December 2009               

 The Campbell River Volunteer Centre says goodbye to long time Office Assistant Lynda Harris while welcoming new staff member Brenda Staub.  Brenda has a warm and friendly demeanour with an extensive background in reception.  She will be happy to help you with your volunteer requests and needs as she settles in to her new position at the Volunteer Centre.

Bon Voyage Retirement Party for Lynda Harris

Please join Volunteer Campbell River in saying farewell and thanks to Lynda by coming to the Volunteer Centre for a retirement “pot luck” party on Wed. December 16th at 1:00 pm.  Please RSVP to mail@volunteercr.ca.

Craft Fundraiser

A reminder that our hand made Christmas and All Occasion cards and crafts are on display and for sale at The Volunteer Centre which can make wonderful Christmas gifts.  We also have volunteer appreciation items available for purchase.  Our hand made iris folding cards are also available for purchase at the Museum at Campbell River and the Art Gallery.  This is a fundraiser for Volunteer Campbell River.

Office Equipment

D-link 624 older wireless router, with power adapter, cable, original installation CD and help to install it.  This will go on a first come first serve basis.

National Volunteer Forum

I had the privilege of attending the National Volunteer Forum, representing the Campbell River Volunteer Centre, by joining aprox. 60 representatives of Volunteer Canada and Volunteer Centres from around the country in many discussions and workshops around volunteerism, leaders of volunteers, communications and social media, and business relations held at UBC the end of November.  The two day event was very informative and I would like to share the following information with you. 

Some highlights from the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating:
-    The four top types of organizations supported by Canadian volunteers are Social Services, Sports and recreation, Education and research and Religion.  Next are Health, and Development and Housing.
-    A few contribute the most
-    Youth, aged 15-24 have a higher rate of volunteering than any other age group although the average hours of volunteering increases with age.
-    People are more likely to volunteer if there are children in the household
-    Employed people are most likely to volunteer but those not in the labour force or those unemployed volunteer more hours.
-    Immigrants are more likely to volunteer places their friends and family are (comfort zone) and it was noted that there is an importance of sustaining efforts to involve immigrants as volunteers.

In your efforts to obtain and sustain volunteers:
-    The two highest barriers to volunteering were lack of time and unable to make a long term commitment.  Can you be flexible?
-    Benefits of volunteering to learn new skills were (in this order of importance); interpersonal skills, communication skills, organizational skills, increased knowledge, fundraising skills and technical skills.
-    Motivations for volunteering top reason was to make a contribution to the community, next to use skills and experience, giving back to an organization that has supported them or their family, to explore strengths, network, volunteer with friends, improve job opportunities and to fulfill religious obligations or beliefs.
-    14% of people learn about volunteer positions they go to by responding to an advertisement (poster, newsletter), 3% by TV or Radio, 3% by the Internet and 2% are by referral from another agency. 
-  Ask people to volunteer!  Half of the volunteers asked said yes!

Holiday wishes

As the Volunteer Centre gets ready to close, we would like to wish you all a wonderful, safe and happy holiday season!
                                       

For more information please contact the Volunteer Centre at 287-8111 or email mail@volunteercr.ca check out our website at www.volunteercr.ca or come by to see us Monday – Thursday, 9 am – 2pm at 301 St. Ann’s Rd, lower level of city hall.

THANK YOU TO ALL BINGO PATRONS AND THE BC GAMING POLICY AND ENFORCEMENT BRANCH FOR SUPPORTING
VOLUNTEER CAMPBELL RIVER

We would also like to thank the City of Campbell River for their continued support
&
Investors Group as our 2009 National Volunteer Week Sponsor
&
Strathcona Regional District Area D as our 2009 NIBI Sponsor
&
Coastal Community Credit Union

Please note that Volunteer Campbell River will be closed from December 18th – January 3rd.
We will reopen on January 4th at 9 am.

 Happy Holidays!