PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — Football is back! And while there’s a whole season of games to play before the Super Bowl next February in Glendale, the host committee is still seeking volunteers to help in various ways leading up to the big event.
Super Bowl LVII is set for Feb. 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale. Even though it’s still months away, the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee has a lot of work ahead. That’s why last month, the committee launched a volunteer program called TEAM AZ, presented by Avnet and PetSmart.
The group’s goal is to get 5,000 volunteers signed up who will serve as ambassadors for events leading up to the Super Bowl. That could include welcoming guests at airports, hotels and other other locations. If you’re interested in volunteering as part of TEAM AZ, click or tap here to apply.
There are a couple of things to note: You have to be at least 18 years old and applying means you’ll go through a formal process including a background check. Volunteering also won’t get you into the actual Super Bowl. TEAM AZ support won’t be needed in the stadium on game day.
TWO SHOWS!!! 12:00noon and 4:00pm. TCU PLACE, SASKATOON.
TICKETS AVAILABLE online, through the TCU Place Box Office by Phone (306-975-7799) or In Person, 9:00am to 4:00pm, Monday through Friday.
Canada, get ready to Wiggle! The Wiggles are bringing their brand-new Big Show Tour! to you this October! The world’s most popular children’s entertainment group, The Wiggles will be travelling across Canada from St. Johns to Vancouver to perform their biggest show yet! Anthony, Tsehay, Lachy and Simon are delighted to sing, dance and play music for their fans, and will bring along all of their Wiggly friends too! Captain Feathersword, Dorothy Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus, Shirley Shawn the Unicorn are all coming along for the fun, PLUS The Wiggles are excited to introduce Caterina Wiggle and John Wiggle from the Fruit Salad TV series to their Canadian fans! The Wiggles Big Show Tour! will feature all your favourite Wiggles songs such as ‘Do The Propeller’, ‘Hot Potato’ and ‘Rock-a-Bye Your Bear’, along with new and catchy tunes such as Dippy Do Dinosaur Dance! The Wiggles Big Show Tour! will get your hands clapping and toes tapping! Come along and sing and dance with Anthony, Lachy, Simon, Tsehay, Caterina and John and all their Wiggly friends!
From the Dragon Boat Regatta in Broome to the Orange Mardi Gras festival on the other side of the country, community events are being cancelled and emergency services are struggling to cope as the number of volunteers plummets.
“What we’ve seen is a longer-term decline in volunteering rates, and that’s been amplified by the COVID pandemic,” Volunteering Australia CEO Mark Pearce says.
Emergency service crews are staffed mainly by volunteers in many parts of regional Australia.(Supplied)
“There are also changes in how people want to volunteer and participate — there’s increasing demand for flexibility that doesn’t necessarily correlate with the structure of formal volunteering programs.”
The 2021 census data recorded a 19 per cent drop in volunteering since the last snapshot in 2016. The finding is backed up by more regular, in-depth social surveys done by the ABS.
The number of Australians volunteering has reduced significantly in recent years.
The depletion of the volunteer brigade is affecting sports clubs, emergency services and long-established organisations like Rotary and Lions, that help run events and raise funds for local charities.
Country towns suffering
The impact is most noticeable in regional areas, where event organisers and first-responders are more likely to be unpaid.
As a result, some events are being cancelled, such as the annual Dragon Boat Regatta in Broome.
The Dragon Boat Regatta sees dozens of teams race in Broome’s Roebuck Bay.(Supplied: Abby Murray Photography)
It has been a popular fixture in the town for almost 20 years, and raises tens of thousands of dollars for charity. But this year there weren’t enough people to organise or run it.
“The practical impact in regional and remote Australia is that social activities and the cohesion that takes place by community coming together is lost or significantly reduced,” Mr Pearce says.
“And that has implications for the livability of these communities in which people choose to spend their lives.”
The Dragon Boat Regatta is usually organised by the local Rotary chapter, which currently has only a handful of members.
It is hoping to find enough local people to help with the nine-month organising process to revive the regatta in 2023.
The Drags on Boats team debuted at the 2015 Dragon Boat Regatta, where most ended up in the water.(ABC News: Erin Parke)
Events struggling across the country
Meanwhile in Alice Springs, organisers are struggling to pull together enough volunteers to hold the beloved Henley-on-Todd Regatta, which raises money for local Rotary Club projects.
Every August, teams of people race on the dry Todd River in boats without bottoms in front of a crowd of about 4,000 people.
Secretary Ron Saint said getting the right number of volunteers had been “tenuous”.
“We would like to have 130 but we’ve got about a hundred. So we’re at that point where we’d like to have 12 people doing a certain role but we’ll have nine or eight,” he said.
Organisers are hoping more locals will get involved to ensure the future of the Henley-on-Todd river race.(ABC News: Alexandra Fisher)
“It’s not going to stop the event … but you’d want a few more [people] in case someone can’t make it.”
Mr Saint believed some people who might volunteer were now trying to make up for paid work lost during COVID lockdowns.
“People are time poor and as we try to get the economy kick started again it’s difficult to commit the discretionary time for volunteer work,” he said.
The Rainbow City Festival will focus on providing more smaller-scale events in the future. (ABC News: Kevin Nguyen)
What’s causing the decline?
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that people aged 40 to 54 are most likely to volunteer.
Women and men participate at a similar rate, with the greatest number of people volunteering with sporting clubs and religious groups.
People living in remote areas are most likely to volunteer, but the rates in regional and urban areas are almost identical.
Social researcher Hugh Mackay has been monitoring Australian attitudes and lifestyle habits for six decades.
“This is a weird period we are in at the moment, that helps explain the decline of volunteering,” he says.
“We’ve been changing in ways that have made us more individualistic, much more concerned about ‘me and my rights and my entitlements and my identity’.
Ever the optimist, social researcher Hugh Mackay sees a silver lining in the COVID cloud.(Supplied)
“And that’s all working against our natural proclivities to be kind and compassionate and cooperative and help each other out.
“But it’s also worth noting that organisations that want volunteers have probably not been quite nimble enough, and not understanding all these societal shifts and the changing culture.”
Dr Mackaysays the main change has been a withdrawal from community involvement.
This has been caused by an increase in the use of social media to stay “connected’; people living alone; and the trend for having fewer children, resulting in fewer opportunities to develop local friendships through schools and kids’ sporting clubs.
“We’ve also become too ‘busy’, and being ‘busy’ is a kind of hiding place, a barrier between us and others,” he says.
“It’s the enemy of social cohesion and the enemy of volunteering, because as long as we can convince ourselves we’re too busy to help other people, we can get away with it – we have made being busy a virtue.”
Are young people the problem?
Dr Mackay rejects the notion that young people are too selfish to volunteer, saying a more nuanced shift has occurred.
“Millennials have grown up with a deep sense of impermanence and have adopted a mantra of ‘let’s keep our options open’,” he says.
Every year dozens of volunteers are needed to be the ‘legs’ of Sammy the Dragon, as part of Broome’s Shinju Matsuri.(Supplied: Abby Murray Photography)
“Committing to anything long-term runs against the ethos of this generation, so they will be happy to help out, but reluctant to join up to anything that requires a weekly meeting or a long-term program.
“One of the favourite occupations of older people through history has been to bash younger people and complain about them.
“But it’s worth remembering that the rise of individualism is not a generational phenomenon, it’s happening right across the age ranges.”
All at sea as volunteers jump ship
Some organisations are adapting by asking people to help out with one-off events, or ramping up social media recruitment campaigns.
But sometimes the challenge is retaining the volunteer recruits who do sign up.
In the waters off Broome, it is a matter of life or death — every few weeks the volunteer Sea Rescue team is called out to save a sinking or stranded vessel.
Volunteer skipper Gareth Owen briefs crew on a planned training exercise.(ABC News: Erin Parke)
Skipper Gareth Owen says cyclones, crocodiles and big tides make it a hazardous job.
“It’s vital we’re able to crew the vessel, because the calls can come at any time,” he says.
“It’s always very close as to whether we have enough people.
“It’s a major problem, because we’re low on numbers and the commitment to training is quite high, so it can be difficult to maintain people’s enthusiasm.”
Mr Owen, who originally signed up to learn marine skills with his young son, says he’s not surprised the latest census data shows a drop in volunteer numbers.
“I think we’ve seen over the past few years that some people have become a bit more self-centred and they don’t go out as much because of COVID,” he says.
“So I guess a lot of people have prioritised family, and that has put pressure on volunteers groups like us.”
Annie Stephenson has been volunteering with the group for two years, and coordinates recruitment.
Annie Stephenson says she benefited from volunteer organisations as a child, so is keen to contribute.(ABC News: Erin Parke )
Ms Stephenson says a recent advertising campaign attracted more than 20 people, but the numbers dropped away as they realised the commitment involved.
“It’s one thing to recruit people, but retaining them can be hard,” she says.
“Because there’s so much training involved, we’re looking for people who can commit for two years minimum, but people’s circumstances change, they’ll get a new job or have family commitments, which is totally understandable.
“The key thing for us is to have a big enough pool of qualified crew to share the load and fatigue management, and to make sure people don’t get burnt out.”
One of the new recruits is 18-year-old Byron Schaffer.
He says he doesn’t know many people his age who volunteer regularly.
Byron Schaffer (left) is training as a Sea Rescue volunteer in Broome.(ABC News: Erin Parke)
“I think some teenagers see it as something that ‘adults’ do, people who are a bit more settled down,” he says.
“I really enjoy it, it’s something to do in your free time that makes you feel good.”
What does the future hold?
Volunteering Australia says there has been a small increase in participation rates this year, following the easing of COVID restrictions.
But they are still well short of the volunteer numbers of five years ago.
Volunteer skipper Gareth Owen hopes recent natural disasters might prompt Australians to sign up and offer their time and expertise.
Thousands of Australians volunteered during recent bushfires and floods.(Supplied: Queensland Department of Community Safety )
“With the floods and the firefighters you see so many awesome volunteers doing things, and I think people forget they are volunteers because they’re doing such an excellent job and they’re at it for so long,” he says.
“Sometimes people might think it’s part of the service we get for being Australian, and not realise we need to put our hand up and look out for each other by volunteering.”
Dr Mackay, now aged 83, remains optimistic.
“I think this rise of individualism marks a really weird, aberrant period in human history, and it’s not actually who we are,” he reflects.
“I think our true nature as communitarians, cooperators, and kind and compassionate people who look out for each other will re-emerge.”
“The pendulum is going to swing back, I am sure of it.”
People walking in the last Kamloops Pride Parade in 2019. Pride Week 2022 is returning after a two year COVID hiatus.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Facebook, Kamloops Pride
August 11, 2022 – 6:00 PM
Kamloops Pride Week is back after a two-year COVID hiatus, and it is expected to be bigger than ever.
The week is jam packed with fun activities, starting with a gathering at the Pride Week Kickoff event at the Riverside Park Bandshell at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 22.
“Some city councillors and the mayor are planning to attend and speak,” said president for Kamloops Pride, Ashton O’Brien. “We have invited a Tk’emlúps elder to do a land acknowledgment.”
O’Brien is seeing more people attending local monthly events with the organization. More businesses are reaching out for partnerships and there is a lot of engagement from sponsors for Pride Week.
O’Brien is predicting a bigger-than-ever turnout this year, but the week is more than a joyful celebration.
“This is a reminder the queer community is here and we are not going anywhere,” they said. “Kamloops is still not a safe place for the queer community, we are still trying to create safe spaces here. Our organization continues to receive hate mail. This is why this is important.
“It is not OK for anyone to feel unsafe,” they said.
Kamloops Pride started in 2013 as part of an organization that has been evolving since the 1990s. Pride Week 2022 runs from Monday Aug. 22 to Sunday Aug. 28.
New to the event list this year is a day full of drag entertainment.
“Saturday starts with the Drag Storytime event, followed by a drag brunch at Match Eatery,” O’Brien said. “Then we will have two drag shows, one for all ages and one for adults only. We are bringing performers from out of town to do talent and comedy shows.”
The colourful week includes a few different dances, a window decorating contest and a scavenger hunt. A variety of vendors are participating.
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RICHMOND, Va. — Summer sporting events are bringing people from near and far to the Richmond area, helping the tourism industry recover and exceed the amount of lodging revenue brought in before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Richmond Region Tourism reports that during fiscal year of 2022 (FY22), $30.8 million came from lodging tax revenue, about $800,000 higher than it was in 2019.
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Richmond Region Tourism President and CEO Jack Berry
“June of 2020, the governor allowed sports tourism to continue and that saved us,” said Richmond Region Tourism President and CEO Jack Berry. “Now 80% of group travel is associated with sports tourism.”
Berry said this summer has been especially fruitful in terms of creating revenue through sports tourism.
“This summer, we’ll have hosted 33 sporting events, and it’s almost 100,000 visitors coming just this summer alone,” Berry said.
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This first weekend in August, SwimRVA hosted the U.S. Masters Swimming Summer National Championship, bringing in thousands of competitors and spectators from across the United States and beyond.
“This is the first national championship in the sport of swimming to come to the commonwealth and the fact that it’s hear in the capital region is a really big deal,” said Adam Kennedy, SwimRVA’s Executive Director.
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SwimRVA’s Executive Director Adam Kennedy
Kennedy said swimmers of all ages and backgrounds, coming all the way from places like Australia and Costa Rica, came to compete for several days.
“We see almost 900 athletes a day, and then we multiply that by the people they’re bringing with them and the coaches and the staff, there’s probably 1,200-1,300 a day coming through,” Kennedy said.
GreenCity development includes 17,000-seat arena off of I-95 is set to open in 2026 in Henrico County.
“Think big Richmond,” Berry said. “It doesn’t have to stop here. We’ve got big things coming, between the new arena that’s being built. We are constantly raising the bar. Richmond is a small town that thinks big and we do big things, and we only need to think bigger.”
Two of the nine companies where staff will walk out serve the West Midlands.
It leads to the prospect of another day of reduced services, with some areas not being served at all.
Industry leaders said the 24-hour walkout by members of the Aslef union next Saturday, August 13, coincides with another busy weekend of football. Other big regional events attracting people from outside the region include Shrewsbury Flower Show and the open day for the University of Wolverhampton.
Timetables will be published on Tuesday, but passengers are being advised to follow the latest travel advice, check before they set off and allow extra time for their journey.
Other companies not involved in the strike will be running trains, but these are expected to be busy.
The strikes will affect Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains, Crosscountry, Arriva Rail London, Greater Anglia including Stansted Express, Great Western, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground and Southeastern.
Passengers are advised to consider starting journeys later, on Sunday, August 14. Those with advance, off-peak or anytime tickets affected by the strike can use their ticket either on the day before the date on the ticket, or up to and including Tuesday, August 16, or can change their tickets to travel on an alternate date, or get a refund if their train is cancelled or rescheduled.
Steve Montgomery, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group, said: “We’re really disappointed that the Aslef leadership has, for the second time in as many weeks, decided to impose yet more uncertainty for passengers and businesses by disrupting passengers’ weekend plans.
“I will reiterate what I’ve previously said – I am ready and willing to talk to the leadership of Aslef today, tomorrow or indeed any time next week. They should call off next week’s action and talk to us instead. What our passengers and our staff expect is for us to talk and work out a way through this.
“While we will do all that we can to minimise disruption and to get passengers where they need to be, if you are going to travel on the routes affected, please plan ahead and check the latest travel advice.
“Like any service or business, things do not just stand still and we must move with the times. We want to give our people a pay rise as we know everyone is feeling the pinch due to the cost-of-living rises.
“We have to find the money somewhere as we cannot continue to ask taxpayers or passengers for more, so we must modernise and adapt to changes in passenger behaviour.
“By making these necessary reforms, such as ending the reliance on volunteer working at weekend, we improve punctuality, have more resilient Sunday services, and use those savings to give our people a pay rise, which has always been what we want to do.
“Further strikes will see our people out of pocket and mean less money to fund a pay rise, so we urge the Aslef leadership to come and talk to us so we can reach a deal that is fair to staff and taxpayers, and which secures a bright, long-term future for our railway.”
More action is planned by the RMT union, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association and Unite for August 18 and 20.
Name a sporting event, and Frank Viverito has probably been there. Not just one time, but again and again and again.
Firsthand knowledge of the Final Four or Olympic gymnastics trials or U.S. figure skating championships and just about anything else imaginable has been his best business practice.
As president of the St. Louis Sports Commission since 1995, Viverito’s job has been to sell St. Louis as the landing spot for games and competitions of all shapes and sizes. His haul has been impressive.
With the commission’s plate full for a few years to come, Viverito is ready to step away, having announced his retirement at the end of 2022 at the organization’s board meeting Wednesday morning.
“We’ve spent every nickel on getting on planes, going to events and meeting the people who ran them to understand how they came together,” Viverito said. “That’s the only way we have ever done marketing. We’ve never had exhibit booths. We’ve never run a single newspaper or magazine ad. We’ve never sponsored a luncheon or dinner at a trade show. We don’t have trinkets.”
Viverito built the sports commission into one of the best in a field now crowded with hundreds in the United States. Three times it has been named the best in the country by the National Association of Sports Commissions.
The New York native along with his staff have relied entirely on private investment — most commissions benefit from public money — to bring some of the biggest sporting events to the city.
Top-drawing games have run the gamut from NCAA championships for men’s and women’s basketball, hockey and wrestling to major golf tournaments, Olympic trials and international soccer.
“I’ve talked to people from early on who said, ‘We really weren’t sure where this was going to go, but we’re pleased with where it’s gotten to,’” Viverito said. “I’ve always said this is such a great town to do something like this.”
The sports commission was formed in 1989, and St. Louis was one of 12 cities with a commission when the national association was formed in 1992. There are now more than 600 members.
The competition for events has become fierce with millions, even billions, of dollars involved. When Viverito made his first bid for the NCAA wrestling championships, he came to discover that three cities had made bids for three years. It would have been difficult to fail.
In 1999, he went to the wrestling championships at Penn State to spread the word about St. Louis hosting the next year.
“We were the new kids on the block, and this older gentleman came up to me — a grizzled former wrestler — and practically put a finger through my chest,” Viverito said. “He said, ‘I’ve been coming to this event for 65 years. Don’t you screw it up.’ It registered to me that this was a big deal.”
St. Louis has held the wrestling championships nine times, growing the event into what Viverito calls a celebration of the sport. He calls it one of the most rewarding success stories of his tenure.
The next generation of events will fall under Marc Schreiber, a longtime sports commission vice president and traveling partner for Viverito. Schreiber, who will become president, and vice president Chris Roseman spent a lot of time together on those trips, learning the ropes and cultivating relationships.
Together they scouted out opportunities and developed other projects such as the Musial Awards for sportsmanship, the Olympic legacy initiative and the upcoming Let ’em Play program as a support resource for referees at all levels.
“Just the events he has brought to St. Louis would make a resume of success,” Schreiber said. “But I think what made him so valuable was his visionary thinking. A lot of people wouldn’t go down these paths or think about doing these kinds of initiatives. He’s very much the vision behind them.”
When the sports commission was bidding for the 2020 Olympic gymnastics trials, Viverito and his staff arranged to take the USA Gymnastics staff to Washington University to see the newly installed Olympic rings and Francis Field, where Olympic events were held in 1904. When they exited the shuttle, the group was greeted by Jackie Joyner Kersee.
These are the kinds of touches Viverito and his co-workers have strived for to remain a player in an increasingly competitive field. St. Louis will always have memories of some major events that also were aided by Viverito’s wife, Patty, who has worked in commissioner roles with the Missouri Valley Conference for more than three decades.
The 2001 women’s Final Four was one of the biggest successes and received significant boosts from the presence of Missouri State and Notre Dame, led by guard Niele Ivey from Cor Jesu Academy. Four years later, the men’s Final Four did even bigger business at the dome with Illinois as a participant.
Then came the Frozen Four, a string of wrestling championships, the PGA Championship and men’s and women’s gymnastics trials, among dozens of events. Viverito will retire having helped lure an NCAA hockey regional in 2024, the Frozen Four in 2025 and first- and second-round games in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament in 2026.
What does he consider his role in all of it?
“The two things are a love for St. Louis and sports — just a passion for that — and the other attribute is consensus building and relationship building,” he said. “That’s what I did, and we built a team that could be successful.”
Dave Matter brings you the latest updates from the Mizzou sports scene.
August 1, 2022, 3:00 PM HST * Updated August 1, 1:06 PM
Residents of the Big Island will have two chances in August to dispose of hazardous household waste.
The county Department of Environmental Management announces that household hazardous waste collection events are scheduled for:
7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Aug. 6 in Waiākea High School parking lot B in Hilo. Enter via Po‘okela Parkway through the upper driveway off West Kāwili Street.
7:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Aug. 20, in the West Hawai‘i Civic Center parking lot in Kailua-Kona. Enter from 74-5044 Ane Keohokālole Highway.
These regular collection events are hosted by the county at no charge to the public so residents can conveniently dispose of acceptable household hazardous waste in a manner that protects public health and the environment.
Hazardous waste that will be accepted at the events include automotive fluids, used batteries, fluorescent light bulbs and pesticides. For a complete list of acceptable or unacceptable waste, click here. The website also includes other useful information about solid waste diversion and recycling.
The collection events are for household-generated and self-hauled waste only. Businesses, government agencies, nonprofit agencies and farm wastes are prohibited by law. No latex paint, electronic waste or tires will be accepted.
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Additionally, physical distancing rules will be in place for the collection events to ensure the safety of staff and residents.
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Those who plan to attend the events are asked to remain in their vehicles unless directed by authorized personnel. Prior to arriving, residents should place the hazardous waste items in their trunk or truck bed and make sure their trunk can be unlocked or opened remotely. For those who don’t have a trunk or truck bed, it is preferred that the materials be placed in the unlocked and unoccupied backseat area.
Because of COVID-19 infection transmission hazards, all containers brought to the event will not be returned and should be disposable. Residents who want to keep their containers should transfer items into a safe disposable container prior to the event.
Other rules include:
To minimize interactions, label hazardous waste items, if possible, and make sure items are easily distinguishable and separate from anything else.
6-foot physical distancing is required. Face masks covering the nose and mouth are recommended.
Those under quarantine, feeling ill or showing symptoms of illness should consider postponing participation or designate someone else to drop off materials.
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For any questions, contact recycling specialist Chris Chin Chance with the Department of Environmental Management at 808-961- 8554 or vial email at [email protected].
“Mahalo for your kōkua in keeping our island a clean and safe paradise,” said a press release from the county.
Alpenfest Idol and Queen’s Pageant round out the week
What started years ago as a karaoke contest, has evolved into one of the main events at Alpenfest in downtown Gaylord.
The festival is in its final days in Gaylord, but they say it’s not really summer until Alpenfest comes to town.
This week’s event pay tribute to the community’s heritage – along with rides, games, family fun, and crazy contests to keep everyone busy. One of those is the Alpenfest Idol: a popular singing contest.
There are four different age groups for soloists – and two different competition groups for larger groups.
“I think these are hometown favorites because this is where we get the hometown participation,” said Alpenfest Committee member and Idol director Stacey Rosin. “You know these are kids from the area and people who come up for the summers, and they come partake. This is where they can show their stuff.”
Rosin says this year’s Idol is extra special because two of the founders of the event both passed away within the last year. With the tornado that hit Gaylord, it’s been a challenging start to summer, but Alpenfest gives them something to celebrate.
“I love this community because the tornado really showed who we were. The strength that we have. And I think this is kind of a time where now we can come together and celebrate what we accomplished,” Rosin says. “It’s also a time for people to gather and be reminded of why we need to be there for each other.”
Check out our photo gallery of pictures from Alpenfest below:
