Most of Signal Hill spent the weekend of August 9 and 10 enjoying the last stretch of summer. Twenty-eight of your neighbours spent it downtown at Cowboys Casino, counting cash, running chips, and balancing a cage until the small hours of the morning.

It is not glamorous work. It is also the single biggest reason this community association can do anything at all.

Why a community association works a casino

If you have never lived in Alberta, this part sounds strange. Here, charitable gaming is run through Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC): licensed non-profits are assigned a casino event, they supply the volunteers who fill the operational positions over those days, and a share of the gaming proceeds comes back to the organization to spend on community programs.

"Volunteer work at casinos is only a requirement in Alberta," says Gord Vogt, who chairs the casino for SHCA. "It does make the province unique, and it puts the onus on the charity to put in some effort to receive the funding."

In other words, nobody hands this money over. Neighbours earn it, one long shift at a time.

What the weekend actually pays for

The casino comes around roughly every 18 months to two years, and the proceeds carry us through the whole stretch in between. That is the outdoor rink and the flooding crew's equipment. The free events: Neighbour Day, Cleanup Day, Art in the Park, disc golf, skate night, the Parade of Garage Sales. The basketball court, the pickleball nets, the gardens, the gazebo, the community memberships that make so much of it free at the door.

Every shift worked over those two days is money that comes straight back into Signal Hill.

The crew

Positions ran across both days: general manager, banker, cashier, chip runner, and the count room, which wraps up somewhere around 3:30 in the morning. Some volunteers took a shift on both days. Some signed up back in May and never needed a reminder. Some stepped in during the final week when we were short.

Our thanks, in alphabetical order, to:

Alan L., Alice L., Andrea L., Barb C., Brandon H., Brian L., Carol L., Catherine T., David I., Gord V., John G., Kyra B., Linda V., Lois F., Monalisa P., Param S., Pauline P., Sanjoy M., Star L., Susan I., Terry M., Tracy Lyn M., Tracy M., Vern M., Ward C., Wendy W. and Wesley F.

And Sherri, who put her name down as an on-call backup so we had someone to phone if a shift came open at the last minute. That is its own kind of generosity.

If one of those names belongs to someone on your street, say thank you when you see them, and ask how the night went. The stories are better than you would expect.

About the photos, or rather the lack of them

We would love to show you all of this. We cannot: photography is not permitted on a casino floor, so the only record of the weekend is the roster above and a lot of tired smiles in the volunteer break room. You will have to take our word for it.

What happens next

Casino proceeds are pooled with every other charity that held a casino in the same quarter, and the disbursement usually reaches the community within about two months of quarter end. And the application for the next casino goes in almost immediately: Gord filed the last one at 4:00 a.m. on the morning after the final shift.

A special thank-you to Gord Vogt, who organizes this from end to end: the roster, the AGLC paperwork, the position forms, the reminders, the follow-ups. It is a genuinely large job and he has been doing it for this community for years.

To all 28 of you: thank you. We could not run this place without you.

Want to be on the crew next time? Email us at [email protected] or see the other ways to help out. No gaming experience needed, the paid casino advisors train you on the spot, and the meals are better than you would think.