Sentiers Wakefield Trails
I joined the Board of Directors of Sentiers Wakefield Trails in honour of my friend Barry Nesbitt a few months after he passed away. I saw an ad in our local paper that they were looking for Board members, so I introduced myself, offering my Communications skills to the volunteer-run non-profit.
Ken Bouchard, co-founder and President, thought for a moment when I approached him. He was not used to people offering anything other than their hands for trail work. “I’ve got just the thing!”, he finally said. “Dog poop!”.
“Hahahahah aaaaahhhhh....” Although I laughed, inwardly my mind raced and my heart sank. Poop. Not quite what I had in mind. I took the lesson and the position, humbly accepting to develop a campaign for trail users to pick up after their pooches.
Since then, I’ve ghostwritten magazine articles, built capacity for volunteers to run a Facebook and Instagram account, spoken on behalf of the organization on the radio, developed a walking workshop for international guests of the World Trails Conference, brought in student collaborators to do research and design work, promoted two successful community fundraising events and so much more.
Meeting clients where they are at is truly the key to a successful partnership.
REference for Laura Wesley
I am the past president of Wakefield Trails. I met Laura at a Celebration of Life for one of our strongest and most dedicated Directors and volunteers. She had been a good friend of this person. She had just moved to the Wakefield area and after seeing the type of work her dear friend was involved with, she asked if she could join our board. When we met, her first comment was, “Don’t ask me to build trails…I will do your social media !”
What a force ! She put her communication experience to work immediately;
not only on social media but also with the following projects...
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Two publicity campaigns for National Trails Day that sold out!
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With a small group of Algonquin students, redeveloped our web site.
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Much expanded the photo library of our trail work for volunteer outreach & community engagement.
I will always let somebody like this work on advertising and social media and not building trails.
Thank you Laura.
Ken Bouchard
