Co-op Community Champion: Connie Richter

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — February’s Co-op Community Champion has spent decades advocating for and supporting sports in Fort St. John, resulting in significant opportunities, such as being a torchbearer for the 2010 Olympics.

Born and raised in Fort St. John, Connie Richter started getting involved in local sports while her two daughters were in school and she was working as a teacher’s assistant at C.M. Finch Elementary School.

“I got very involved with coaching at C.M. Finch when they were both there. And so I coached volleyball, basketball, and helped out with track. And then I just sort of carried on from there,” said Connie.

In her opinion, every kid should be able to try any sport they want, but if there are no volunteers or coaches, it can’t happen. This is part of what drove Connie to continue to contribute, along with thoroughly enjoying working with local youth.

“It was just a great thing to do, and I enjoyed every minute of it.”

The 77-year-old was the vice chairman of the Fort St. John Sports Council for over 20 years, the past president of the Fort St. John Curling Club, and has sat on the North Peace Seniors Housing Society board for four years. Connie has also co-chaired two Northern BC Winter Games.

Outside of the housing society board, Connie is still very involved in curling, which she started in high school. Connie says her mom is why she got involved in the sport.

Throughout her lifetime, Connie has seen three different curling rinks in the city and has coached many kids.

“I worked at the junior curling level with a gal out of Fort St. John who did us proud three or four times at provincials.”

To this day, Connie still heads to the curling rink at 9504 96th Street a couple of days a week to work with middle school students from Bert Bowes and Dr. Kearney.

“If you don’t have juniors in your club, you don’t carry on, it’s as simple as that. Once all us old folks get out of there, we need to have the juniors to rebuild it.”

“They’re working hard on that right now at the Fort St. John Curling Club, and I hope it carries on.”

On top of inspiring her to get involved with curling, Connie says her mom instilled a sense of community in her, having volunteered in Fort St. John for years.

“As a kid, you just sort of tried to follow in the footsteps of your parents, you see what they do and things like that. She was very involved with seniors.”

For those looking to get involved with community organizations or initiatives, Connie reminds them that most residents have been contributing for years and are getting older, so a new group needs to fill in those shoes moving forward.

“You can’t just stand back and watch it happen. If your kids are in the sport, get involved in that sport. If you know someone who’s in the senior housing or whatever, get involved in that. And that’s exactly what has to happen.”

Outside of all the curlers Connie has coached who have gone on to do very well in the sport, she says a highlight for her is being one of the torchbearers for the 2010 Olympic event in Fort St. John.

“They had the parade downtown. I was the very first one who got the torch up by the up near the senior home. That’s where it started and went all the way down to the arena.”

She says the fact that someone chose her to participate in the event was a huge honour.

Connie continues to be involved in sports as a fan as well, attending figure skating competitions and Huskies games when she can.

Congratulations to Connie Richter for being named February’s Co-op Community Champion. Anyone looking to nominate a community-minded person needing recognition can head to Energeticcity’s website.