Medalta is a lot of things to a lot of people – a workplace, a music venue, an art gallery, an educational stop, a 24-hour couch to nap on (we know how long it takes to fire a Soda Kiln!), the list truly can go on forever. This space exists for us in its current form due to the spirit of volunteerism starting in 1986 with the Friends of Medalta Society. Without volunteers, our historic buildings would have crumbled years ago.

Today our volunteers impact every department and aspect of our organization from our Board of Directors, to the various committees and enthusiastic community members who cheerfully lend their time and expertise. Many volunteers have been involved for over 10 years, like Jacquie Heard, Jane MacKay, and Marilyn Pacheco. We’re pretty proud of what we do, but why not hear it from someone who just started volunteering here? Always willing to have a chat, Sandy Czernick volunteered for her third Medalta task – talking to us about how cool we are!

Sandy has called Medicine Hat home since 1994 and has often wandered into our dusty halls to take her granddaughter to Kids’ Clubs and to attend the Tongue on the Post Festival. “Every time I’ve been here has been a positive experience,” remarks Sandy. It wasn’t until she attended last September’s Filthy Hands Festival that she thought about volunteering. “[The Filthy Hands Festival] was probably the best experience here. To be there and see a piece of history that we lost, but we have it back where we can go and see what was done there. That’s just amazing, and to be in that factory and to see the damage that was done. Just ‘wow’, there’s a lot of history in Medicine Hat. I’ve never been interested in history until I moved here and this is a huge piece of that, it was an amazing event,” says Sandy. “I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to start volunteering here.’”

“My first time [volunteering] was the 2017 Black & White Gala. I thought this was a pretty cool place so I thought I’d try that. I’ve also volunteered at the Halloween event at the Brick Factory.”

What is her favourite part? The same one that is often echoed by our community. “People that I meet that I not only work with, but the ones that come through here. At the Black & White Gala we’ve got people coming in to chat with, and there was a group of people at the [Medicine Hat Brick & Tile] factory that went on the tours with us that you get to meet. I like to meet people and hear about their stories and their lives.”

While our regular volunteer positions are currently filled, we always love to have new faces helping out at events throughout the year.