Latest News | Empathy

This week are excited to welcome guest blog writer Thanishka. Thanishka is a passionate storyteller and creator, always seeking ways to connect with others through words. Writing has been a lifelong love, from crafting stories to song lyrics and poems. Thanishka thrives on exploring new ideas and expressing themselves in creative ways that resonate with people.

I remember being 12 years old and nervously tying my shoes before heading out the door. It was my first time volunteering, just a small afternoon at a local event. I didn’t really know what to expect. I just knew I wanted to do something that made a difference, even if it was small. The world felt too big sometimes, and I was still figuring out how I fit into it.

When I got there, the room was warm, full of chatter, clinking spoons, and friendliness. I was asked to hand out drinks. Simple, right? But somehow, it felt like more. People smiled. Said thank you. One guy told me about his day. Someone else complimented my hoodie. Another asked if I liked tea or coffee better, and we got into this whole random debate about it.

At the time, I thought I was just pouring juice.

But it wasn’t really about the juice. It was about presence. About being there. Letting myself be seen on more than a physical level. I was just a kid still trying to figure things out, and somehow, I felt like I mattered in that space.

Since then, I’ve done other things, like packing hygiene kits, tutoring kids in math, and once I even helped design posters for a food drive. But I always go back to that first time. It wasn’t fancy or impressive, but it stuck with me. I think that’s the thing with volunteering, it sneaks up on you. You think you’re helping others, and somehow you end up being helped too.

This week we welcome a guest blogger from Calgary. Sabiha lives in Calgary, just near the Bow River where she enjoys listening to a good audiobook while taking in the teal colours of the water.

I got into volunteering during my first year of college, initially on the advice of a mentor. As an inexperienced student, I was told that volunteering would enhance my resume. At the time, I didn’t have any goals beyond that. The mentor recommended The Yellow Door, as a potential organization in Montreal, which supports elderly members of the community. 

When I started, I didn’t realize how deeply the experience would impact my life, and not just my resume. I became a friendly visitor to a retired nurse who lived alone. Although her son visited regularly, she was looking for company on other days to go for coffee or walks. Until then, most of my social circle had consisted of people my own age. Growing up, my grandparents either lived abroad or had passed away, so I had little experience interacting closely with the older generation. 

Spending time with the retired nurse opened my eyes to the wisdom, resilience, and insight that comes with age. I especially enjoyed listening to her stories about being a working mother and wife, experiences that would become relevant to me only a few years later. Real life, human connections like these are invaluable. Listening to my new companion’s challenges, successes, and life lessons helped me reflect on my own values and make more informed decisions. Interacting with my senior companion has had a calming effect. The older generation is less distracted and less in a rush. They’ve mastered the art of living and listening. 

More than anything, volunteering made me pause and reflect on what truly matters in life. I started out, thinking I was simply giving back to the community, but I gained so much more. After every visit, the sense of meaning and appreciation I felt far outweighed the small amount of time I was giving. 

Since moving to Calgary, I’ve continued volunteering with seniors through Bethany Senior Care and the Calgary Seniors Resource Society. These ongoing experiences have only further enriched my life. The elderly in our community are often an underserved population. Many of them have contributed to society in their younger years and supporting them now is a way of bringing life full circle. 

Volunteering with seniors started as a resume booster, but it has become a lifelong journey of growth and gratitude of the human experience.

We had the immense pleasure of being present at Board Leadership Calgary a couple weeks ago. It was a chance to connect with some awesome humans doing cool work in their pockets of community. Huge thank you to Justin Solamillo and the team at the Government of Alberta Community Development Unit. VolunteerConnector got to spend 90 cool minutes immersed in the intersection of community building, organizations and humans trying their best. 

There are three reflections we have from this event and the time we spent. 

Great suggestion for our always in our hearts merchandise line of “the best volunteers are prickly”. We are thinking plant pot with a cactus in it. 

There was a profound moment where many organizations in the room were sharing the current state of volunteerism in their organizations. It was mostly a story of struggle. From trying to recover from Covid to simply not seeing the response from efforts that they had hoped. Present in the room were also 3 awesome young people from Youth Central who shared their perspective of wanting to engage in community but not being able to find open opportunities. And there it was, without us even having to say it. There are not less people out there looking for opportunities, there are different people out there looking. It is tough work, but it is up to organizations and the people in them to shift roles, processes and opportunities to connect with the people out there who do want to and have capacity to volunteer.

Finally, to get us started and focussed on the work of volunteer engagement we inquired about the best or worst advice people had been given about engaging volunteers. The most common answer around the room was none. No advice. What a moment so aligned with learning that across the country of the 1.3 million organization, charities, nonprofits, grassroots groups that 1 million of them are volunteer run with no staff. Most people who engage volunteers are volunteers themselves and they are doing it through their own grit, determination and trial. 

This week we are so fortunate to feature a guest blog from Volunteer Ottawa. Founded in 1957, Volunteer Ottawa is one of many volunteer centres across Canada.Volunteer Ottawa connects people to one another and to hundreds of local charities that rely on the time and talent of volunteers. We provide supports and services to promote and celebrate volunteerism, help volunteers find opportunities, strengthen non-profit capacity through training and networking, inspire diversity and inclusion, and encourage local employers to invest in the community. 

Last year, Volunteer Ottawa helped Export Development Canada (EDC) with its biggest Community Impact Day ever! VO has helped organize this annual event with EDC for 8 years, and in 2024 it coincided with EDC’s employee conference in Ottawa. 1600 EDC employees from Ottawa, across Canada, and around the world gathered on June 6 to donate their time and talent to 40 organizations across Ottawa and region.

The volunteers received a warm welcome and some of the activities were featured in local news, like the tree planting activity at Ottawa Community Housing. Roughly 4,800 hours were donated to achieve impressive results, including: 

Hundreds of sandwiches and Hope Bags made for the Ottawa Mission 

Over 60 donations of blood and plasma to the Canadian Blood Services 

Hundreds of walkers raised awareness for CARE Canada 

Piles of invasive plants like buckthorn removed for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Ottawa Valley Chapter and the Riverview Park Community Association 

Gardening, cleaning & beautification projects across the city for organizations like Ottawa Community Housing Corporation, Mādahòkì Farm, Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard, Cumberland Heritage Village Museum, and many more

The organizations hosting volunteers reported that EDC employees were smiling (despite often being soaking wet) and worked hard – in many cases completing more work than anticipated!

Thank you to all the participating organizations and to the many EDC employees who donated time and talent.

This week we welcome guest blog writer Jason Nguyen. Jason was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta with Vietnamese origins. He graduated from the University of Calgary, Haskayne School of Business in 2019, but has a passion for the arts--most specifically writing! 

Who would have thought one randomly-presented volunteer opportunity would change the trajectory of my entire life? Not the version of me that agreed to it, that’s for sure. 

Let me tell you about the time I agreed to choreograph a dance performance for my church’s Lunar New Year festival. I must have only been 19 years-old at the time, but word got out in my church community that I was a dancer. To be clear, I was not a choreographer nor did I have any experience teaching dance. I was just a recreational breakdancer and somehow one of the members of the choir found out and approached me to ask if I could come up with a dance to perform at the annual Lunar New Year festival. Naturally, I asked if they had any dancers they could spare for the performance. I ended up with a group of about ten kids I had never met before (save for the one closest to my age with whom I attended Sunday school). 

None of these kids had any dancing experience, but I can honestly say they were all good dancers. It did not take them long to pick up the inherently basic steps that I had come up with. Remember that I had never choreographed a dance before myself so I kept things nice and easy. We performed the 2- or 3-minute-long dance at the festival for the parents and the crowd went crazy. The applause from the crowd and the smiles I saw on the faces of my makeshift dance team was enough of a reward for me to be glad I volunteered my time, but it didn’t end there. 

The next year, they asked me to choreograph another dance and this time…a group of about thirty kids showed up! Over the course of the next few months, I came up with and taught dance to this group of bright, young kids and more importantly, created long-lasting friendships and mentorship relationships. We were lucky enough to perform for another couple of years before we got too busy with our lives, but I don’t think those memories will ever fully fade from our minds. One of the guys on the dance team even asked me to be one of his groomsmen at his wedding next year! Needless to say, I am tremendously glad I was offered this volunteer opportunity and if I had the chance to do it again, I’d take it up in a heartbeat.

This week we welcome a collaborative guest blog from the Volunteer Centre of Calgary and Youth Central. Youth Central is a Calgary based organization that inspires youth to become changemakers in their communities by offering meaningful leadership and volunteer opportunities. Every year, over 2,200 young people in Calgary, ages 12 to 18, join their programs and events—growing in confidence, forging lasting connections, and developing the skills they need to lead with purpose and passion. 

As we celebrate National Volunteer Week across Canada, Youth Central and Volunteer Calgary want to take a moment to recognize the immense impact of volunteers on the wellbeing and vibrancy of our communities.

As Volunteer Canada beautifully says, "Volunteers Make Waves." And they do - waves that ripple outwards, touching countless lives. 

They serve warm meals with compassion and without judgment.

They power youth sports and enrichment programs, nurturing the next generation of compassionate, engaged citizens.

They are the engine behind our cities’ most vibrant festivals, arts events, and cultural moments—making connection and celebration accessible to everyone.

They are the force behind our cities' most vibrant events, ensuring that everyone has access to art, culture, and connection.

And that’s just the beginning.

Our communities thrive because of volunteers—people who give their time not for recognition or reward, but from a simple hope: to make someone else’s day a little brighter. In return, they often discover deep connections and a profound sense of belonging.

The volunteer landscape is changing

 Just like our neighborhoods, the volunteer landscape is evolving. The demographics are shifting. youth are stepping up in large numbers, eager to make a difference. The second-fastest growing group of volunteers? Newcomers to Canada.

Why the shift?

Many young people are searching for ways to take meaningful action in a world that feels uncertain. Volunteering gives them that outlet—an empowering way to build community and create change. For newcomers, it’s a powerful tool to connect with others, contribute their talents, and grow their sense of belonging in a new place.

So why are organizations still struggling to find volunteers? 

Despite this growing interest, many nonprofits are finding it harder than ever to attract and retain volunteers.

As a sector, we’re working to better understand this disconnect. But a few patterns are emerging. TThere’s a gap between what volunteers are looking for and what many organizations are currently equipped to offer.

Modern volunteers want flexibility. They want to contribute quickly, without long screening processes. They want opportunities that fit their lifestyles, reflect their values, and allow them to use their skills in meaningful ways.

Meanwhile, many organizations are still navigating post-pandemic realities. Some haven’t been able to rehire volunteer managers since pandemic-related layoffs, making it hard to adapt existing systems or engagement strategies to meet today’s new  expectations.

Together, we can close this gap 

To ride this new wave of interest, we need to evolve how we engage volunteers. That means rethinking old models and adapting to what today’s volunteers are really looking for:

• Be flexible. Not everyone can commit every Tuesday at 2. Offer short-term, remote, or project-based roles that accommodate real life.
• Make it meaningful. Volunteers want to do work that matters. Invite them to share their skills, passions, and ideas.
• Show the impact. A simple thank-you, a story about how their contribution made a difference, or a quick update on results can go a long way.
• Cut the red tape. If signing up feels harder than getting a passport, you’ll lose people. Make it easy to get involved.
• Invest in volunteer management. Volunteer coordinators are the heart of engagement. Rebuilding this capacity is crucial to meaningful and sustainable volunteer relationships.

The interest is there. People want to help. Organizations just need to meet folks where they are.

You’re not alone. 

If you are in Calgary- Youth Central and Volunteer Calgary are here to support organizations. We offer free support to help you adapt to this new wave of volunteerism. And once you're ready, we’ve got thousands of eager individuals ready to connect with causes like yours.

Together, we can create a volunteer landscape that reflects the energy, diversity, and generosity of our communities.

Let’s make volunteering accessible, impactful, and truly meaningful, and more powerful than ever. 

To all those who feel the pull to give back: we see you, and we’re ready to connect you. Reach out to Volunteer Calgary, Youth Central, or your local volunteer centre—we’ll help you find the right fit. 

The future of volunteerism is bright. Let’s ride this wave—together.

Nominate Someone for the 2024-2025 Minister's Seniors Service Awards! 

Do you know someone in your community who’s making a meaningful impact on the lives of Alberta’s seniors? The 26th annual Minister's Seniors Service Awards nominations are still open, and we want to hear about the incredible people, businesses, and organizations who are going above and beyond for seniors. 

These awards celebrate the outstanding contributions made through volunteerism, advocacy, essential services, and innovation. Whether it’s providing exceptional support or pioneering new ways to improve the lives of seniors, your nomination can help recognize their dedication. 

There are five award categories to choose from, offering many opportunities to shine a light on those who deserve it most. 

How to Nominate: Visit alberta.ca/MSSA for details and to submit your nomination. 

Deadline: Submit your nominations by April 30, 2025 – don’t miss the chance to recognize someone special!

  This week to the blog we are pleased to welcome Turlough Myers. Turlough a Philanthropy Advisor & Volunteer Manager at the Winspear Centre at the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. He re-built the Winspear’s Volunteerism by addressing their mission, culture, and place in the organization. His focus on people, and mission brought about a fundamental change in the organization where volunteers are supporting in creative and impactful ways. His approach to volunteer management has been used as a case-study by other non-profits in the Edmonton area, he is always happy to share his passion for volunteerism and connect with others in the industry. 

If you ask any volunteer manager in the non-profit industry, almost all of them will say that they feel the crushing weight of loneliness in the workplace darn near constantly. Usually, volunteerism falls under the leadership of a singular person, and the folks who stick with the role for a long time are often extraordinarily talented - and of course they are, they wear a tonne of hats as volunteer manager, it's not all schedules and polls: they are coaches/teachers, HR professionals, philanthropy officers, relationship builders, community advocates, mediators of crucial conversations... all of these things and more under the umbrella of a single job title "Volunteer Manager/Coordinator." 
Volunteer managers are often the only ones with established relationships with an organization's volunteers and sometimes the only one aware of the impact volunteers have on an organization's success and reputation in their community, as well as volunteers capacity to do even more to achieve an organizational goal.

It can be easy to feel misunderstood or unappreciated in these circumstances. When you're already feeling isolated, accepting feedback from a superior who you feel doesn't understand you or your work can trigger a fight, flight or freeze response due to painful feelings of criticism, frustration, loneliness, and perfectionism. Perhaps you're feeling isolated in your role because you aren't part of a grander team, or feel like your role doesn't fit the goals of the team you are part of, feeling like your work is going unnoticed or misunderstood and you're taking it personally. Here are some tips for handling your painful feelings when isolation and loneliness are defining your time at work.

- Know that your feelings are valid. It's okay to take some things about your work personally, in life you're going to spend a lot of time at work, and experience all kinds of emotions. But also keep a separation of work and personal life, and define your character more by your personal life.
 
- Acknowledge and give space to the feelings of frustration, loneliness, sadness, or anger. Do this with yourself in advance of potentially draining conversations with your colleagues. When you acknowledge these feelings, and give a place for them to be, the painful feelings won't have as much power over your choices. Don't suppress these feelings, they can serve you well if you can channel them productively.

- Have a work-bestie! You need support in all aspects of life, and having someone you can share your feelings with that you trust can be very healing, and can help you productively express what your superiors need to hear. 

- Learn to let some things go. You often can't control how others see you and the work you do. but you can control your work ethic, and the way you treat people. Own your shortcomings, and celebrate your accomplishments so that you gain fulfillment from your work within yourself.

We are so excited to welcome a guest blog from Anisha and the awesome team at Volunteer Victoria. Anisha holds a B.Sc. in Biology and Psychology from the University of Victoria, and is currently pursing a part-time Global Master's in Business Administration, with a focus on non-profit management. She has been an avid volunteer since she was a teenager, with most of her work being at hospitals. Outside of Anisha's work as the Mental Health Program and Volunteering Programs Coordinator at VolVic, she is an Academic Advisor for the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and a Math, Science, and English tutor. Her hobbies include reading, dog sitting, and going on local/international adventures.

You know what’s a proven stress reliever? Helping others. Science backs this up - volunteering boosts your mood, lowers stress levels, and even reduces feelings of loneliness. Think of it as emotional cardio: it gets your heart working in the best possible way.

Take the Mental Health Visiting & Activity Program, for example. This initiative connects volunteers with individuals on a mental health and substance use recovery journey. It’s a chance to be a supportive presence for someone facing isolation, offering companionship through simple but meaningful activities like grabbing a coffee, attending a local event, or going for a walk. Volunteers not only provide connection but also gain a deeper understanding of mental health, build empathy, and develop communication skills that carry into all aspects of life. This program is especially popular among counselling, psychology, and social work undergraduate and graduate students who are looking to gain hands-on experience in the field while making a real impact.

 Then there’s the City of Victoria Youth Council (CVYC) - not just any youth leadership program, but a powerhouse. The council is so impactful, it’s at capacity with 25 members and even has a waitlist. Youth involved in CVYC work directly with City Council, staff, and community leaders to influence policies, advocate for their peers, and take real action on issues that matter. This council is particularly in demand among young people looking to build careers in politics, policy, and other strategic leadership roles, offering them firsthand experience in governance and civic engagement. They’re proving that young voices aren’t just influencing the future, they’re shaping the present.

 At Volunteer Victoria, we believe volunteering isn’t just about giving back—it’s about personal growth, connection, and making real change in the community. As the hub for volunteerism in Greater Victoria, we serve both volunteers and over 300 member organizations, ensuring that meaningful opportunities align with people’s passions, skills, and availability. We also maintain a comprehensive database of volunteer opportunities (similar to a job board), making it easy to find roles that match your interests. And to make the process even less overwhelming, we offer free advising services to help volunteers navigate their options and find the perfect fit. Whether you’re looking to build experience, support a cause close to your heart, or just meet like-minded people, we’re here to make that happen.

 Volunteering is the ultimate hands-on learning experience, minus the debt. You’ll make friends, boost your happiness, and leave the world a little better than you found it. So, if you’ve been waiting for a sign to get involved—this is it. Find an opportunity that excites you, jump in, and see where it takes you.

 Also, if you’ve ever wanted to be that person with the best stories at parties, volunteering is your goldmine. “Oh, that reminds me of the time I helped organize a community mural project!” is way cooler than “So, uh, the weather’s been nice.”

If you want to connect with Anisha, please do! 

At VolunteerConnector we love people who think deeply and strive for strongly rooted empathetic change. We always seek to amplify those humans across the country doing that work in all areas of the sector. There are some brilliant people working in food security who are seeking to put Food Banks Out of Business! These are people who work in these spaces and care intensely about the people in the communities who they work with. Please read more about their desired action and how you can help here. 

Some information about Food Security in this country via Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank. 

- 8.7 million Canadians are currently food insecure.

- 1 in 3 single mothers (and their children) are food insecure in Canada.

- Black and Indigenous people are twice as likely to be food insecure.

- People who are severely food insecure cost taxpayers more than double in healthcare spending.

- Unattached singles on welfare in Canada are living in deep poverty on incomes that are 63 per cent below the poverty line.

- Poverty costs Canadians up to $84-billion per year

There is a bill in the Senate (S-233) that calls for the federal government to develop a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income.

If you volunteer in the space of food security or are involved in your local food bank please do consider joining this vital work and supporting Universal Basic Income in Canada.