When you think about volunteering, what comes to mind first? Is it serving a meal at a shelter, playing games with seniors, or picking up litter in Edmonton’s river valley? Does only one type of volunteer role come to mind or many? The truth is, there are thousands of ways one can give back in the city of Edmonton.
The most common type of volunteering is working at human service organizations. These are your homeless shelters, food banks, child and family resources centres, to name a few. Within these organizations there are tons of different volunteer roles. For example, at ABC Head Start, you can help tutor children in a classroom. At Old Strathcona Youth Society, you can provide referrals and support to homeless youth.
If you’ve spent a summer in Edmonton you know there’s always an event or festival going on, we’re not named the festival city for nothing! Festival volunteering is a great way to try your hand and working in a formal volunteer role. They’re usually one-time events in a fast paced and fun environment. Did you know the Heritage Festival has booths representing over 100 countries and cultures and over 600 cultural foods? This fun event looks for volunteers every summer and is currently recruiting along with two other great Edmonton Festivals. Check out opportunities from the Heritage Festival as well as The Works Art & Design Festival, St Albert Children’s Festival and Edmonton Pride Fest, and K-Days, your summer will be an unforgettable one with those experiences.
Many people volunteer because they can directly relate to a cause, many of the volunteers we’ve encountered volunteer for cancer organizations to give back and support those who are impacted by the horrible disease. There are a number of cancer focused organizations in Edmonton that rely on the support from volunteers. Our Virtual Volunteer Fair features opportunities from Canadian Cancer Society, Ovarian Cancer Canada and Canadian Skin Cancer Foundation.
From working to rescue animals, help individuals who are visually impaired, rescue fruit to give to those in need, to working with newcomers to Canada, there truly are so many volunteer opportunities available in Edmonton. Tomorrow on the blog, we’ll give you tips on where you can find some of these amazing volunteer roles. You can also head over to our Virtual Volunteer Fair and see some of the ones mentioned and more!
Every weekday during National Volunteer Week, we’ll post an article about a different aspect of volunteering in Edmonton.
What brings your volunteer spirit to life? We encourage you to join the conversations on Twitter this week by following @EdmCVO and by using the hashtags #yegvolunteers and #NVW2018!