly) the aftermath of the Jasper Rodeo when she and a shorthanded HIV West Yellowhead group were on clean-up duty. 

She’s picked garbage, refereed snowball fights and handed out condoms. She’s washed dishes, worked security and taken tickets. While it wouldn’t be wrong to suggest that Nishizawa likes to help out, her other little secret is that volunteering allows her to check out Jasper’s multitude of awesome events.

“I’m curious,” Nishizawa said. “I want to see events. I like to feel involved.”

Turns out, volunteering can create some pretty cool in-roads. Concerts. Festivals. Races. Nishizawa has seen plenty from the sidelines. But she’s not in it strictly for the access to astronaut talks and free coffee. Because she’s almost always surrounded by positive people interested in contributing to their community, volunteering is another way of practicing self-care, she said.  

“It helps me,” she said. “It always gives you something.”

And far from feeling roped into duties she’d rather not do, volunteering gives her freedom, she said. 

“This is my choice. If I don’t like it, I don’t do it.”

Nishizawa has helped others in Jasper find that sense of freedom to contribute. She regularly introduces new Jasperites to volunteer opportunities. When they get involved, they’re rarely disappointed, she said.

“I tell them it’s a great way to meet people. I want to help them have that same feeling I get.”

So the secret’s out. Find out how you can practice selflessness and self-care through the newly formed Jasper Volunteer Coalition’s Facebook page. 

New portal harnessing the power of volunteers

April 18-24 is Volunteer Week and this year the newly formed Jasper Volunteer Coalition is celebrating the Value of One, The Power of Many.

To help harness the power of Jasper’s volunteer base, the coalition has launched a new Jasper Volunteers Facebook page, an online portal which organizers hope will act as a hub for community organizations needing volunteers as well as for Jasperites looking to pitch in.

“We want this page to become the virtual site for everything to do with volunteering in Jasper,” said Ginette Marcoux, interim president of the Jasper Food Bank and one of the leads of the coalition. 

In the wake of the onset of the pandemic, an increase in the need for volunteerism was met by an increase in volunteers, Marcoux said.

“A lot of people came out of the woodwork, perhaps because they had more time or because they saw a greater need,” she said. 

Moreover, donations to community organizations such as the Jasper Food Bank have been on the rise since 2020. 

The Jasper Volunteers Facebook page wants to capitalize on that momentum by promoting and celebrating volunteerism in the community.

“We want it to be self-directed, a place where groups can recruit but also tell stories of volunteers and random acts of kindness,” Marcoux said.

To ensure appropriate content, moderators of the hub will vet participating organizations. To get your organization involved, email learn@jasperemployment.com and ask to participate.

Bob Covey //thejasperlocal@gmail.com