If you sleep naked, you’re probably not invited. Otherwise,
iron your peejays and dishevel your hair: The Brew Pub in Squamish is hosting
VANOC’s Homestay Program Launch on Jan. 22.
“It’s a great program that some people have really been
anticpating,” said Maureen Douglas, VANOC’s director of community relations.
“And this is going be a fun night.”
Among the dignitaries will be Miga, Quatchi and Sumi. You know:
the 2010 Olympic mascots, who are actually real people sweating and waving in
fantastical suits. Unlike you, they can’t eat the appetizers.
Maybe you’re thinking about offering your home to one or more
of the 1,000 or so volunteers headed for the corridor come February 2010. But,
then again, maybe you’re unsure about the whole deal. Like, how do you host a
stranger? Do they get their own fridges? Do their own laundry? Pay for cable?
Though there are incentives and qualifiers, those won’t be announced until the
launch.
In the meantime, Douglas wants to underscore the importance of
the program.
“It’s pretty important,” she said, “Particularly with a focus
on the Sea to Sky corridor. One of the challenges we’ve talked about, from
Mount Currie to Lions Bay, is that the whole corridor is a relatively small
population and so many of us are engaged every day in the tourism industry, the
recreation industry and the service industry. So many folks are already
directly engaged in that, and it limits the volunteer pool.”
With those people already engaged in the larger functions of a
host community, volunteers from outside the corridor are essential. And so,
too, are their accommodations.
The launch will have homestay veterans from previous
international sporting hoorahs, and they’ll tell you all about it. And, when
you’re done listening, you can grab some information to take home for reading.
Finally, he or she dressed the homeliest gets a prize.
