Unsung heroes

Posted Feb 9, 2012 By Blair Edwards

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EMC sports -Every night, Steven Shamess returns home from his job at Mitel and starts work at his other career.

The pay isn't great -just enough money to buy gas to power his snowblower -and the work is spread out sporadically over the course of an entire night, usually ending after 10 p.m.

The Glen Cairn man has volunteered his time to maintain the outdoor rink at Dogbone Park for the past four years.

The work isn't exactly exciting -scraping ice and shoveling snow in freezing temperatures from December until March -but it has its rewards, said Shamess.

"What I look at is, are people using the ice?" said the community volunteer. "That makes me feel good about it -it's not fun work. It's not exciting work. It's just a feeling you're giving back to youth."

Shamess started volunteering his time maintaining the rink in 2008, after he read a story in the Kourier-Standard about an older man who had developed cancer and could not continue his work keeping Dogbone's rink running.

Shamess felt obligated to help out.

His children grew up skating on the rink at Dogbone Park, located next to John Young Public School.

"They used the park for a good 10 years," he said. "It was time to give back to the community to let other kids enjoy the park, just like mine did."

Every day, Shamess returns home from his job and pulls out the hockey nets stored in a nearby maintenance shed.

Sometimes there's a few kids already on the ice waiting for the nets to come out so they can start their game.

"You can't (clear the ice) during the weekends because the kids are out all day on it," said Shamess.

On days following a heavy snowfall, Shamess is a familiar figure in his neighbourhood, slowly pushing his 8.5-horsepower Sears Craftsman snowblower up the street to the park.

He usually waits about four hours -time enough for the neighbourhood children to enjoy a few games of pickup hockey -and then returns to the rink to flood the ice.

"I am the Zamboni," said Shamess. "You have to think what the Zamboni does - scrape the ice, take the shaving away and smooth the ice."

The tools of the trade?

Ice scrapers -semi-curved shovels that are 60 centimetres wide -a shovel, a whisk broom, a snowblower, and a fire hose.

BANG FOR THE BUCK

Shamess is one of the 3,000 to 5,000 volunteers who keep the ice clear and useable at the 247 outdoor rinks throughout the City of Ottawa.

It's a great deal for the city, said Luc Simard, a portfolio manager with the city's department of parks and recreation.

The city provides $1,000 a season to each volunteer to maintain small rinks and $4,700 for larger rinks with a puddle -a smaller ice pad used by parents with small children.

Volunteers sign an agreement to provide 30 hours of supervision for larger rinks with attached smaller ice pads.

"It doesn't amount to much, dollars per hour," said Simard.

Most volunteers use the money to maintain their snowblower and pay for gas.

"It's a very important program," said Simard. "The city's getting a good bang for their buck."

The city's public works department installs boards, light poles and lights at the rinks and ensures field houses -places for people to put on their skates, are heated properly and have working water.

At some rinks, volunteers offer skating lessons and other winter programs.

In January, Brewer Park, located near Carleton University, featured a provincial skating championship on their speed skating oval.

"It becomes a hub for the community in the wintertime," said Simard. "The volunteers are the heart and soul of the program."

Ottawa has more outdoor ice rinks when compared to other large Canadian cities, with Winnipeg placing a distant second, said Simard.

Of the City of Ottawa's 247 outdoor rinks, 164 are managed by community associations and groups, and 56 are maintained by individuals, such as Shamess.

The other 27 rinks are located in rural areas without access to city water and are maintained by the municipality.

POND LADY

A few kilometres north of Dogbone and Clarence Maheral, in the heart of Katimavik, sits Young's Pond, a "natural gem" that has served skaters for decades.

Pam Hornby, who took over as supervisor of a group of volunteers who maintain the Katimavik outdoor rink in 2010, has become a figure of icy authority in the community.

"A few years back some of the younger kids would say, 'Here comes the Pond Lady. I guess we got to get the shovels and get going,'" said Hornby with a laugh.

For decades, the rink was maintained by the Beck family, whose home faces Young's Pond.

Every winter, the Becks and their neighbours maintained the rink, providing their own hoses to flood the ice surface.

In 2008, that job was taken over by Rod MacLean, now president of the Katimavik-Hazeldean Community Association, which maintains the outdoor rinks at Young's Pond Park and the one behind Katimavik Elementary School.

Every winter, MacLean published flyers asking for people's help to shovel clear the rink, delivering them to 450 homes in the area.

MacLean said he could usually count on the assistance of a group of 10 volunteers every winter, including one gentleman with a snow blower.

"Sometimes everybody is enthusiastic and after a while the season winds down and the enthusiasm wanes, but normally you can count on a good bunch in the neighbourhood."

Hornby was one of those dedicated volunteers, which is why MacLean asked her to take over the job as co-ordinator when he assumed the post of president of the community association.

"My kids ...learned to skate on that pond," said Hornby. "To have that outdoor natural gem was the opportunity to get the kids out there to enjoy the outdoors and learn how to skate."

The Katimavik woman started shoveling the pond in 2004, one year, she bought a bucket shovel to make the job less labour-intensive.

"I thought that would be easier on my back, especially moving large amounts of snow," she said.

Hornby co-ordinates a group of 15 volunteers who help keep the ice ready for use at Young's Pond -not including the teenagers who occasionally pitch in.

"Together, we're making this pond a really fun place in the winter time," said Hornby. "I truly believe this pond is a community effort."

Anyone interested in volunteering their time to help maintain their local outdoor rink should contact their community association or by calling 613-580-2590.

The city is organizing a special day on Feb. 11, from 1 to 3 p.m. called Hockey Day in Ottawa, at outdoor rinks throughout the city to honour some of the sport's unsung heroes who maintain the rinks.

"It's to put the operators in the spotlight," said Simard. "We really want to focus on thanking the operators."


blair.edwards@metroland.com






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