Volunteer for Vancouver
Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong boldly predicts there will be 100,000 applicants for VANOC's 25,000 volunteer positions.
"It doesn’t matter if you have a lot of volunteer experience or very little, we’re looking for enthusiasm, dedication and a commitment to demonstrating the very best of Canada and what we all represent," says VANOC EVP Donna Wilson. (ATR/B.Mackin)Commenting on the Feb. 12 launch of the 2010 volunteer program, Furlong said 5,000 people from all Canadian provinces and territories and another two dozen countries -- including Brazil and Russia -- applied on the day the site went live. Canadian job website Workopolis.com hosts the site; Olympic TOP sponsor Atos Origin developed it. The application window will be open at least six weeks.
Workforce executive vice-president Donna Wilson and mascots Miga, Quatchi and Sumi visited the University of B.C. Students Union Building to promote the "virtual two-year countdown" to the 2010 Games opening day on Feb. 12.
Wilson said UBC was chosen because VANOC wants enthusiastic university students. UBC and its crosstown rival Simon Fraser University will both be closed during the Games.
However, some students were immediately critical of the age restriction. Applicants must be 19 years old by Sept. 1, 2008. That means the youngest volunteers could be 20 1/2 years old when the Games begin.
Furlong said there would be opportunities for teenagers to volunteer outside the official workforce. It's expected thousands will be needed to perform in the opening and closing ceremonies.
"These are the rules we have put in place. If we had it at 18, someone would want it at 16," says Furlong.
Vancouver 2010 is opening volunteer recruitment and training centers in Vancouver and Squamish to help fill jobs in 32 areas. VANOC will outfit, feed and transport volunteers during the Games, but they are responsible for their own travel and accommodation arrangements. Wilson said the unit cost per volunteer is in the "hundreds" of dollars. Each will have to undergo an RCMP security screening.
Bell Tolls for Two
The two-year countdown day marked two major milestones for VANOC telecommunications sponsor Bell.
Bell completed its 285-kilometer fiber optic cable network outside General Motors Place, the primary hockey venue. The system connects 130 locations and will deliver every image, video, story and score to the world during the Games.
Bell became the presenting sponsor of the Cultural Olympiad and unveiled the new "Expanding the Circle" 2010 Cultural Olympiad logo at a sold-out evening concert in the Orpheum Theatre on Feb. 12. Bell became VANOC's first big sponsorship score when it pledged $110 million in services and $90 million in cash in fall 2004.
Business Greets 2010 Opportunities, Some Natives Do Not
Where Burrard and Georgia streets meet in downtown Vancouver was also the site of three events marking the two-year countdown to Vancouver 2010 a day early on Feb. 11.
The Province of British Columbia's 2010 Business Summit at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver featured executives from Visa International, Coca-Cola and NBC during a day-long conference intended to connect local businesses with 2010 sponsors, suppliers and broadcasters.
Visa senior vice-president of sponsorship and event marketing Scot Smythe said Vancouver is likely to be a showcase for the credit card company's emerging tap or swipe card technology.
Visa has exclusivity at all 2010 venues and is making non-exclusive marketing deals with Vancouver retailers and restaurateurs.
Also at the Summit, B.C. Olympics minister Colin Hansen signed a memorandum of understanding with U.K. trade and investment minister Lord Digby Jones to develop Olympic-related economic legacies. The agreement was a repeat of one signed between B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and counterparts from London, Turin, Sydney and Salt Lake at the 2006 Games.
Campbell took centre stage at the Vancouver Board of Trade's annual 2010 Countdown lunch on the same day. It was held behind police barricades at the Hyatt Regency. Some 100 protesters – mostly from the First Nations – marched from the Vancouver Art Gallery Omega countdown clock and rallied outside against the Olympics and VANOC's Four Host First Nations society.
VANOC-allied chiefs of the Squamish, Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Lil'wat nations "represent the rich and continue to collaborate with the government and corporations for profits that will never benefit the indigenous peoples,” says Native 2010 Resistance organizer Angela Sterritt
Campbell said the Four Host First Nations participation in the Games is a model for the Olympic movement. As for the protesters, “First Nations are like the rest of us, unanimity is not something that can be found very often,” he said.
Welcome The last plank of the wooden roof of the Richmond Oval was put into place in January 2008. (VANOC)to the O Zone
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie unveiled plans for the island suburb's 2010 celebrations on Feb. 12.
The $178 million Richmond Oval speed skating arena is on target for a fall 2008 completion. It will open as a community center and will host the 2009 World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships. When the Games are on, a celebration precinct will stretch to one of the new Canada Line rapid transit stations.
Brodie said the free, family-friendly gathering spots are his community's way to capitalize on the Games. He said as many as 30 percent of Olympic visitors actually don't attend the sporting events.
"We want every person, every resident of the city to have a memorable experience," Brodie told the Richmond Chamber of Commerce.
The Richmond Oval is 15 km south of the Vancouver Olympic Village and across the Middle Arm of the Fraser River from Vancouver International Airport.
With reporting from Bob Mackin in Vancouver.
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