Early in 2002 at a Tourism Nanaimo Board of Directors meeting, Kerry Manton and I had an idea for an event we wanted to call the Adventure Games.

A few days later we met at Kerry's office and soon realized we knew little or nothing about such an event and that needed to recruit people who did.

Fortunately Joanna Dunn and Steve Transfield were two of the people that showed interest and they have driven the event ever since.

The "driving" of the Adventure Games has included a willingness to donate roughly 500 hours each year away from their respective businesses as well as an annual business contribution of several thousand dollars to the event. Joanna owns the Fitness Edge fitness centre and Steve owns the Realm bike store.

When I asked why they keep on keeping on year after year, they both hesitated and chuckled a little before answering, letting me know that it was a good question. Why would anyone be so blindly committed to a community event?

Steve's answer started with his 9 and 13 year old children. He wants them to grow up in a city that has a strong sense of community and for him that begins with an energized downtown core. He sees the Adventure Games helping to bring that positive energy to the city centre.

His second reason is still a few years off but as part of his commitment to downtown, he would like to see the Adventure Games begin to raise enough money to buy a building that would provide accommodation as well as literacy and employment training for Nanaimo's homeless people.

Joanna says she has three main reasons for her constant commitment: she loves a good challenge, the relationships she has built have been "awesome", and of course the main reason is that she sees the event as an opportunity to do something positive for the community especially the homeless shelter.

Over the years Steve has become the Logistical Director working with the city and the police to make things run smoothly and Joanna has become the motivator with an amazing ability to pull people together to work toward the end goal.

Last year Jen Skogland joined them and became the detail person. Both Steve and Joanna can't heap enough praise on her for the strengths she brings to the team.

It's interesting that Steve has become the person who works most closely with the city. As we chatted he recalled standing up at his first meeting and insisting that the games were a great idea but that they would never get the support needed from the city to allow it to happen.

Ron Cantelon responded, he recalled, and said that that might have been the way it was in the past but that things had changed.

As it turned out the city "bent" several rules that first year to see the event become successful, and Steve says both the city and the police have given excellent support in each of the following years.

This year the Adventure Games Working Group began meeting in early October. Mark Corbett and I have joined the team and more supportive people would be welcomed.

Steve and Joanna are looking especially for people who have expertise in bookkeeping and corporate sponsorship identification.

"We're looking for people who are selfless, almost stupidly so," Steve laughed, "people who are willingly to give up a lot of their free time, and enthusiastically accept work they don't have time for, and that they won't get paid for."

If that description sounds like you, give me a call at 741-7499 and I'll connect you with Steve and Joanna.

The Adventure Games is well on its way to becoming one of, if not the premier festival event of the summer. You could help make it so.