The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Volunteering can be thankless
People still do their best to help communities
In 2020 I was recruited to deliver food to clients who could not get to the local food bank themselves.
I would pick up 10 boxes at a time, call the clients, leave the boxes outside the apartment building entryway, the client would come out, wave and take the box.
I was chosen for one simple reason: health protocols required volunteers at these sites to be an age, or younger, that excluded most existing volunteers at these foodbanks. I was, then, just under that limit.
I credit this opportunity for helping me maintain my mental health throughout the pandemic. I had somewhere to be, somewhere to go, I felt I was making a difference.
In 2024, the number of clients at food banks is skyrocketing. One of the many sources of stress for food banks is finding volunteers. Many at these locations have been offering their good service for decades. They worry who will take their place when their energy runs out.
Not Christine Hoehne, the volunteer co-ordinator at the Christ Church food bank in downtown Dartmouth. I have rarely met anyone as compassionate, hands on and generous as Christine. If there is a need in her community, she will do her best to meet it, either through her church or on her own. Being with Christine can’t help but make anyone a better person.
A source of inspiration for Christine is one of her new volunteers, Arina Perederii, a 15-year-old resident of West Bedford who came with her family to Canada from Ukraine in 2022.
Arina and her mother have been volunteers at this food bank for a year, when Christ Church decided to open it on Wednesday nights, in addition to its usual Thursday mornings. This made the volunteer experience accessible to students and working people.
Arina arrives every Wednesday at 5 p.m., unpacks food, organizes tables and puts cans on shelves. She engages the clients, several share humour with her and she offers an encouraging smile.
I asked Arina what she has learned. She shared that “there were more people struggling than I expected.” She also said that many Ukrainians come to this food bank, and those clients appreciate meeting a volunteer who speaks their language and knows their hometowns (hers is Kherson). Arina said she feels she is offering service to a place that offered her a new home.
Arina wants one day to become a surgeon “because I want to be a helper; it’s a calling I have felt for some time.”
All dreamers and doers need someone to inspire them, and Arina quickly names who that is. “My homeroom Grade 8 teacher” gave her the confidence and encouragement to take steps toward fulfilling her goals. “She talked to me, she used humour and she helped me improve my English.”
Arina’s life is not all volunteering and working toward her education goals. She enjoys spending time with friends and looks forward to playing volleyball next year.
As the community outreach facilitator for the Public Good Society of Dartmouth I have been watching the number of clients at our food banks increase. The amount of food required to fill this need is daunting. The injustice of poverty, of thousands of people not able to access good food or decent shelter in a wealthy country like Canada, is a tragedy.
But another piece of this story, one that is rarely raised, is finding volunteers to support this effort. Because most food banks are open during business hours, the volunteers are mostly seniors (those health protocols from early 2020 are long gone). Often, I am the only one there who is neither a client nor a volunteer. In my part-time navigator role, I help clients build capacity by referring them to agencies and programs that might lead to paid employment, better health care and secure housing.
I hear a lot of stories of clients struggling to survive. But I also hear of volunteers doing their best to help their community: concerned, stepping up, making a difference. I am inspired by the resiliency of those living in poverty but also by the generosity of time and talent of our volunteer sector.
Volunteering can be a thankless job. When clients are stressed, it can be heartbreaking for volunteers to hear these stories. Volunteers organize and serve for hours, but they also listen. So, if you meet a volunteer like Arina, please thank them for their service.