Exciting activities that GBC community enjoy, are a thrill for the man who plans them. 

Long-time staff of George Brown College’s (GBC) campus shipping and receiving department, John Valle, has been coordinating games and activities for the staff and students for about seven years now.  

Valle took over the responsibilities of coordinating the annual GBC softball tournament from the Athletics department in 2015. Then, during the gym’s closure due to the pandemic, he also started putting together virtual and physical games and activities for the GBC community.  

So far Valle has organized an online escape room, a Joker’s Christmas with 20 days of gifts for Christmas, a Whodunit, and a staff family feud among other activities.  

“I just do it because I enjoy getting people together and doing a bunch of different things and events that I like to participate in myself. And everybody lends a hand sometimes so that’s nice,” Valle said. 

This year, he has taken it upon himself to organize one event every month. The activity for May is a cornhole tournament. The tournament will take place today, May 25, at 5 p.m. in the park near Casa Loma campus’s loading dock. 

The tournament is one of many activities Valle has organized so far. Photo by: Ayeshwini Lama

Valle ensures that participants have fun during these activities, as well as receive some prizes for winning. He says that donations help him do that.  

“I go around, and people donate different things, I bundle them up and then I give them to the staff or students for winning,” he said. 

During the annual softball tournaments pre-pandemic, Valle and the organizing team were sometimes even able to collect enough donations from participants to give to United Way. 

However, gathering enough funds is a big challenge and sometimes he does end up paying out of pocket for activities.  

Despite this, Valle continues to plan and put together activities for the GBC community without deterrence. 

“To put together everything isn’t too bad, it’s a lot of hours and time consuming but there are people that help out a little bit here and there,” he said, “And participating in these events gives them [staff and students] an opportunity to network. I find it absolutely great.” 

For today’s cornhole tournament, Valle built the boards and made the beanbags himself, with some volunteer help. Students and staff are invited to join the game and can register on the website www.gbc4me.weebly.com.  

Information for future games and activities can be found on the website as well.