MEDIA RELEASE
$300,000.00 OTF Grant Brings About New Valuable Volunteer Program
SUDBURY, ON – On Friday April 20th, 2017, Volunteer Sudbury welcomed the public to their Open House ceremony to mark the launch of their new Valuable Volunteer Program (VVP). Local MPP Glenn Thibeault and OTF Grant Review Team member, Tina Montgomery were on hand to congratulate the Volunteer Centre and hear more about how VVP will break down barriers that persons with disabilities and people experiencing mental illness currently face when looking to volunteer.
“Volunteers are the integral to our community, and with the launch of the new Valuable Volunteer Program even more people will be able to do their part to help out in Sudbury. By eliminating barriers for people who want to volunteer, we are helping every citizen give back to their community. This Valuable Volunteer Program will allow everyone to experience rewards of volunteerism.” - Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault
The Valuable Volunteer Program is a three year initiative that will focus on providing enhanced support to those who are running into barriers and obstacles when looking to volunteer in the community. Volunteering brings about incredible benefits to the volunteers themselves like fostering relationships, improving empathy, improving mental health, and more. Inaccessible spaces, feeble understanding of everyday obstacles within this population, and inability to accommodate disabilities are just some of the reasons that people who want to give back to the community are currently unable to. Through training programs to non-profits and volunteer managers, Volunteer Sudbury will work to foster empathy and identify solutions to the barriers being faced. One-on-one support throughout the volunteer matching process will also be provided to those looking to become engaged in the community, including Volunteering 101 training options for those who wish to participate.
“While not all volunteer opportunities or organizations are the same, we have found that in general people with disabilities and those who experience mental illness are often being given less than desirable volunteer jobs because the proper awareness and education isn’t reaching as far as it should. This then leads to feelings of frustration and people who want to contribute in the community are giving up” explains Kiara Vallier, Program Manager at Volunteer Sudbury. “The Valuable Volunteer Program aims to reduce this outcome by working with people who want to volunteer as well as the organizations taking them in to find and build meaningful roles particular to that specific person.”
Volunteer Sudbury will be running this program from 2018-2021 with the help of the $300,000.00 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. If you are interested in getting involved in volunteering in the community you can reach out to Volunteer Sudbury by visiting www.volunteersudbury.com.
An agency of the Government of Ontario, the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is one of Canada’s largest granting foundations. With a budget of over $136 million, OTF awards grants to some 1,000 projects every year to build healthy and vibrant Ontario communities. www.otf.ca
