Long-time volunteer Fehr hopes his work helps make a difference

“My parents were involved in some community volunteering,” Fehr told battlefordsNOW. “There was probably some influence there. My formal education was through agriculture. There was encouragement, and lots of opportunities to become involved in volunteer activities through university, as well as upon graduation. So, it’s probably just the environment that I grew up in.”

He has been with the Twin Rivers Curling Club for about 25 years in total.

The semi-retired professional agrologist, originally from Winnipeg, believes volunteering is a good way to stay active and meet new people.

For the COPP, he helps coordinate the volunteers and also takes part in patrols himself.

“I was probably a little bit fed up with petty crime: you know, break-ins to unlocked vehicles and things like that,” Fehr said. “I thought, you can complain about it, or you can try to do something about it.”

This is the 63-year-old’s fourth year with the COPP group.

“You learn how to better protect your property and your person,” he said. “I don’t want to overstate the dangers in North Battleford. Every community has its dangers, issues and hot spots.”

He noted North Battleford gets painted in a bad light by W5, Maclean’s Magazine, and other national media that “just don’t have a sense of an understanding of the community.”

He believes being part of COPP helps people learn how to better protect themselves and their property.

“It also gives us an opportunity to meet some new people,” Fehr added. “As it turns out, some of these folks have some other connections that I know. We’ve had some very good conversations while we’re out patrolling.”

He noted people can join in patrols any hour of the day; it doesn’t have to be at night.

“It’s not as dangerous as some people seem to think that it is,” Fehr added. “The very first priority is safety, safety to our patrollers. And the second priority is safety, and the third priority is safety. So, we take very good care and attention to make sure anything we do while we are on patrol is a safe activity.”

He stressed there is always a need for people to volunteer, to make more services available to residents and to strengthen the community.

“I look at all the sporting and cultural organizations in the Battlefords, and in most communities. That service is not provided by a municipality,” he said. “It’s in many cases funded by a municipality, but it’s the individual volunteers that are the boots on the ground that make those things run. Those provide the entertainment aspect and a fitness aspect, many different things that make life worth living.”

Fehr added that volunteering is also a good opportunity “to return what we receive as citizens.” He noted it’s a good way to make new friends, to discover other people with some of your shared interests, and “maybe perhaps discover some new interests you never thought about before.”

He said through the curling club, for example, he had some folks get him involved in pickleball, which he never thought of playing before.

“It’s kind of a silly name, I thought,” Fehr said. “But I played a lot of racket sports throughout my life, and I’ve taken up pickleball once or twice a week now. You know, a person should never quit learning, and volunteering is a way to continue to [do that].”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow

by Angela Brown

Long-time volunteer Fehr hopes his work helps make a difference

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