Volunteer for club, event and the city
Michael Mølgaard and Herning Ishockeyklub have been volunteers at MCH Messecenter Herning for various large events and have also volunteered at Jyske Bank Boxen for more than 10 years.
The club became involved when MCH hosted an introduction course for volunteers ten years ago in connection with the opening of Jyske Bank Boxen. The venue, of course, opened with a bang, hosting a Lady Gaga concert. The ice hockey club provides people to help at a number of events, and these volunteers do jobs like serving, parking, and showing people to their seats inside Boxen. In return for the volunteers’ efforts, the club receives a regulary payment in accordance with collective and other arrangements.
- It is a pleasure to volunteer because we work so well with MCH. They always manage the events efficiently, delegate the tasks fairly and are very helpful when the volunteers have to get ready for a specific job, says Michael Mølgaard.
Three weeks off
In 2018, when Herning and Copenhagen hosted the Ice Hockey World Championships, Michael took three weeks off from work to volunteer during the event, as well as helping to put up the ice hockey rink in Jyske Bank Boxen and take it down again.
- It was a great experience for everyone at the local ice hockey club.
The individual reasons that club members volunteer vary a lot from person to person. For example, there are many parents whose children are in the club, they often volunteer to help raise money for the trip to Canada, which one of the youth teams go on every other year. Others volunteer, even though their children are not active in the sport anymore; they might just want to carry on helping the club financially or to form part of the social community.
- When we volunteer we are helping the guests have a really good experience. There is plenty of work to be done, but we also have little breaks where the volunteers can get to know each other and it builds a sense of community, says Michael.
Volunteering makes a difference
The payment which the volunteer clubs receive is, of course, also an important driving force. That money makes the difference between the club being able to participate in and organise tournaments, or not. This is an important point as it is all part of what helps the club be active and to attract new members. Three people from Herning Ishockeyklub itself work to coordinate the volunteers locally. They make sure that all volunteers are completely prepared for the task ahead.
-The most important thing about volunteering is to do it with a smile on your face. Of course, we have to take the job seriously, but it is important to still have fun while you do it, says Michael, who incidentally has a wide smile on his face as he says this.
