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EVENTS B2

SO WHATFO
CHARLYNN TOEWS
My brilliant
telemarketing

career

NE TIME I had this tclemarketing
job where ] had a computerized list
of contacts,

I was phoning university in-
structors to iry to get them to take free samples
of books in the hopes they’d order them and
make zillions of students buy them for ali their
courses.

It was very cold and damp and empty in the
building where I worked. This was in Halifax,
in early raw spring. Sometimes the office cat,
Sarah, would keep me warm. (One altercation
between my boss and me involves him grabbing
the cat off my lap and practically throwing the
poor old dear down the stairs. Picture an evil
man if you like.)

So anyway, I would get bored. I was supposed
to make 50 calls a day, which I thought was un-
realistic, Plus I was supposed to wear a headset
phone. Plus the boss could monilor our calls
from the computer in his office, then march
down the hall, storm into an innocent employ-
ec’s cubicle, and start throwing cats around.

In between those moments of sheer terror, of
course, there were hours and hours and months
of dull boredom. In order to amuse and
empower myself, I started only calling people
with funny names. Professor Zcisizch, Ms.

. Bnamboem, and Dr. Ti would get called, as
would instructor O, OJfo and Mr. 2. Xyansk,
but no Joneses or Smiths.

And I called Terrace a lot when I felt lonely
for this place. I’d call up Northwest Community
College, and talk to pretly well whoever ans-
wered the phone. I had only lived in Terrace
briefly though, so I didn’t really know anyone.

Sometimes I pretended that telling them I used
to live in Terrace and asking about the weather
was good salesmanship, that my numbers would
£0 up, up, up. Ha.

‘The other telemarketing job I had lasted two
‘hours. I donated my wages, which totaled $12,
to the Canadian Liver Foundation, for whom I
had been soliciting support in the form of cash
donations via the telephone.

Actually, it was slightly less than two hours,
because I was late even though it wasn’t my
fault. I got trapped on a roof.

See, in downtown Halifax, they have all these
“pedways.”” In Winnipeg we called them
“skywalks,”? These are overhead pedestrian
walkways enclosed with glass, and they are
warm and bright and dry. They connect build-
ings — usually second floor to second floor, or
sometimes third floor to (oops) roof.

The moming in question, I had charged
through one pedway, through a mall, across a
parkade, and was heading towards the enclosed
pedway connected directly to the building
where the Canadian Liver Foundation rented of-
fices. Checking my watch as I steamed along, ]
was calculating I’d arrive exactly two minutes
early when I heard the rooftop door behind me
close with a decidedly Ginal sounding click.

Given the circumstances, would you have
turned on your heel and raced back to the door
only to confirm your worst fears? Or would you
go ever forward, to the outside door of the
giass-enclosed pedway, even though it turned
out to be locked? Would you then, as I did, look
for helpful strangers who would magically ap-
pear and who, although also late, would stop to
play charades through the glass with you?

“Qops, no, sorry, locked on this side too,”’
their shrugs said.

I must have looked miserable to them, out
there on the other side of the glass. It was rain-
ing and windy on that roof, still dark, a Febru-
ary moming on the cast coast and me shivering,
underdressed for outdoor adventure sequences.

I mimed my forgiveness and understanding to
the dry warm pedestrians and then tumed back
to look at that dull black door. No handle on the
outside, of course, I looked across the parkade
and saw that these bwo roofs were not con-
nected. 1 was not in the parkade, I was on the
roof of the building right beside the parkade.

Panic set in at this point, although it was mild
enough for my brain to remember that this roof
had an enclosed stairwell. 1 raced down the
‘stairs, acrass the street, and into the building, ar-
riving at five after nine. I was panting and damp
and probably ashen-faced or perhaps even
crazed-looking.

The supervisor glared at me. I endured one
hour of training, then one hour of telemarketing
(wherein I raised $120), then J lefl. _

The moral of the story, if there needs to be
one, is this: Be nice to telemarketers. You never
know what they may have been through,

HER NAME is synonymous
with voluntecring.

After five years with the
Terrace Volunteer Bureau,
executive director Lovina
Tyler is resigning next
month.

When Tyler began her job
with the bureau, she worked
alone in a small room at the
St. Matthews Church build-
ing.

Five years later the bureau
has a staff of four, two pro-
grams for seniors as well as
the volunteer program and
an adult literacy program.

Home base has grown too.
The bureau is now located
downtown on Lakelse and is
wheelchair accessible.

Finding a need for the ser-
vices of volunteers wasn’t
hard. But government fund-

‘ing for volunteer agencies

isn't growing at the same
rate.

Now staff are looking for
mew sources of money to
keep the bureau going.
That’s going to be the big-
gest challenge for the person
who replaces Tyler.

The task is doubly hard to
do in an economy which has
just gone through an ex-
tended shutdown of a major
employer.

“When things get bad you
need your non-profits more
than ever,’’ says Tyler. For
example, she points to
women who in the past
could afford to stay home
with their families. Now
they’re looking for jabs.

Helping women like that
has also become one of the
mandates of the volunteer
burean.

Tyler is very proud of the

olunteer

fact that 126 volunteers
have found paid positions
over the past five years, as a
result of their volunteer ex-
perience with the bureau.

And six volunteers inside
the bureau’s own office
have also found jobs within
the last two years.

‘Part of our mandate is to
train people without high of-
fice skills,’’ says Tyler.

She thinks the value of the

volunteer bureau is proven

in those numbers. ;

‘We've helped to get a lot
of people off social as-
sistance and Ul. That's
worth all the funding we
get”

However, the real focus of
the Volunteer Bureau is to
help others. But sometimes
it can be hard to get people
to admit they need help,
says Tyler. Especially
seniors.

Seniors can be very proud
and independent, she says.
Tyler tells them that they’ve
done their share for the
community, now it’s time to
let someone else help out.

Although Tyler loves her
job, and enjoys meeting the
generous and warm hearted
volunteers, she’s bummed out
after five years of work.

“Tt’s time for a younger
sperson to take this job
over,’’ she says.

Tyler is looking forward
to spending more time with

her family, and in her gar-

dea, but she won’t be retir-
ing altogether.

Tnstead she plans ta open
her a store out of her -Jack-
pine home, selling imported
linens, sweaters, and pot-
tery.

H@ Valuable resource

SOME OF THE books at the First Nations Resource Centre at Skeena Jr.
Secondary are collector's items, worth over $100. The Resource Centre is for
students, but it's open to the public as a reading room on Monday evenings. Hera
resource clerk Linda Pitre and librarian Mary Greenwood look through a book.
The centre also boasts CD ROMs and videos, and is the largest Tsimshain and

North Coast collection in the province.

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 15, 1997 - B1

SECTION B
CRIS LEYKAUF
638-7283

AFTER FIVE YEARS with the Volunteer Bureau, director Lovina Tyler is leaving
to start her own business. Tyler was the first employee of the bureau, and under
her guidance volunteer programs have greatly expanded. She's pictured seated
here with two other staff members — Freda Schmidt, referral coordinator, and
Sonja Slana, coordinator of the seniors programs. 4

Around Town

Passing the torch

GRADE 12 parents urgently needed. That's the
message being sent out by the chair of last year's
Dry Grad committee, .

Caledonia grade 12 parents are being asked to
come to a meeting Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the
school library, Former chair Joset Graham has of-
fered to help the Dry Grad '98 committee to get
going.

She says last spring's dry grad was a success
thanks to community support and parent
volunteers, That support will be the key again for
parents this year.

History in the making

OCTOBER 1S Women's History Month.

Declared five years ago, Women’s History
Month honours the contributions of women who
have helped build communities and the nation.

This year's theme is science and technology.

Many think of history as events burled in the
dust of the past, but history is constantly being
made. For Instance, the first aboriginal woman to
graduate from UBC's faculty of medicine was
Nadine Caron — she graduated this year.

In 1991 Roberta Bondar became Canada's first
woman in Space.

It wasn't until 1969 that contraceptives could be
legally advertised and sold in Canada.

Brenda Eng, a nurse on the cancer ward at BC
Children's Hospital, founded Vancouver's Canuck
Place, North America’s first free-standing hospice
for children, She was voted Woman of the Year
for this achievement, In 1995.

Day centre offers respite

ARE YOU a caregiver for an elderly person? Or
do you know an alderly person who could benefit
from an outing?

The Terrace Adult Day Centre offers hot lun-
ches, entertainment and crafts three days a week.

The day centre Is open from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30
p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Enter-
tainment includes games, the occasional guest
speaker, as well as easy exercise. And every now
and then someone from the community will drop
by with flowers or cookies and muffins.

Program manager Betty Stewart says she
natices a big differance when elderly clients at-
tend regularly. The stimulation of regular outings
makes an impact on their health,

The cost |s just $4 a day, and Stewart says right
now there's plenty of room in the program. That's
because some of the former clients have left town,
or moved to care homes such as Terraceview,

For more information call 635-5135,

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