Volunteer Week: All for the kids

By Mo Cranker on April 25, 2017.

mcranker@medicinehatnews.com @MHNmocranker

For Ron Schaerer, volunteering has become a way of giving back to the community he has spent his entire life in.

For the last 11 years, Schaerer has spent his winter nights tending to the Riverside High-Board Arena, getting it ready for the next morning’s skaters.

“This is all for the kids,” he said. “I feel like this is my way of contributing back to my community that I’ve spent my years in.”
Schaerer works full time from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, and during the winter he adds a rink maintenance shift on top of that, from 9-11:30 p.m. He says taking care of the rink during the winter is something he really likes doing.

“I like hockey, and I just really like seeing young kids out here trying to skate and learn the game and to see them get better,” he said. “Hockey is a great game and so many people here play it, young and old, so seeing everyone come out to the rink makes me happy.”

Though he does like doing it, Schaerer says the job can be very hard.

“Everyone asks me where I keep the zamboni, and I always look at them and say ‘I’m right here,’” he said. “It’s a lot of work, it can be really hard, it can be really cold, but it when a job needs to be done, someone has to do it — that’s where I fit in.”

Now 56, Schaerer says he has no plans on handing off the torch to someone else.

“I’m not going to stop, as long as I physically can do it, I am going to keep doing it.”

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