December 15, 2013
Former warrant officer chairs Day of Tribute
Pete Campbell
Campbell, who had been retired from the Armed Forces for 10 years, knew right away that he wanted to get involved any way that he could with this Ottawa Chapter event.
Pete Campbell retired as a Chief Warrant Officer in the Canadian military. He joined the Forces in 1974, a year after working in Montreal.
Campbell’s military career included a year in Bosnia with the United Nations, a three-month tour in Bosnia with NATO, and a three-month tour in Iraq/Kuwait in 2002. He retired from the Canadian military in 2003.
The Ottawa Day of Tribute is Campbell’s first return to an event involving military participation since his retirement. He chose to participate because he felt it was a great opportunity for him to give back to the families and veterans and does so in their honour.
When the request went out in 2012 that a new chairperson was being sought for the event, he approached Geosynthetic Systems president Kelly Mulrooney-Coté to enquire if it was possible. He received resounding support from all the staff.
Campbell’s commitment to the position of event chair is evident in all levels of planning. He took it upon himself to contact all the companies involved to introduce himself and to thank them for participating. He educated himself as to what the day involved: planning, activities of aerating, seeding and spreading the gypsum, leaf blowing, and general clean up. Campbell also made a trip out to Beechwood to visit the site and meet with the staff there so that the correct amount of product and time would be allotted to the day’s activities.
Campbell has expressed that the amount of time and effort to organize the event has been a learning process, but that it is a lot less time consuming for him than for members who re-organize their schedules to volunteer their staff hours at a time when they are completing end-of-season work.
As part of this year’s event, Campbell made a quick estimate of man hours put in by participating members. If each company participates that day with five hours and had three volunteers in place, they are giving up the revenue on at least 15 man hours.
Campbell acknowledges that it is a personal choice to participate in the Ottawa Day of Tribute, which he takes very seriously. “Members are volunteering their time and their profits for an event they believe in. It makes me very proud to continue as chair of the event.”