Top 10 Reasons We Love Our Volunteers!

As Program Coordinator at a small non-profit like Hopewell, I have a number of responsibilities.  One of my favourite of these is the work I do with our amazing volunteers. Individually and together they are some of the funniest, cleverest, talented people I have had the good fortune to meet and work with.

Here are my Top 10 reasons I am thankful for our Hopewell volunteers:

1. Get things done! You give any of our volunteers a task and you can relax in the knowledge that it will be done…and most often they will have gone above and beyond the initial task. Our Gala committee and our EDAW Committee both involve volunteers who believe in Hopewell and will do what it takes to make our events successful.
2. Amazing at connecting in the community: Our Community Education volunteers are amazing at facilitating discussion on topics of positive body image, media literacy and healthy lifestyles with our presentations, in any setting: schools, youth organizations, adult groups. They’re always able to make the presentation fun and informative for whomever they’re speaking to.
3. So genuine: Hopewell’s clients are very important to us, so it is wonderful to know that our volunteers who mentor or facilitate our support groups are absolutely genuine in their care of Hopewell’s clients as well.  
4. Show amazing initiative! Hopewell volunteers often suggest to us ways in which their specialized skills and talents might serve Hopewell’s various programs, both to existing ones or by suggesting new ones.
5. Generous: Whether it is by being accommodating with their time, connecting with community members or Hopewell clients, or providing us with talented work we could not otherwise afford, Hopewell volunteers are an extremely generous bunch of folks.
6. Passionate about the issues: For both our volunteers who have personal or lived experience with eating disorder and those volunteers who do not, the level of passion they have for promoting awareness and providing support is inspiring.
7. Motivated: Our volunteers always want to learn more and do more in support of Hopewell.
8. Supportive! Our volunteers, at times, provide us with moral support as well! Through committee members, to Board members, to any volunteer’s friendly and funny emails, Hopewell volunteers are amazing at keeping us inspired and motivated to keep doing the work that we do.
9. Fun! Meetings with our volunteers, one on one or in a group is always sure to be an enjoyable time!
10. Invaluable: Fact - We literally would not be able to do what we do without our volunteers.

I truly feel grateful to have such incredibly talented and passionate people want to volunteer their time and skills with us. National Volunteer Appreciation Week (April 10 -16, 2016) is an opportunity to focus on the great work our volunteers do to support Hopewell, but we hope we show them how much we appreciate them throughout the year!