Lappee-Jukola will break the records with the amount of volunteers taking part in the organisation. There are about 2,000 volunteers and new enrolments are going on until the last moments.
On Wednesday’s grand rehearsal people were queuing for work shifts when the information on certain services still needing work force reached the volunteers.
“I am very proud of the fact how the Karelian people have accepted Lappee-Jukola “, says Lappee-Jukola personnel manager Irmeli Lallo.
Also many competitors are involved in voluntary work. There are altogether a couple of hundred more volunteers involved than in previous Jukola relays.
“People are still inspiring each other to join. There has been enthusiasm ever since the beginning. Most of the volunteers are locals but there are also people from further away, even from Canada. Many people also tour from one Jukola event to another.”
Personnel manager Irmeli Lallo hasn’t stressed because the amount of volunteers in Lappee-Jukola has been exceeding previous years of Jukola volunteers since the beginning.
SERVING COFFEE ON HOLIDAY
One of the volunteers was already on Wednesday behind the coffee counter.
“This is a great sports event and on summer holiday I have time to participate. I like voluntary work”, says Päivi Väisänen.
”I look forward to the great spirit of the event and meeting nice people. It’s best in these kinds of events.”
Päivi Väisänen came to Jukola as a part of the national defence women’s team.
ON SHIFT FOR THE SECOND YEAR
Among Väisänen’s customers there is a man in a worker’s overall. Quite soon it is clear that he is not any average volunteer but a man who could be awarded with a black belt in Jukola voluntary work.
Veikko Husu started his shift in this event already in the spring of 2015 when he started building the main road. This spring he has been present driving a tractor or a digger from dawn till dark ever since the beginning of May.
Husu does not only work on the grounds of the event centre but he also owns them as one of the landowner’s in the area.
”There was no obstacle in letting Jukola use my land”, says Husu. ”As soon as the decision arrived I promised some of the forest to be cut down for the use of Jukola”.
This decision has made working on the area a lot easier. On wet fields you just don’t drive like that with heavy machinery.
Veikko Husu is such a familiar sight at the competition site that the personnel manager thought he would live there.
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
Husu has competed in somewhat twenty Jukola events as a member of Ylämaan Pyrkijät sports club but as a volunteer he is a first-timer.
“This is an once-in-a-lifetime experience. Life is about experiences and this may not happen twice.”
THE WORK CONTINUES
When the Jukola relay has been run and the people have disappeared from the area the Jukola fields may take a sigh and be released for their original usage. It won’t happen overnight since the people leave their mark the fields. Veikko Husu will start his tractor again at the site after the event by preparing the land for autumn sowing.
In a year from now there will be wheat or rapeseed growing on these same fields.
Text: Anu Huttunen
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