Volunteer Profile: Logan Snider

Logan Snider is a senior administrator on the YEG COVID Response Facebook team. He handles moderation of the facebook page, including training members and evaluating the facebook groups features. 

What part of the province do you live in?
I live in Edmonton currently, but I have lived in Fort McMurray (until 2008) and Lethbridge (until 2013) as well.

How and why did you first get involved with JHC (the community response initiative)?
When the pandemic was picking up here, I found myself (like many others, I'm sure) scrolling through social media and becoming more and more anxious about it. I wanted to help out, but I didn't know how I could. I was invited to join the group by a friend, and found it to be a great resource and community initiative. When I heard they were looking for help moderating, I figured that would be a great way for me to help out the community, at least in the small way I could, so I sent off an email and was brought on to the team shortly thereafter.

What is your current role within JHC?
I am a Senior Administrator for the team that handles moderation of the facebook group, "YEG Community Response to COVID19".

What are your (volunteer) activities and what do they involve?
As a Senior Admin, I am involved with planning the team's direction and structure, training members, offering guidance for the trickier moderation situations, evaluating facebook group features, and making changes when needed. I also supervise shifts and help out with moderating tasks.
Outside of this particular team, I am not involved with anything else currently, but during my time at the University of Alberta I was a volunteer with Week of Welcome for 4 years, and the Electrical Engineering Club for 5 years. Those opportunities gave me the skills that I use with this facebook group team, and they were wonderful experiences! :)

How long have you been a part of the community response initiative?
I joined the facebook group on March 16, 2020, and I think I was hired as a volunteer moderator around March 20, 2020. So about 6 months so far!

What's it like to be a volunteer for this cause?
It's quite a rewarding and humbling experience.
At times it can be stressful and a test of patience and fairness, like when you are trying to keep discussions civil between very passionate people from all walks of life and with all sorts of opinions - things can get quite tense, as is seen even in daily life during this pandemic.
Other times it can be saddening and disheartening to see the state of things, and to see people in such vulnerable and difficult situations.
But, despite all of that and the gravity of the pandemic, you will see such a wellspring of compassion come out of this community. Voices of reason, helping hands, open hearts. And when you take a step back, you can see how much this community has helped each other, and is continuing to help each other. That gives me hope. <3
As a volunteer, I really just serve to enable this community action.
It's got its own challenges, for sure, but I don't think they compare to the benefits of the group - it is absolutely worth it. :)

What has surprised you most about working on this community initiative?
What we can accomplish when we work together - cheesy answer, I know, but some good cheese is nice every now and then. ;)
It's one of those things that doesn't seem surprising when said, but catches you off guard when you experience it.
I think people sometimes forget this and focus too much on themselves. We live in a society so that we can share the benefits with everyone. You may not be able to help much on your own, but when you get a community all helping out, it's amazing what can be accomplished, and how much good can come out of it.
Okay, enough philosophizing for me. :P
Feel free to pick your favourite idiom about this concept (there are plenty), and continue the conversation.

Are there any learnings/ challenges you have experienced through this work?
I struggle with my own mental health often, and as I mentioned before, there are times when I see situations that are disheartening, grim, or frustrating. It can be quite a challenge to maintain the energy and motivation necessary to function amidst everything going on right now in our city, province, country, and world. But when I see the community help each other and be compassionate with one another, it reminds me of why we do this, and it helps me stay hopeful. <3