Nathalie Connor - May 1997 Volunteer of the month

A change has come over the Cycling Promotion and Safety office. The brochures and instructors' packages are neatly stacked, ready to go. Resources are organized. Volunteers are stuffing envelopes while Gavin MacPhail and Pierre Bourgeois plot schools strategy in the other. An up-to-date white board shows critical dates and how we're going to get there.

What happened? No, it wasn't Mr. Clean. It was Ms. Nathalie Connor, who has put in an average of 30 hours a week at the office since an innocent phone call about bicycle paths in early March. "She phoned me the day before one of those pathway patrol meetings wanting to ask about making users more responsible on paths," relates Coordinator Gavin MacPhail. "I invited her, she showed up and just was able to take over."

When Nathalie reported back on the pathways meeting, she asked, "How else can I help?" Oh... "Let me count the ways!" said Gavin. "Since then, she's made an unmanageable workload manageable, especially in the administration and the CAN-BIKE program. And she has done a great job of coordinating the other volunteers: she's a meat-volunteer!"

Although she has ridden bikes for 25 years, Nathalie claims "I'm just learning now that I haven't been doing it right. Now I want to be able to take my bike apart and put it back together." The pathways patrol meetings have allowed her influence on an issue that's equally important to her, since there is a path just by her house. "We're going to have to change the perception of those who want to be vigilantes to ambassadors."

Nathalie 's work in the CfSC office is a wonderful conjunction of "great people to work with, positive feedback, a cause I believe in and a fit for my skills." She had a gap to fill between her last job and upcoming surgery, and decided to fill it with whipping CfSC's administrative systems into shape. "She was looking for something to contribute to and she found the organization that it needed the most," says Gavin.

Now the instructors are finding checklists, a lending system for books, and beautiful first aid kits. "There were a few surprised people, but no complaints," admits Nathalie . The microwave and coffee-maker she brought in have been a boon to volunteers too. "We have a core group of three or four, we could even use more. It's a congenial atmosphere, and the job here is really a four-person job."