There are about 25 neighbourhood rinks throughout Kitchener, and they are all run by volunteers who go out in the darkest and coldest time of night to keep the rinks clear and flooded. It’s not a glamorous job, but Chris Letizi, a volunteer rink coordinator at the Stanley Park Community Centre, says the community fostered by kids and families coming out for a skate makes it all worth it. But he adds that finding volunteers willing to come out and do the work to keep the rinks operating is a problem all across the city. Josh Joseph runs the Love My Hood program with the City and says the outdoor rink program is a decades-old program that could not run without volunteers.
If you can brave the cold, Kitchener’s volunteer rinks could use your help.
