The Field of Crosses, Calgary’s annual memorial to the men and women who have served Canada’s armed forces and made the ultimate sacrifice, is seeking volunteers to dedicate their time to a good cause.
Every year, installing the crosses, maintaining the crosses, placing candles during the vigil, and then removing them, takes volunteers to accomplish.
For 2025, the Field of Crosses is looking for around 100 volunteers to help during the 11 days of November remembrances.
“Every single one of those 3,700 crosses is installed by hand, hammered into the ground in order to create that very sobering, large scale, immersive experience that Calgarians are able to visit from November 1 to 11,” said Sarah Wuntke, a director on the Field of Crosses board and a retired Captain from the Canadian Forces.
“The preparation for the 11 days of remembrance is year-round. The Crosses Memorial Project could not exist without the hundreds of volunteers who participate. It starts with preparing the crosses in the warehouses, making sure that everything is clean, tidy, all the lettering is intact. Then the installation, when the weather is great, is a much easier task. When we start to see that frost and those early below sub-zero temperatures, it starts to get a little bit more difficult.”
She said that thus far, the Field of Crosses has been lucky to have many volunteers participate in the memorial this year, but they still need the final 100 to help make it happen by helping out with a variety of tasks during November.
“One of our most difficult tasks is actually after the night of life, which is overnight on November 10. We have a candle placed at the base of every single one of our crosses, so it’s incredibly impactful and moving,” said Wuntke.
“Overnight, we have sentries who guard the crosses and those candles to make sure that they are intact early in the morning on November 11. We do require a lot of volunteers to come and extinguish those candles and pack them up so that we can be ready for the Remembrance Day ceremony on November 11.”
She said that volunteers for the setup of the crosses and straightening the crosses are also required.
“We want to make sure that we are presenting this memorial project in a way that really honors those fallen heroes. Every cross is straightened multiple times throughout the days to make sure that when you arrive, it really is that sobering experience where you really get to experience the size and scale of sacrifice that we have had by our fallen heroes,” said Wuntke.
The Field of Crosses is welcoming volunteers aged 13 and up, and although some of the jobs require physical strength, not all do.
Wuntke said that all required volunteer positions can be found on the Field of Crosses website, and that interested Calgarians can also sign up online for those positions at www.fieldofcrosses.com/volunteers.
“This is an excellent opportunity for high school students who are looking to do some volunteering and do it amongst very committed members of the community and be a part of something much bigger than themselves. We certainly invite them to participate,” she said.
“We really do find that once people experience the Field of Crosses, the first time they come in as part of our volunteer crew, we do find that they return and they tell others about it. A lot of people are looking for ways at this time of year to do more than attend a Remembrance Day ceremony. They want to find a way to engage and educate others in the importance of pausing on Remembrance Day.”
