Making time for volunteering
Finding support and personal fulfillment
Making time for volunteering can be a challenge. Balancing work, family, school and other life commitments is hard enough. However, despite these challenges, volunteering has many benefits.
Volunteering is a way to help the community, can be personally fulfilling and can even give you valuable life experience.
According to Statistics Canada, in 2018 79 percent of Canadians aged 15 and older, volunteered. Individuals born between 1918 and 1945 volunteered the most, while those born after 1996 contributed the least.
In 2022, Statistics Canada found that 65 percent of nonprofit organizations need more volunteering, resulting in 35 percent of organizations reducing their services.
Four volunteers say you can find time to volunteer, and that volunteering can improve your life and career.
VOLUNTEERING AS EMPOWERMENT
Courtney Clarke is the Senior Program manager for education with Equal Voice Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women get elected in Canadian politics. Clarke was also the Human Rights Commission Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2023 Human Rights Award winner and one of WXN’S top 100 most powerful women in 2022.
She currently volunteers as a volunteer director with the Newfoundland and Labrador Credit Union and is on the Provincial Advisory Council on the Status of Women.
Clarke said there are different types of volunteering one can engage in. She has done all sorts of volunteering including, one-off volunteering, grassroots volunteering, advocacy work and even charing, directing and advising.
“Volunteering has always been a huge part of my life.
It’s something that I grew up doing, and it’s something that gave me my greatest mental health support,” said Clarke.
Volunteering is especially important for Clarke because it was an essential part of her rehabilitation as a survivor of physical sexual assault.
“I wasn’t ready to get back to working full time because I had taken a year and a half off to deal with some of that trauma,” explained Clarke, “to get back into the work of being more productive, I started volunteering for a violence prevention organization.”
At the start of the pandemic, Clarke began chairing Violence Prevention Avalon East and started “Unsafe at Home,” a platform that provides support for those isolated with abusers.
This volunteer work allowed Clarke to meet inspiring individuals who led her to advocate for change in leadership. This inspired her to volunteer for Equal Voice and now Equal Voice is her full-time job.
“Volunteering was like a stepping stone after stepping stone that led me to the most amazing dream job,” said Clarke.
And in terms of making time for volunteering, she said, “I just made it part of my fun!”
Volunteering does not feel like work to Clarke because it is an opportunity to spend time with like-minded people.
FINDING SUPPORT
According to Tracy Duffy, volunteering for a cause that matters to you is vital, but you need to know how much time you can give.
Duffy is from St. John’s and works full-time for the provincial government. She also is a breast cancer survivor.
While going through breast cancer treatment, Duffy joined a Facebook group with others who had gone through breast cancer. Through this group, she learned about the Avalon Dragons, a dragon boating team for breast cancer survivors in Paradise. Now she volunteers with them.
“I was hooked,” she said, “once I went to the first festival, it kind of spiralled.”
Duffy is the chair of the Dragon’s sponsorship and fundraising committees and was previously the volunteer co-ordinator. She is involved in the recruitment and planning of the Paddle in Paradise Dragon Boat Festival and Family Fun Day.
She has been doing her volunteer work on the weekends and evenings and her work has involved, meetings, recruitment, planning and finding sponsorships.
For Duffy, the support and connections with other breast cancer survivors inspired her to volunteer.
“For me, the benefit is the connection with the people who get my experiences and are there to support you,” said Duffy.
Duffy advises anyone who wants to begin volunteering to “select a cause that’s meaningful to you.” She also advises “knowing your boundaries” and “mapping out what you’re willing to give.”
FINDING THE RIGHT THING
Glenn Day works full-time at Boulder Book Publishing Company in Portugal Cove but also has been volunteering with the Scouts since he was 15.
He works with the First Mcpherson Scout group at St. Andrew’s School, where he attends weekly meetings and brings youth on outdoor activities.
For Day, the Scouts have become part of his life, so volunteering has become a part of his weekly routine.
“It’s easy when it’s something you’re enthusiastic about and something you enjoy,” he said.
Day also thinks it’s important to find the right fit when volunteering. Finding a volunteer opportunity that can work with your busy schedule is crucial to finding time for volunteering.
“Just having some other part of life, separate from your daily stresses, where you can apply yourself,” said Day, “just doing something that feels valuable and that you care about, has kept me going.”
LEARNING AND GAINING EXPERIENCE
International MUN business student Zihan Jin has been volunteering alongside her studies to gain experience in the arts, acting and modelling.
She volunteers with St. John’s Shorts Play Festival and is a member at large on the board of directors. She also has done photography, acting and modelling work as a volunteer in Toronto and at home in Beijing.
The main reason Jin volunteers is to gain work experience and meet interesting people.
Although volunteering alongside her studies has posed occasional challenges, Jin has discovered that the organizations she volunteers with are accommodating of her schedule. Additionally, amid the pandemic, Jin experienced increased ease in allocating time for volunteering due to the transition to remote courses.
Jin believes that you can learn more from volunteering than from school in some cases. “You have to gain experience from working itself,” said Jin.
“I love to see the community keep improving, and I like using what I can do to help people,” she said.
Despite the challenges of balancing work, family, and other obligations, volunteering offers many benefits, including community support, personal fulfillment, and valuable life experiences.