Volunteers. Communities could not get along as well as they do without them. And in Richmond there is a wealth of people willing to lend a hand for just about every cause or occasion.
It’s a community asset that is sometimes overlooked, but never underappreciated, said Ed Gavsie, president and CEO of Richmond Cares Richmond Gives (RCRG) which recently rolled out its volunteer opportunities database to help match those wanting to lend a hand with a specific activity or interest they have.
“We in Richmond are fortunate to have one of the leading communities in Canada in terms of volunteer hours given,” said Gavsie ahead of National Volunteer Week, which runs April 10-16.
For example, the Richmond Christmas Fund had 187 volunteers who contributed 3,130 hours. Local seniors’ programs attracted 70 volunteers, who provided more than 5,000 hours of their time.
To mark National Volunteer Week RCRG will have a ceremony at its office at Caring Place.
“And we, as an organization, are sending out thank you cards to all of the volunteers out there,” Gavsie said.
The new database, which was custom designed for RCRG, makes it a lot easier for non-profits to post their volunteer opportunities online, Gavsie said, adding the usage since it went live last September has been impressive.
Currently, there are 70 local non-profit organizations using the database and a total of 56 volunteer positions listed.
Since it went live, there have been 6,400 unique visitors that have generated 65,200 page views.
The site (Volunteer.RCRG.org) is divided into two sections. One is titled I care about most … which allows the visitor to choose from a variety of areas — from animal welfare to sports and recreation.
“People can go into the site and choose a particular cause they want to volunteer for and can narrow it right down. Then, those (volunteer) opportunities will be listed,” Gavsie said.
The other half of the site shows a listing of volunteer opportunities users can scroll through and includes information on the organization posting it, the duration of the help needed, and a start date.
When you click on the posting it takes you to a description of the community organization and a section to apply via email for the position.
“Inherently, a lot of people want to give back to their community, but don’t know how. So this new website is excellent,” Gavsie said.
