Headwaters Communities in ActionAn Open Letter From Volunteer Centres
On Labour Day, September 7th 2020, we join our Volunteer Centre colleagues across the country in publishing a co-authored, open letter to advocate for the essential role of volunteers, and the systems that enable them, during the recovery of our country.
From the open letter:
Volunteer Centres: An Untapped Resource
We’re writing this letter, signed by aligned Volunteer Centres in a robust
network across the country, to speak up on how meaningful volunteerism is
enabled.
Canadians volunteer more than anywhere else in the world. Every year, nearly 13 million individuals contribute time to an organization in their community, and during the COVID-19 pandemic hundreds of thousands more have stepped up to deliver services to those most vulnerable. While it’s clear that volunteerism is a powerful characteristic of Canadian identity, the role of Volunteer Centres—the vibrant network of 200+ agencies whose role it is to facilitate this extraordinary exchange—is far from understood, or worse yet, has been ignored. In recent weeks, we have been reminded that, in many instances, governments, funders, and even some non-profit leaders, fail to recognize the skill, resources, and infrastructure required to keep volunteers engaged and our social services afloat.
