Latest News | October 2021

Not sure what about the leaves changing makes us think about community but it seems like our mailboxes have been exploding in the past couple weeks with families, youth and children looking to volunteer in their community. It has been really great to connect with people wanting to engage in community as a multigenerational unit. Not all opportunities or organizations are set up to support this type of experience and that is ok! If you have been looking on volunteerconnector.org and nothing has caught your attention here are some other thoughts for you.

Think of an issue or something not sitting right with you about your community ... do something about it. Maybe you think your community needs another garbage bin and it should be a beautiful? Maybe there is a great view for somewhere but there is no bench? We know food security is an issue in every community so maybe sourcing a community fridge or pantry is where you could put some time and energy.

Look again on volunteerconnector.org, perhaps an opportunity does sound interesting but they do not explicitly say it for children, youth or families. Get in touch with the organization, they might not have considered how the role could be filled with family or someone under 20 years old. 

Raise some funds for something your family cares about. There are plenty of organizations doing work and would be happy to receive some extra funds. Especially when the covid has made those annual fundraisers more difficult to hold. 

Use google to look up some of the lists out of there for acts of kindness, do one, five, thirty, whatever you have time for. Giving is not just a cheque to a recognizable organization. It is how you show up and make sure everyone in your community feels seen. Buy coffee for the person behind you in line, make muffins for the new neighbours, chalk inspirational phrases on the sidewalk, handout flowers at the grocery store ... there are about 56,300,000 more google results so we feel confident there is something there. 

I remember that was a celebration for Chinese New Year, people gathered at an activity center. I firstly wanted to just celebrate with them, and enjoy the festival, but some of my friends know that I can play the piano, and invited me to play some music for the party. 

Initially I was quite nervous cuz I didn’t practice during that period, and I was suddenly invited to play the piano for them. I actually was only a beginner to play it. I thought that would be a disaster for me, but somehow I am quite excited. Maybe that was because I really wanna share what music I like to others. I wanted to be focused on. 

Then, I started playing the piano. The music was from some of my favorite anime songs and soundtrack. I learned the piano version from piano tutorial videos on YouTube. That was the best I could play. During the performance, a lot of mistakes were made, but I tried not to make more. 

The good thing was, people in there didn’t know anything about anime, so slight mistakes was not noticed at all. Some elders quite enjoyed the music, kids stopped playing toys, and everyone looked at me. I suddenly realized, it doesn’t matter if my performance is perfect, the true valuable thing should be the happiness I brought. 

Gradually, I started to made fewer mistakes, till the finale, I forgot what to play, but I quickly came up with another one. I just followed the feeling I had when I moved my fingers and touched the keyboard. It was like the piano it self was alive and led my performance. 

I heard about some ideas of the nature of music, which might be the language made by the intelligence in higher dimensions in this universe. No matter if that is true, my performance and joy was conveyed. 

This is the story of one of my volunteering, which came all of a sudden, but valuable because bringing joy and happiness to the community is also what I want. 

Thank you,

Yilin Ge

We have launched Micro-Volunteering on the Connector. Along with the first opportunity our good friend Dr. Moyo Mutamba has provided a reflection reminder for all of us to tend to self care and acknowledge that racist trauma can show up anywhere.

Dear Volunteer,

Completing a survey that stirs emotions connected to racist experiences can bring up trauma for others. We will all respond differently to racist trauma and do self-care in diverse ways. However, whether you draw on conscious or subconscious processing mechanisms to care for yourself, it is crucial to take a moment to feel, reflect, and engage with where the trauma is showing up in your body. Doing this will set you up well to reduce the long-term impacts of racist retraumatization. What has worked for me is a compassionate approach to self-care, which consists of the following steps: 

Notice

• The experience- observe what you have gone through
• Feelings- note the feelings you are holding at the moment
• Physical response-note physical reactions and the parts they are inhabiting

Assess

• Not the intensity of both the feelings and physical responses. Noticing the intensity allows one to not underreact or overreact, supporting you in considering the self-care that is proportional to the situation. 

Communicate

• Say your feelings and self-talk out loud. Notice what your feelings and thoughts are asking you to do.

Breathe

• Take a deep breath for each thought, physical response, feeling. Or take a deep breath for 3-5minutes. This will calm your activated nervous system.

Consider talking to someone about your experience if you get triggered often by racist encounters or reminders.

Take good care.

Dr.  Moyo Rainos Mutamba

Co-director and Facilitator, Bloom Consulting

(title inspired by tswift's bonus track - shout out to Lauren!! 🙂) 

Not all relationships last forever and your volunteering journey is no different. Like jobs and significant others you will probably have a couple in your lifetime. Here are the seven signs that it is time to move on from your current volunteer role, take an exhale or find something different: 

• If you dread going every week- that feeling in the pit of your stomach is real, listen to it. 
• If you feel unsafe - maybe not something that you can pinpoint or maybe something that has shifted during these pandemic times but this is a boundary that you get to set and adhere to. 
• If you feel unsupported- sometimes the work that you are doing can feel meaningful but it can also feel like you are sending it into a void.
• If it is causing you more stress than the joy you get from it - relationships are complicated and it would be probably be easy to leave if it was all bad but chances are there are still some great things. If it feels messy, get out the pro/con list and see how it plays out. 
• If you are not using your skills - you probably set out to share a talent or gain more experience in a certain area, things change and if that desire has been accomplished then it is time to search for other opportunities. 
• If life has changed- millions of ways life can shift for any of us (as the past 18 months have demonstrated) there is also moving, jobs, kids, family, illness, travel, priorities, renovations, other commitments sometimes something has to come off the plate. 
• If your values no longer align - groups shift their focus sometimes and that is awesome! It might not resonate with you anymore which is also great but it is time to say goodbye. 

If any of these landed with you, fantastic! Knowing is something, now onto the breakup and we look forward to seeing you on the VolunteerConnector when you are ready, there are over 1000 opportunities waiting for you.