Last Wednesday night, the RA hall on l’Île-du-Grand-Calumet was filled with dozens of volunteers and their families for a barbecue and open mic night. 

Marie-Jeanne Godin-McTiernan, the president of the community’s recreation association, explained that they typically hold a get-together to recognize their volunteers. 

“We do a supper for our volunteers,” she said. “The ones that have helped out for the carnival, for all the events that we do throughout the year, for the Saint-Jean, which was a three-day thing this year. This is our way of thanking them for helping out.”

Godin-McTiernan said that they have a core group of nine on the RA committee but they had as many as 68 volunteers for their popular events like Saint-Jean-Baptiste. She added that anyone was welcome to the barbecue, but those who had helped out previously ate for free. 

She said that the musical portion of the evening  was put on by a musician with local roots, Jean Michel Lamothe, who had entertained for the group before. After warming up the crowd himself, he hosted an open mic night for whoever wanted to perform. 

“He’s originally from the island, he now lives in Alberta, he works in Banff, he’s an entertainer,” she explained. “This is the second year that he’s sung for us for our volunteer supper. I said sure go ahead, try it out, because if it works out we can make this a yearly thing.”

Godin-McTiernan said that the RA is aiming to host a community picnic in September. 

“We’re going to have an annual picnic that we are revamping, bringing back, because the island used to have picnics all the time.”