Anyone still wondering what to do with their extra bedroom during the Olympics has only a few days left to apply for VANOC's homestay program if they want to receive complimentary Olympic tickets.
On Wednesday (Sept. 30), VANOC will cut off the opportunity for homestay hosts to receive the free tickets, although Games organizers will still accept applications for the program.
The homestay program, which was launched in October 2008, has received applications that will provide beds for 700 volunteers, a number slightly lower than their anticipated 1,000.
"It's been going great," Maureen Douglas, VANOC's director of communications, said on Monday (Sept. 21).
Despite the 300-bed deficit, Douglas said the homestay team "has been really pleased with the results." She acknowledges that the original goal of 1,000 beds "was a fairly ambitious goal, given the time frame of the program.
"If we hit that mark, that's fabulous, but for us it's really a process where every extra bed, every spare bedroom we have, it just helps," she said.
Of the five communities selected to participate in the program (North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton), beds are needed most in the Sea to Sky Corridor.
"We're still driving to the finish line to secure as many beds as possible in the Sea to Sky so that the volunteer workforce that are assigned to Whistler venues we can minimize their travel time," said Douglas.
If there aren't enough host families for the volunteers, a back-up plan is in the works, although it is less than ideal - for both residents and the volunteers.
The back-up housing options include everything from a cruise ship in Squamish to temporary modular housing. The worst-case scenario will have VANOC bussing volunteers from Vancouver to Whistler "for their shifts within the Whistler venues."
Douglas would prefer not to have to bus the volunteers to Whistler, mostly because the extra travel time will not only put "an extra toll" on the volunteers, but will also put more transportation on the Sea to Sky Highway.
"The closer we can get people to the source of where they're going to be contributing at a venue, the better off everybody is," she said.
Douglas feels that there are still host families out there who just haven't "had time to make it to the website" or who haven't "made the final decision" about what they are doing with their spare bedroom.
"I think folks have been waiting to find out what friends and family might do," she said, adding that the program is not only for hosts who are willing to open their doors to strangers.
"It didn't necessarily have to be for someone you didn't know," she said. "You might have a friend or family from another part of the country who had applied (to volunteer) and was planning to stay with you then they stay with you and you get that dual opportunity of a visit and a homestay."
After Sept. 30, VANOC won't "have the inventory" to provide host families with complimentary tickets.
To nab that last opportunity for free tickets to events at the Whistler Sliding Centre or Whistler Olympic Park, visit vancouver2010.com.
