Dear editor,

Coming home on the ferry from a family funeral in Vancouver recently, I was heartened and inspired upon seeing many familiar Comox Valley faces, especially the adults giving up part of their weekend, volunteering time for Comox Valley students and youth.

One group was the high school Destination Imagination competitors and teachers/administrators, another were the high school robotics student competitors and their sponsors/coaches, a third group was fine arts photography students all supervised and coached by school teachers and/or administrators.

As well, were some sport teams were returning from competitions.

It really struck home to me how fortunate the Comox Valley is to have such dedicated teachers, administrators, and school and community coaches and sponsors for youth activities that enable our youth to compete provincially, nationally and even internationally, let alone provide experiences in larger cities for our youth, fostering the view that our youth are as capable as youth from the larger centres in any endeavour.

Our coaches, directors and sponsors all do this with little or no compensation, giving up personal and family time for our youth. Next time the opportunity presents itself, thank a teacher, administrator, school or community coach, director or sponsor for their unselfish efforts. They deserve it for helping make the Comox Valley a wonderful place to raise a family. Regards to all of them.

Hugh MacKinnon,

Comox