How long have you lived in Bridgeland-Riverside? What do you like about living here?
23 years. It’s a great neighbourhood: small but complicated; friendly; always changing; in the
middle of everything, yet somehow it still feels tucked away.
How did you get involved in volunteering in our community?
The best way: through neighbours who have since become great friends.
What kind of volunteer activities have you done?
Community clean-ups; Farmer’s Market set-ups; Passeggiata; helping to organize Christmas
Carolling; lights in the Plaza; Planning Committee; Community Advisory Group (CAG) / Area
Redevelopment Committee; East Riverside Master Plan; BRCA Board of Directors (5 years),
President (3 years); plus, many other day-to-day things I am probably forgetting.
What ideas do you have for volunteering in the future? What interests or excites you?
For right now … time for a short break! But then, soon after I’m sure: the most fun things are
events and placemaking that bring people together.
What would you tell others in the community about volunteering?
It’s a bit like swimming – just jump in, the water’s fine! Whatever interests you, whatever you
are good at, can probably become your best way to help.
What do you like most about volunteering for the Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association?
My friends and neighbours. Once you are an adult, how often do you really get the chance to
make new friends?
During the pandemic are you still able to do volunteer activities in a safe manner?
Oh, sure. Meetings on Teams and Zoom are no replacement for what we had before COVID-19,
but we kept things going. Being a volunteer in the community, and especially for BRCA, really
just means joining in decades-long ongoing conversation. Volunteering is helping, and most
people get a lot of satisfaction when helping others. During the pandemic there were obviously
lots of restrictions, and fewer events, but the conversations aimed at helping others and making
things better never went quiet.
What is a hidden gem in Bridgeland-Riverside that you have discovered and would like to share?
At the SE corner of the 9A Street Park, there is a break in the chain link fence, and an entrance
from the alley into the Park. On a nice spring day, the laneway has rabbits and birds, and the
threshold to the Park is like a secret little entryway back to childhood. My youngest is 12-years
old now, but with all three of our kids, we spent many happy hours in that Park, or playing in
puddles in that alleyway after rainstorms. I love pausing at that spot, where the Park and its
memories are always about to happen.
Volunteer Profile: Brian Beck
