By Steve Hubrecht
This year’s Rotary Citizen of the Year swings a golf club with professional passion, but also swings for the community.
The Rotary Club of Invermere awarded local resident and Copper Point Golf manager Brian Schaal its annual Citizen of the Year honour during a small ceremony on Wednesday, April 30.
Schaal was cited for his extensive work with community groups, for coaching minor hockey for 12 years, for starting the Feed the Town event at Copper Point each December, and helping establish the Kelly Hrudey and Friends Charity Golf Classic (which ran for five or six years). He’s introduced special rates and programs to help get local seniors and youth out golfing at Copper Point, donated clothes from the golf course to local nonprofits, and helped the local Recreation Adapted (RAD) Society’s Ugly Pant Classic fundraiser, which brings in money to purchase adaptive recreation equipment for those facing mobility challenges.
Schaal has also helped revive and significantly expand the David Thompson Secondary School (DTSS) golf team, and served on the board of the Summit Youth Centre Hub, among other efforts.
Schaal was modest when contacted by the Pioneer, saying the citizen of the year honour was “a huge surprise.”
He grew up in Grande Prairie in northern Alberta and had a career as a mechanic before changing course and attending the San Diego Golf Academy. From there he worked at golf courses in Crawford Bay, on Vancouver Island, and in Vancouver, gaining experience at resort golf courses, public and private golf courses, and semi-private golf courses. He moved to the Columbia Valley for a job with Eagle Ranch Resort in 1999, then joined Copper Point Golf in 2004.
He thanked the owners of Copper Point, who have been supportive of his volunteer and community-minded efforts.
“I’ve always believed that you should give back to the community that you live in. Even a small donation, or even a donation of time or expertise can make a big difference to someone else,” Schaal told the Pioneer. “If you can help out in some way, you should.”
He finds his volunteer efforts very rewarding, telling the Pioneer there’s nothing like seeing the smiles of the faces of people tucking into turkey dinner during Feed the Town, or watching the DTSS golf team grow leaps and bounds from three or four players, all boys, to a crew of 36, including eight girls in just a few years.
