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Volunteer Centre notes rise in local volunteerism

Last Updated Nov 13, 2019 at 10:57 pm MDT

IMAGE. (Left to right) Fusesocial Board Chair Jon Evans, Executive Director Chantal Beaver join two young volunteers and coordinator Shelby Marshall in cutting the ribbon to the Wood Buffalo Volunteer Centre. MYMCMURRAY/Phil Wood.

Dozens of volunteers celebrated the relaunch of the Wood Buffalo Volunteer Centre (WBVC) at Shell Place.

The networking event at Shell Place on Nov. 13, 2019, also featured a ribbon-cutting.

Guest speakers included FuseSocial Executive Director, Chantal Beaver, Board Chair, John Evans, and Cathy Steeves of Emergency Social Services.

Celebration of Volunteerism

While they operate an information desk at the Redpoll Center at Shell Place, the Volunteer Centre isn’t a physical building.

Coordinator Shelby Marshall, who emceed the ribbon-cutting ceremony and maintains the website, explained how their “cloud” works.

“Tonight was really about letting the public know about the Volunteer Centre, what we do, how we do it, [and how] we connect volunteers with opportunities.”

Marshall said a large portion of her work involves meeting with individuals, organizations, and businesses and addressing their volunteer needs.

Afterwards, the centre presents opportunities for volunteers to lead or support various social profits or businesses.

Opportunities range from trade shows and awareness campaigns to urban markets and special events.

Marshall said she noticed a significant increase of volunteers on WBVolunteers.ca, which was only around 1400 in the spring.

“Over the last five months, we had a large increase in volunteers who signed up on the website. As of today, we had 2048 volunteers who are ready, engaged, and excited about volunteer opportunities.”

She also recorded that volunteers responded to 788 opportunities, and 115 organizations created profiles.

Another 258 opportunities are available for volunteers on the website.

Two partnering social profits that created profiles are the Wood Buffalo Food Bank and the Northern Lights Health Foundation.

Marshall said, between the 333 social profit groups in the region, the sector contributes almost $1.34-billion to the local economy.

Volunteer Testimonial

During the event, Shelby Marshall shared her volunteer experience working with Cathy Steeves and Emergency Social Services (ESS).

About 250 volunteers, including Marshall, registered with ESS through the WBVC website working in disaster risk reduction.

“They support emergencies and disasters within our region and other cities as well. I was responsible for the mass volunteer coordination [setting up] reception centre and group lodging, so it does take a lot of work in the back end throughout the website.”

Marshall said she and Steeves worked together to organize a large-scale volunteer plan for ESS, which they implemented in September.

“To experience our first reception centre set up in early September was a powerful experience for me just to see the whole team come together. You do the training with one another and monthly meetings, but to see it all come together and for us to support the community was impactful.”

Volunteers who register on WBVolunteers.ca may use their phone app.

However, Marshall said its prime function is a reference tool for their schedule.

The website is fully-functional on mobile allowing volunteers to connect with organizations and sign up for opportunities.

For more information or to arrange a volunteer needs assessment for your organization, call (780) 791-9333 x3073.