National Volunteer Week 2023 - Wellington Advertiser

Shortage of volunteers threatens non-profit sector: Volunteer Canada

By Chris Zimmerman CENTRE WELLINGTON

– Priorities have shifted over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and volunteers are finding it more difficult than ever to contribute.

There are many hidden obstacles such as the cost involved in travel, childcare that may be needed while volunteering, and the high cost of living.

New data from Statistics Canada shows most organizations in the non-profit sector are facing challenges related to volunteerism, with 17 per cent of organizations in the country having to cancel programs due to the unavailability of volunteers.

The data also shows 65% of businesses report facing a shortage of new volunteers, 51% face challenges with retention, and 35% say their services are suffering due to a reduction in programs.

Volunteers themselves say they are unable to commit long-term (42%), with many (26%) reporting burnout and stress.

Megan Conway, president and CEO of Volunteer Canada, has seen this trend firsthand.

The member-based organization of 1,100 charities and non-profits across the country has reported problems with recruitment and retention of volunteers.

“If we look at the fact that over 50% of charities and non-profits are completely run by volunteers, it’s a problematic scenario,” Conway said. “Organizations like these need volunteers to provide services and programs.”

She added, “Because of inflation, along with several

other structural or societal issues, people are more reliant on frontline services like food banks, shelters, and some of those basic supports that they might turn to.

“For those organizations that are highly reliant on volunteers to deliver their services, there’s a major problem.”

On March 31 the People and Information Network in Guelph closed permanently after more than two decades of service due to funding shortfalls and a lack of volunteers.

Meals on Wheels programs have closed across the country. And in some parts of Canada wait times to join Girl Guides have been as long as two years.

The list of examples goes on.

Brad Mulligan, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Centre Wellington, has also noticed a decline in volunteers.

Despite recruitment and sustainability being top of mind for BBBS officials, adding to their ranks has been a challenge.

“We’ve had a lot of support within the community but certainly have seen a decline, whether that’s through the effects of COVID-19 or changes in the economy, we’re not 100% sure,” Mulligan told the Advertiser in an April 12 interview.

“It’s definitely something that’s led us to become more strategic in regard to volunteer recruitment.”

BBBS still sees success with social media campaigns and traditional media channels, but is looking for ways to expand its initiative.

“There’s a need for out-

reach, whether that’s holding information sessions or going out into the community and meeting with local partners,” said Mulligan.

“We certainly see the benefit in human connection and more conversational-based recruitment.”

Volunteering for BBBS can mean as little as one hour a week to satisfy the minimum commitment.

With its one-to-one community program, this can be upwards of a few hours every other week. There are currently 30 children on the waitlist for that program.

“We really do strive to connect volunteers with what they’re looking for, what their availability is, and find the program that’s the best fit for them,” said Mulligan.

“We look closely at preferences, whether it’s hobbies of interest, geographical location, preferences for age – we have a methodology and a process that we go through to try to create the most impactful matches possible.”

Conway noted seniors contribute the most in terms of the number of hours worked. Yet there are more individual youths volunteering than any other demographic.

“Senior volunteers play crucially important roles but are aging out of those roles. We need to think about how to engage younger demographics to step into some of those positions,” she said.

Volunteer Canada has shifted toward a more inclusive movement around volunteerism and participation. It is working toward building a research data strategy to better understand the state of volunteerism, as officials believe there’s an opportunity to build strategies that support everyone.

Despite inflation hikes, and other socioeconomic changes, Conway worries that people have taken for granted the importance of volunteering.

“Volunteers are essential to our daily lives, and I don’t think we necessarily tell

the story of what the value of volunteering is strongly enough,” she said.

“Collectively, I think we’re at an important inflec-

tion point where we need to really think through how we support and strengthen volunteerism across the country.”

Photo by Chris Zimmerman

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a t i n d i v i d u a l s w h o v o l u n t e e r t h e i r t i m e , s h a r e t h e i r e x p e r t i s e a n d t h e i r h e a r t s .

Cameron Tuck named Puslinch Township’s Volunteer of the Year

n b e h a l f o f t h i s c o m m u n i t y , t h a n k s t o e a c h a n d e v e r y o n e o f y o u f o r t h e

By Joanne Shuttleworth ABERFOYLE – A

c o m p a s s i o n t h a t y o u m a k e p o s s i b l e .

sports enthusiast and the main driver behind the growth of softball in Puslinch has been named Citizen of the Year.

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H o s p i c e W e l l i n g t o n a n d t h e c o m m u n i t y w e a l l s e r v e .

Cameron Tuck, 52, received the honour at the April 12 Puslinch council meeting.

Mayor James Seeley sang Tuck’s praises as he presented the volunteer with a glass inuksuk sculpture.

“Cameron has shown incredible commitment to softball and through his leadership and dedication, it has grown,” Seeley said. “You have brought baseball to a level that is astonishing.”

“I’m humbled by the whole thing,” Tuck said in an interview after the council meeting. “And I have not done this alone. I have many, many people to thank and I share the award with them too.”

Always an athlete himself, playing baseball as a kid and hockey in university, Tuck started coaching minor softball in 1997 when his son started to play at age four.

At the time there was

just T-ball and three-pitch in Puslinch. Older kids would go to Guelph or Cambridge teams.

Tuck said while there was a healthy soccer league in Puslinch, baseball had fallen by the wayside.

“It was a decision a bunch of us made to keep it going and to grow the league,” he said. Tuck said it started to take off in 2019. Even throughout the pandemic, as team play was modified and in some cases cancelled, registration grew.

This year there are about 120 kids registered, with four coaches per team. There are three U11 teams, one U13, and Tuck said he’s hoping officials can recruit enough players to field an U15 team as well.

Tuck is secretary on the Puslinch Softball Association board of directors. He coaches his son’s team and another team. He ran clinics last fall and this January and is always running between meetings, practices and games.

He said his wife Tonya is the one who really deserves

the recognition.

“She tolerates me being out all the time,” Tuck said, adding there is no baseball in his household in November and December but it’s pretty constant the rest of the year.

He was nominated for the award by parents and the board of the softball association.

“I read their letters and I’m very humbled,” Tuck said. “I have to say we have a terrific board and they make me look pretty good.”

Councillor Sara Bailey had kind words to say about Tuck as well.

She sat with Tuck on the recreation committee and has come to know him through her volunteer work with softball.

“You have a gift of the gab, in a very persuasive way, chatting with residents and recruiting folks to help with your goals,” Bailey said. She also told Tuck he has “a fantastic way of connecting with the kids you coach.”

Bailey said Tuck presents value to kids, families and the entire community through his volunteer efforts, and is very deserving of the award.

Thank you!

for helping our hospitals soar - the sky is the limit when it comes to your kindness and support. hospital volunteers

Top honours – Cameron Tuck is flanked by his wife Tonya, son Chase and Mayor James Seeley. Tuck was named Puslinch’s Volunteer of the Year and received a glass statue at the April 12 council meeting.

Photo by Joanne Shuttleworth

Weaves us together

‘Just try it out’: Amanda Farmaha says volunteering provides sense of purpose

By Chris Zimmerman

– Among the many volunteers in Wellington County, there are those who go beyond the call of duty to make a significant difference in others’ lives.

Amanda Farmaha of Fergus has been actively involved with the New to You second hand store and Groves Memorial Community Hospital’s ER department since March and August of 2022, respectively.

Though challenging, Farmaha manages to volunteer while completing her honours degree in psychology at Western University.

“During the pandemic, all the social distancing was a little bit overwhelming, and I really wanted to get involved. I’d recently moved to Fergus and had no idea what was going on in the community,” Farmaha said when asked what motivates her to volunteer.

“I wanted to have a sense of accomplishment and purpose in my community.”

New to You manager Clare Palmer said Farmaha is an outstanding volunteer,

at both the store and the hospital.

“She has a great sense of community spirit and is helpful and supportive with our customers and other employees,” said Palmer.

“We have received numerous compliments and positive feedback from both customers and volunteers about Amanda. Her friendly, helpful, and caring personality are very hard not to notice.”

Despite starting out in a new town and being a self-described introvert, Farmaha has overcome social anxieties and put her skillset to use.

“At first, I didn’t think I had that many skills, but now I think transferable skills like communication and leadership play a big role in what I’m doing here as a cashier,” Farmaha said.

“It’s great to see regular customers come in with smiles on their faces and to help them locate items they’re looking for; just to have a quick one-on-one interaction with them is very rewarding.”

Farmaha hopes to pursue

a career in the medical field and believes volunteering at Groves is a stepping stone that could help her achieve that goal.

“Volunteering at the hospital has been great as I’ve been able to see different career paths that I’m interested in – what I like and what I don’t, and how doctors, nurses and the lab workers operate on a daily basis,” she said.

Farmaha believes everyone should volunteer at least once in their lifetime.

“Regardless of how old you are, I think you should just try it out,” she said.

“Volunteering has been a great opportunity for me to meet new people and gain new skills and experiences.”

The Groves Hospital Volunteer Association celebrates volunteer appreciation week in April with numerous events.

This year it will be holding a volunteer appreciation lunch to recognize and acknowledge its volunteers. In addition, throughout the year it organizes summer barbecues and potluck lunches.

Volunteers may feel their acts of kindness are small, but the impact they make in our community is enormous.

• Parks and Recreation

• Victoria Park Seniors Centre

• CW Festivals and Events

• Fergus Grand Theatre

• Elora & Fergus Horticultural Societies

•

Volunteer – Amanda Farmaha serves her community by volunteering at the New to You store and Groves Memorial Community Hospital

Photo by Chris Zimmerman

By Chris Zimmerman

PALMERSTON – With limited access to healthcare professionals, residents in small towns are often left with no option but to travel for medical appointments.

Fortunately, transportation services are available, thanks in part to volunteers like Malcolm Small.

He has been volunteering as a driver since being laid off five years ago. He started driving for the Red Cross in Brantford, but when his family moved to Palmerston, he began volunteering with the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON).

“I wasn’t ready to retire – I still had some stuff to do,” Small said in an April 13 interview.

VON client service associate Kathy Higdon said the organization is lucky to have so many wonderful volunteers and she lauded the work of Small.

“Malcolm is very friendly, outgoing, and approachable. He’s very attentive and kind to our clients and makes sure they get from their door, into his car, and to their appoint-

ment,” Higdon said.

“He’s fairly new to Palmerston, so it’s nice that he’s jumped right in to help support the community.

“We have several clients that specifically ask for him now. And we do try to accommodate that if we can.”

Small said he feels elderly patients often have the greatest need, as they are less likely to drive themselves.

“The physician shortage is kind of pronounced. There are no specialists up here so [patients] need somebody that can take them from point A to point B and bring them back,” he said.

VON typically sends Small a list of required transport at the start of the week, generally limited to three trips out of town. This usually means travelling to Toronto, Hamilton or London.

When assigned shorter drives, he’s more likely to make four or five trips.

“It takes a special individual to volunteer,” Small mused.

“Not everybody wants to give up their time. I just happened to have a whole lot of it on my hands, and I didn’t

like that.”

After a career spent working in a lab as a formulation chemist, Small was eager to continue serving his community. “It was either this or go back to work and I can’t do that. I’m just too old for it. Nobody’s going to hire somebody over 65,” he added.

VON holds an annual volunteer appreciation din-

ner, which has been a drivethrough event for the past few years due to COVID-19.

Higdon is hopeful the event will resume this year as a sit-down dinner, usually held at the Wellington County Museum and Archives.

To contact the VON or book an appointment for transportation services, email national@von.ca or call 1-888-866-2273.

Shamrock Awards recognize local volunteers, businesses

By Chris Zimmerman

ERIN – A special awards ceremony, planned for April 19 from 6 to 8pm at Centre 2000, was held to honour individuals, organizations and businesses who made a significant contribution to the community in 2022.

Town of Erin spokesperson Lavina Dixit said tickets are free and anyone is welcome to attend.

“The Shamrock Awards were first given out in 2012 for community volunteers only,” Dixit stated in an email.

“In 2019, it was expanded to include Business of the Year, and the Innovation Award. This year it was

expanded to include the Agribusiness and Environment Awards.”

The Shamrock Awards were created to honour individuals who make significant contributions to the community of Erin.

Betterment of Erin Nominees are not required to be Erin residents, but their contributions must be to the betterment of the Erin community.

Although closed for this year, nominations are open to the public and can be found online. The winners are chosen through a ranked ballot based on council’s choice of first, second and third in each category.

“It is a recognition of the

contribution made by community members and businesses by the residents of the town of Erin themselves, and is about engaging and honouring our residents,” Dixit stated.

“We don’t have any sponsors. We have local businesses providing catering for a fee, and others volunteering with plants and flowers for the event.”

The Shamrock Awards serve as a reminder of the power volunteerism and entrepreneurism can have in a community. They are a celebration of the individuals who give their time and energy to benefit society and create a more vibrant, resilient, and sustainable future.

“Volunteers work with local organizations to support causes that are important to our community such as welfare services, sports groups, etc.,” stated Dixit.

“Local businesses provide employment opportunities and support other local businesses through their supply chain.”

Categories

The full list of categories includes Community Volunteer Award, Citizen of the Year Award, Innovation Award, Business of the Year Award, Agriculture/ Agri-business Award, and Environment Award.

For more information about the Shamrock Awards, visit erin.ca.

Helping out – Volunteer driver Malcolm Small provides a much-needed service to his community.

Photo by Chris Zimmerman

Remembering treasured volunteer Joyce Hill

By Susan Johnson ROCKWOOD – Joyce

Eileen Hill, who died at home on Jan. 28 of this year at the age of 86, was someone people might call an unsung hero.

A lifelong volunteer in her community, she never actually received an award for her tireless work – and yet she was just the kind of person every community should have, because from day one she wanted to help.

Trained as a nurse at Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing, she began her nursing career in Toronto, doing what she was meant to do.

She loved working in the operating room at the Hospital for Sick Children and later in the Emergency Department of the Deep River and District Hospital.

She remained lifelong friends with a number of classmates, and after the untimely death of her first husband, John David Currie, one of them arranged a blind date with William Hill who was to become her second husband.

When she and Bill wanted to move to the county in 1976, closer to where the children could go downhill skiing, they purchased the old Pasmore farm just outside of Rockwood as a weekend getaway. It soon became their permanent home, and they spent the next 53 years restoring it and filling it with beautiful antiques.

However, Bill was still working in Toronto, where he operated his own mining consultancy and the children were still attending school in Toronto. The two older boys, Brian and David attended St. George’s College, and their daughter Mary, was at St. Clement’s.

The GO train had just begun service from Georgetown, so the four of them were able to travel by train to Toronto every day.

Joyce’s most recent service to the community was in 2011, when she alerted her neighbours to the news of a public meeting about an appli-

cation for a gravel extraction operation at Hidden Quarry, on the corner of 6th Line and Highway 7.

Instantly realizing that this would be a big deal, Joyce designed a flyer that day announcing that a meeting would be held in their kitchen; she printed several copies and distributed them to their neighbours.

Approximately 35 people attended, and a fundraising committee was formed. The Concerned Residents’ Coalition (CRC) was then organized and incorporated.

Joyce organized the first garage sale and she added a large number of plants from her own garden and growing greenhouse.

Over seven years (during which Bill’s mining expertise was also to prove invaluable) a total of $750,000 was raised to fight the application.

While the CRC lost the fight against Hidden Quarry, sufficient safeguards were put in place that the quarry has yet to go ahead.

Joyce was also involved in work for her local church.

After joining St John’s Church in Rockwood, she was quickly made a warden.

When the tiled roof of the church needed to be replaced in 1978, Joyce was able to convince local artist Yosef Drenters to open up the Rockwood Academy for a tour and a Strawberry Festival, to

raise the money required.

The academy, which was later made famous as the location of the 1986 film Agnes of God, attracted hundreds of visitors.

Stephen Truchan of Elora, a friend of the family for over 50 years, tells the story of how Joyce involved him in the arrangements.

From his position as organist and choir master at Rockwood, he was able to arrange a concert by the boys’ choir from St. John’s Church in Elora.

Eye-catching in their red cassocks and white neck ruffs, they paraded down the street into the academy to perform, as increasing numbers of people gathered in the street to watch.

Enough money was raised that day to cover the cost of reroofing the local church.

Joyce was a lifelong lover of music, and she was naturally drawn to the music of St. John’s Church in Elora. She studied piano as a child and she played into her adulthood, instilling a love of music in each of her children and grandchildren.

She also became a master gardener. Many community gatherings featured a sale of plants she had nurtured, from the annual Christmas Craft Sale at the Eden Mills Community Hall, to the many CRC fundraisers.

When the Elora Book Sale

began 30 years ago (last year raising $30,000 for the Elora Festival Singers) she was there helping.

When St. John’s Elora famously displayed a cascade of knitted poppies over the front of the church to celebrate 100 years of the poppy as a symbol of Remembrance, Joyce had knitted at least 100 of them.

Joyce also had great physical courage.

While she rarely talked about it, she was diagnosed in 1986 with breast cancer, which had metastasized to her lungs.

To many that would have been a death sentence, but Joyce fought through her chemotherapy treatment and continued her community work.

The cancer returned in 2007 and she again went through the treatment, in this case oral and fusion chemotherapy, while continuing her volunteer work, even though the cancer threat hung over her for the rest of her life.

It was only when her beloved husband Bill died in August, 2022 that she began to decline.

“It wasn’t the cancer that killed her,” says her daughter Mary sadly. “She died of a broken heart.”

Joyce Hill was a person of great insight and a true problem solver. For example, she was able to complete the Globe and Mail cryptic crossword with ease.

She was always kind and generous to anyone who called at the house, with refreshments appearing at the table with seeming effortlessness.

If every community had a tireless volunteer like Joyce, the world would be a happier place.

Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis

Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis

Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis

Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis

A sincere thank you to our dedicated volunteers

A sincere thank you to our dedicated volunteers. Your commitment is truly appreciated.

A sincere thank you to our dedicated volunteers. Your commitment is truly appreciated.

Thank you to our dedicated volunteers! You strengthen the fabric of our community by sharing your time and talents.

A sincere thank you to our dedicated volunteers

Your commitment is truly appreciated.

Your commitment is truly appreciated.

24-hour Crisis Line: 1-519-836-5710, 1-800-265-SAFE (7233)

24-hour Crisis Line: 1-519-836-5710, 1-800-265-SAFE (7233)

Working to end violence against women and children www.gwwomenincrisis.org

24-hour Crisis Line: 1-519-836-5710, 1-800-265-SAFE (7233)

24-hour Crisis Line: 1-519-836-5710, 1-800-265-SAFE (7233)

Working to end violence against women and children www.gwwomenincrisis.org

Working to end violence against women and children www.gwwomenincrisis.org

Working to end violence against women and children www.gwwomenincrisis.org

Bill and Joyce Hill.

Submitted photo