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Brandi Bedson – Volunteering with DUC – Always Time for DUC
Oak Hammock Marsh, Man., April 12, 2010 — They say if you need to get something done ask a busy person. Brandi Bedson of Fox Creek, Alberta is one of those individuals who is never too busy to help out Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), in spite of running the local paper, being a wife and mother of three and helping out with other community causes.
After the loss of Merv Zadderey, Fox Creek’s previous DUC committee chair and the Mayor of Fox Creek, Brandi, along with Merv’s widow, Bonnie, stepped up about four years ago to continue his legacy and to rebuild the local DUC committee. Brandi was raised to appreciate and respect the outdoors so it was a natural fit for her to lead a group that was trying to benefit wildlife and wetland habitat. She fit in well, strengthened the core committee and brought in new people. Everyone involved with DUC in Fox Creek would agree; Brandi has done Merv’s memory proud.
“Volunteering with DUC has been a tremendous challenge– that challenge is one of the things that I like most about it,” says Brandi. “No matter what I do, I try to give it 100 per cent and it is also important to have fun and for what I am doing to matter. DUC is all of those things for me.”
Because Brandi has such a full life with her family, her job and many other interests, she has learned to refine her planning and organizational skills since working with DUC. She has also learned the value of patience when working with others towards a common goal, but most of all she has learned about the invincible community spirit of Fox Creek. For Brandi, the biggest payback of volunteering is that it gives her hope for the future – for her children and their children.
“Even though Brandi has only been a DUC volunteer for a few years, you would think she has been working with us since she was a child,” says Marty van Sloun, DUC’s fundraising manager in Alberta. “Brandi has a great group of volunteers that she leads and inspires and those qualities bring success to everything DUC does in Fox Creek.”
“National Volunteer Week, April 18-24, is our opportunity to celebrate DUC’s team of 7,400 dedicated volunteers like Brandi,” says Loraine Nyokong, DUC director of event and retail fundraising. “DUC volunteers are continually giving freely of themselves to organize fundraising events across Canada for the benefit of wetland conservation. They are the driving force behind our success.”
“I thrive on volunteering with DUC,” says Brandi. “We are all committed to a common goal and that keeps us going. It is incredibly satisfying to be a part of that group energy.”
Funds raised by volunteers like Brandi directly support DUC’s Wetlands for Tomorrow campaign – the largest conservation fundraising campaign in the history of North America. It spans three countries as DUC works alongside Ducks Unlimited, Inc. in the United States and Ducks Unlimited Mexico to conserve wetlands for waterfowl, other wildlife and people.
For more information, contact:
Ashley Lewis, a_lewis@ducks.ca
Communications Coordinator, Fundraising
Ducks Unlimited Canada
Phone: 204-467-3252
