It was an exciting day when I received an e-mail last January, asking me to join the Pan Am/Parapan Am Games Workforce Uniform Team as a supervisor. I was equally surprised to learn that they had been working on the Games for almost three years. I was invited downtown to Corus Entertainment’s head office, where the team had assembled with the rest of the Pan Am/Parapan Am staff on one floor of the building.

There I was introduced to all the proposed supervisors of Team Uniform. We were invited to join them on their mission, have a coffee or tea and enjoy some homemade cake brought in by one of the staff. They then proceeded to outline our responsibilities and produced a computer slide show to show us exactly what we would be doing as part of our volunteer commitment.

After a few months, I received an e-mail informing me that I had officially been accepted as a supervisor on the Uniform Team. I would be working out of 5800 Yonge Street, along with the accreditation people on the other side of the building. I was notified that there was to be a training session that all Pan Am/Parapan Am volunteers had to take at George Brown College downtown campus. I had to choose the session I wanted and complete my training with approximately 200 other people.

At the same time, I also had to take and complete an online course, which was in four sections. I must say that the Pan Am/Parapan Am organizers were very thorough in the way they educated their volunteers. They made it so that there was no room for failure. In the months that followed, I was eventually invited the UDAC (Uniform Distribution and Accreditation Centre) to get my badge and uniform. The process was amazingly fast and within a half hour, I got my accreditation and uniform. Each volunteer for the Pan Am/Parapan Am Games received two shirts, one hooded jacket, one hat, one water bottle, one duffle bag, and a $4 gift card from Esso and a $30 gift certificate from Joe Fresh.

Even better than the gifts was the comradeship from my fellow volunteers. It was truly amazing to see people from different ethnic backgrounds, ages and nationalities all coming together to make the Pan Am/Parapan Am experience one of the best in my life.

It is something that I will never forget.

Michael Kates

Michael Kates with “Pinball” Clemons, official quarterback of the TO2015 Volunteer Team