COVID Stage 3: Cautious Optimism

 by Rhonda Scheurer

As of July 1st, the Province of Alberta is entering Stage 3 of COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines.  In a nutshell they're removing all restrictions.

Per our "inverted pyramid" of restrictions and guidelines in our COVID-19 policy (see figure on right), the Alberta government describes the baseline restrictions and guidelines for the province.  The COC may add restrictions and guidelines on top of the province's, and an event coordinator may add restrictions and guidelines on top of the COC's for their events.

Effective July 1st, the COC will no longer be adding any restrictions and guidelines on top of the provincial restrictions and guidelines, but it is still the coordinator's right to add some restrictions and guidelines of their own.  Our regular restrictions and guidelines, and our safety policy, still apply, of course.

We are cautiously optimistic and open for business.

Carpooling

Carpooling has always been a great component of the COC.  We strive to make our carpool locations accessible by transit for attendees coming without a vehicle.  We share the cost, reduce our environmental impact, take up less space in the parking lot, and take the opportunity to build community and friendships during this "bonus" time together.

With the removal of restrictions, we're hoping to start dipping our toes into some carpooling again.  The COC will allow "normal" carpooling, where the coordinator "assigns" passengers to willing drivers.  That doesn't mean, however, that things are just going to instantly spring back to normal.  Some of us will be chomping at the bit for carpool, and some will be more cautious, imposing their own personal restrictions on their interactions.  It is still early days, and everyone has the right to choose the level of risk they're willing to take at this stage.

At the event level, it is up to each coordinator if they wish to include carpool on their events.  At the participant level, it is up to each driver to decide whether they're willing to take passengers, and under what circumstances.  

We remain hopeful that the vaccine roll-out across the province will be a resounding success, and that opening everything back up does not cause another wave of infections.  Time will tell, and as we all become more confident with social exposure, we're confident that we will start to see more and more carpooling return. 

Recognizing Member Milestone Events

 by Rhonda Scheurer

A few months ago, COC member and volunteer, Mélanie Tessier, suggested that we do something to recognize members milestone events.  We could not agree more that this is something we should do!

As a first step, we are unveiling "Certificates of Achievement", which will be sent when members reach 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, and 10,000 events.   This is just my (Rhonda's) idea of when certificates should be sent.  Please see our Member Survey if you'd like to see them sent for other milestone events.  Note that if the survey link doesn't work for you, you're probably not logged in to the COC website.  Log in to our website and re-try the link, or find the survey under the "Membership" menu.

Anyway, since it was Mélanie's idea, of course we had to make our first Certificate of Achievement for her 500th event.  See Mélanie's full-sized certificate. 

Starting today, our website will automatically notice when someone has attended a milestone event and send them their own certificate.  Certificates will be available under "Membership", "My Account" on the website.

Of course, many of us have passed milestone events before the COC Certificate of Achievement came to be.  If you want certificates for any/all of your own milestone events, please reach out to us at membership@calgaryoutdoorclub.com to get them sent to you.  

Do you have any other ideas about how we can recognize our members' milestone events?  One thing that we're planning is to get a big cake at each of our Twenty Smacker Parties and have the member milestone events listed on the cake.  We're open to other ideas, too, so if you think of something fun we could do, let us know at exec@calgaryoutdoorclub.com.