If it wasn’t for Carol Picard, you would not be reading these words right now.
The former journalist, editor and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Outlook (who also hired this reporter in 2006) is one of those people who naturally responds to the needs that exist in the community.
From starting a weekly newspaper (along with partners Bob Schott and Larry Marshall 15 years ago), standing as candidate and being elected to the public school board or feeding the hungry – the pies Picard has her finger in all represent things the community of Canmore and the Bow Valley have needed.
That is one of the reasons the Canmore Rotary Club has named the 59-year-old longtime resident Citizen of the Year.
It is an honour that sits uncomfortably on Picard’s head; she squirms as expected when asked about a title as illustrious as Citizen of the Year.
“It is certainly humbling,” she said. “There are others in this town I can think of who do more than I do.
“I don’t feel like what I do is as significant as what others are doing.”
One of the big reasons the recognition has come towards Picard this year has been her involvement in the Food and Friends program. Food and Friends has been feeding the community a full dinner every Monday evening from 5-7 p.m. at St. Michael’s Anglican Church over the last three years. It features a healthy, free meal available to all at this non-denominational weekly event and it has proven popular in the community. And in these economic times, upwards of 150 people a week take part in the program.
Picard is head cook for Food and Friends and since April 2013 has helped prepare more than 18,000 meals with a crew of nine others and in total contributed more than 2,600 volunteer hours.
It is this work and a “can do” spirit and leadership skills that saw Rotarian Doug Jones nominate her for the award.
Picard said the Food and Friends night would not be possible without her hard working team who help prepare the food on Sundays and Mondays each week.
The program is successful because it meets a need in the community, something Picard’s other volunteer or public service work does as well.
Co-founding a weekly newspaper in the early 2000s was a response to a community need for quality news coverage of the Bow Valley as a region. Picard was doing advocacy journalism before it became a thing by setting out as an independent news voice in a small town.
The paper has grown since its first edition on Sept. 11, 2001 (not an auspicious day to begin publishing) and is now owned by Alberta company Greatwest Newspapers and can boast an editorial staff of seven in a world decrying the end of print journalism.
After retiring in 2008 from the Outlook, Picard has focused on other endeavours like the Canmore Folk Music Festival, running as trustee for the Canadian Rockies Public Schools board and helping volunteer to make the 2014 Alberta Winter Games such a success.
She currently sits as chair of the CRPS board and, while not a volunteer position, as there is an honourarium attached, it is a role heavily invested in the idea of public service and that it takes a village to raise a child – or takes a community to provide education to children in this case.
Her role with the folk festival (which is a week away) has also changed over the past few years from program coordinator to administrative assistant. Currently, and it should be no surprise, Picard heads up the food program, feeding an army of volunteers and an array of musicians over three days on the August long weekend.
Like many a mountain person, Picard has been known to bite off more than should be chewed at once. But, just like those who climb real mountains in the face of outstanding odds, Picard’s focus and hard work inspires the rest of us that we indeed “can do” more too.
