Volunteers will be celebrated across the globe this week.
Thursday, December 5 is International Volunteer Day, with this year’s theme being ‘Diverse Volunteers, Stronger Communities’. Officials say diverse volunteers can bring a wide-range of perspectives, skills and experiences to an organization.
“When our volunteers represent the community, we all win,” states local nonprofit Volunteer Lethbridge. “[We have] the only quasi-centralized volunteer operating model in North America (that we are aware of). This model allows us to collect data at a community level that we’ve never before had access to. This data is a sample size of what is happening in the community.”
With respect to diversity, Volunteer Lethbridge’s statistics reflect two burgeoning demographics of volunteers. Those are post-secondary students and new Canadians, with officials saying this has been the trend for more than two years.
Seniors have returned to volunteerism at lower rates than pre-pandemic, though still represent volunteerism in the community very strongly. Officials remark that there’s a solid desire for those that identify as having a physical or cognitive disability to help in their community and too few opportunities for them to do so.
Volunteer Lethbridge adds those that identify as Indigenous make up a smaller percentage of a formal volunteerism demographic and, “though we anecdotally know volunteerism is happening here more informally. Youth want to volunteer.”
Officials say it would benefit the community to create more formal volunteer opportunities for those 16 and under.
On Thursday, community helpers can pop into The Soda Mill in Lethbridge from 2-6 p.m., or while supplies last, to enjoy a complimentary soda to mark the International Volunteer Day.
