Craig MacLaren – Volunteering with DUC – Family and Community

Family and community are high priorities for Craig MacLaren of Summerside, PEI. This is why volunteering with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), alongside his father, Gordon, is so important to him. MacLaren and his father – a 25-year-plus DUC volunteer – are helping to conserve local wetland habitat in their community. Now a husband and father himself with a newborn daughter, MacLaren wants to ensure that the next generation reaps the benefits of today’s land stewards.

At 31, MacLaren has been an active member of two DUC fundraising committees – the Summerside dinner event and the Waterfowlers event in New London – for over five years. He began his volunteer work helping his father with the event raffles, packaging door prizes and auction items for attendees to take home. Not only does MacLaren enjoy the organizational aspects of putting on these events, he is also perfecting a new skill as the master of ceremonies – something he had never done before joining DUC.

“My father and I spent a lot of time hunting and fishing when I was growing up,” says MacLaren. “He taught me the value of conservation, and I want to instil those values in my daughter. Volunteering with DUC gives me the opportunity to make a difference.”

“Craig is passionate about the outdoors,” says Jamie Young, DUC fundraising manager in Prince Edward Island. “As the master of ceremonies and one of our youngest members on the committee, he brings a lot of energy and talent. Craig’s energy and talent, combined with his passion, make him a great asset and role model for other conservation-minded young people in the community.”

“National Volunteer Week is our chance to honour our nearly 7,000 volunteers across Canada, and in particular, our young volunteers who are introducing a whole new generation to DUC,” says Loraine Nyokong, DUC national director of fundraising and membership. “Volunteers like them are the ‘rising stars’ of our organization. The fact that they recognize the importance of wetland conservation and are spreading the word is fantastic, not only for DUC, but for all Canadians.”

“Being active and involved is so important in a small community like Summerside,” says MacLaren. “DUC has a lot of support in the community and we, as volunteers, are well respected for what we do to help support DUC in their work towards wildlife and habitat conservation.”

With the support of volunteers like MacLaren, DUC recently completed its Wetlands for Tomorrow campaign – the largest conservation fundraising campaign ever undertaken in North America. Working alongside Ducks Unlimited, Inc. in the United States and Ducks Unlimited Mexico, DUC contributed to waterfowl and wetland habitat conservation, water quality as well as recreational and learning opportunities for people of all ages.

DUC could have not achieved these conservation goals without the generous support of its volunteers and supporters. MacLaren and other conservation-minded individuals like him from across Canada will continue to be the driving force behind ongoing efforts to stop wetland loss.