As part of this weekly series called Volunteer Spotlight, we will be highlighting our wonderful volunteers who dedicate countless hours to the betterment of the BC Green Party. If you’d like to nominate someone to feature, email [email protected] with the subject line “Volunteer Spotlight."
When you have a passion for something, it’s easy to get excited about it. For Sue Moen that passion is volunteering with the BC Green Party.
“It’s like any volunteer position. If there’s a passion, there’s a niche,” says Moen. “There will always be something that you can enjoy, that you can do, that I can do, that will give me joy.”
Catching the “politics bug”
Moen’s passion for the Green Party more generally started 14 years ago, when she moved from Vancouver to the Vancouver Island community of Black Creek, located approximately 16 kilometres north of Courtenay.
Reading the local newspaper one day, Moen came across a blurb saying the Green Party of Canada was hosting a meet and greet. Being new to the community, she thought it would be a great chance to meet some locals and wanted to find out more about the federal party.
“They were good people. They were smart people. They were fun people and made me feel welcome. The whole set up gave me a personal purpose,” she said. “I caught the politics bug.”
From there, Moen got involved with the provincial party when BC Green Party leader Andrew Weaver called her personally to ask her to run as the Green candidate in the North Island riding in the 2017 election.
“[It was] flattering and a little surprising,” says Moen on getting that phone call. “Being a candidate is in my top three things ever for fun and for a challenge. I loved being a candidate.”
Giving back
Since then, she’s also sat on Provincial Council, a volunteer body responsible for the governance of the Party, as a member at large. Most recently, Moen organized two events as part of the summer engagement series with the three MLAs.
The first was burgers and beers with Saanich North and the Islands MLA Adam Olsen in Courtenay earlier this month and a town hall with Olsen in Campbell River.
While Moen is currently focusing on the Oct. 21 federal election, she says she “would certainly” consider running as a candidate again in the 2021 provincial election.
“If a better candidate doesn’t show up for 2021, I would absolutely jump in again,” she says.
For more information on how you can get involved with the BC Green Party, visit bcgreens.ca/volunteer.