National Volunteer Week is here, and around the province, non-profits and charities are hosting clean-ups, fundraisers, and all sorts of other opportunities to contribute to your community.
To help connect aspiring volunteers in the Fraser Valley with local groups during volunteer week and beyond, lifelong volunteer Cari Moore and her husband Sean launched Volunteer Fraser Valley.
“It's an online volunteer centre that organizations can post their volunteer opportunities to,” explained Moore. “We support Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Hope and Agassiz, so people can go to one spot and have a look at all the volunteer opportunities that have been listed there, and then they can contact the organizations directly.”
The free platform lists upcoming events and opportunities for locals to get involved in. It’s the result of Moore’s desire to work not just as a volunteer, but to afford those opportunities to others.
“I value the importance of volunteering, and I could see, as a volunteer myself, the benefits that other people could get from it,” she said. “And so I really love to share what I do with other people.”
Part of the draw of the website, especially compared to some larger volunteering aggregators, is Moore herself. She prides herself on being readily available to answer questions from organizations and potential volunteers.
She also provides training for groups looking to host volunteers, from how and why they should recruit to how best to retain volunteers once they get them.
“A lot of the times, organizations don't realize that if they train and appreciate their volunteers that they have, then those volunteers will stick around longer and they won't be constantly having to recruit over and over again,” she noted.
That kind of value used to be demonstrated through pins or certificates, Moore said. But increasingly, volunteers are looking for references, training, practicing a new language or even just to get to know their community.
For companies that aren’t currently on Moore’s site, the process for getting on board is simple; just fill out a form, and Moore will review it as soon as she’s able.
When Moore isn’t volunteering, she’s still committed to service; she works at the Chilliwack & District Seniors Resource Society as the programs and volunteer coordinator. She also volunteers with a news show on ChillTV called Daybreak.
Moore said that Volunteer Fraser Valley is a testament to how many opportunities there are for residents of the Fraser Valley, and that there are plenty of important volunteering positions with larger groups, too.
Case in point, Moore is a five-year member of the Chilliwack chapter of Soroptimist International, which provides women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic freedom.
The Chilliwack chapter has bursaries, awards, carries out fundraising efforts and hosts Heather’s Hope Chest — a free store for women in need of household items after getting out of an abusive relationship, rehab or foster care.
Moore also works the vice-president of Volunteer B.C., an online support system for volunteer centres and non-profits across the province.
Volunteering is Moore’s life. She’s happy to be able to support others in finding the right opportunity for them.
“I love the satisfaction that you get from knowing that you're helping people or that you're making a difference,” she said. “Volunteering can be done by anyone. They just have to find the right fit.”
Visit volunteerfv.com to view the wide range of volunteer opportunities available.
National Volunteer Week runs from April 27 to May 3.
