The post below was written by Isabela H. Chamon Sasaki, our newest Volunteer Blogger. Isabela is Brazilian, a future journalist, a cinefile and a dreamer- and you can check out her blog here.

Since 2008, Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society has been helping me navigate all the difficulties that I have faced as an immigrant youth going through tremendous changes in life. Known throughout the Victoria community and Vancouver Island as simply “VIRCS”, the organization provides support to every immigrant within the community who seeks it, from children to seniors. VIRCS’ diverse team of staff ...

[Continue reading Eyes on The Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society (VIRCS)]

The blog post below was written by Lilia Zaharevia, a local youth superstar. She has been making waves in the community, using her courage, relationships and intelligence to put her insights about community needs into action. What a gift! I interviewed Lilia over email and she provided us with the following responses – complete with pearls of wisdom for anyone interested in being the change one wishes to see. You can find the InsideOUT website here and find them on twitter at @insideout_group 

My name is Lilia Zaharieva, I was born halfway across the world in Sofia Bulgaria but have ...

[Continue reading Volunteering courageously: A young leader’s story]

If you are still looking for holiday volunteer opportunities, check out last week’s post: the spirit of giving. Volunteer Victoria will be closed the week of December 26th, and reopening January 3rd.

Dr. Seuss wrote: And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from ...

[Continue reading Holiday Greetings!]

Once again, it is the time of year when we start to receive larger volumes of calls from individuals and groups looking to volunteer over the Christmas period.

Christmas is, after all, a time when we focus more attention on helping others and giving back.  So it might seem hard to believe that volunteer positions are sometimes not as plentiful during this time of year.

We are so fortunate to live in a community that understands that volunteers are needed all year round. And it is because of this, the need to serve the homeless, pack food hampers and so much more, is often satisfied. Thankfully, ...

[Continue reading The Spirit of Giving]

This post will review the screening process for the new criminal record check and questions that may arise from the results of checks. If you have not yet read part one of this subject, you may want to do that first- just scroll down to the last post.

The application is available to download from the Solicitor General of BC’s website. http://www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/criminal-records-review/shareddocs/consent-form.pdf

 This is a form that you will want to read carefully, perhaps more than once. As a volunteer co-coordinator I have found it helpful to fill out a standard form that I can refer to each time I am having a volunteer fill one ...

[Continue reading The Criminal Records Review Program-Part 2]

By now most agencies know that starting a year ago changes were made to the BC Criminal Records Review Act. The Ministry of Public Safety & Solicitor General’s Criminal Records Review Program (CRRP) has expanded their existing program that protects children from physical and sexual abuse to also help protect “vulnerable adults” from physical, sexual and financial abuse.

This is part one of a two part blog entry that will hopefully help to clarify the changes that have been made. We are dealing with policies from different areas of government. Some of this information is not in unison and quite challenging to navigate ...

[Continue reading The Criminal Records Review Program-Part 1]

 This article first appeared in Volunteer Victoria’s E-Link newsletter on October 21st, 2011. Sign up for E-Link and keep current with news and information from Volunteer Victoria.

Volunteer Victoria recently had to face a difficult truth. We have been lying to ourselves about how happy we are with our website.

In fairness to old faithful, our website has served us well, behaved admirably, and cost very little in the big scheme of things. But, (and isn’t there always a but) our website isn’t keeping up with the needs of our members, volunteers, and client groups. So, it is time to look at new options, but ...

[Continue reading A Web of Options]

The following is a guest post written by our new ELN Social Mavens, Yasmin Rampuri and Liz Hallett. Thank you Liz and Yasmin for hosting this very successful Fall Mingle, and for stepping up and sharing your skills and enthusiasm. It was a great event!

Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) Fall Mingle

After enjoying the lovely summer weather when it finally happened, the ELN ushered in the new season with a bang at the Fall Mingle.

The event hovered at full from days after it was posted, until the day of the event on September 15th, and we had 29 enthusiastic networkers attend in the end.

Veneto Café provided a most excellent ...

[Continue reading Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) Kicks Off Another Successful Year!]

I was so pleased to recently coordinate a “Get Creative with Social Media” workshop for Volunteer Victoria, facilitated by Mandy Leith. It pleased me even more that I was able to attend the workshop with  my mother, Elaine Cougler. Her adoption of and enthusiasm for social media tools to further her writing career is proof positive that social media is being used and enjoyed by people of all ages. Here is her guest post about attending the workshop:

Last week, Mandy Leith, “media-savvy storyteller, documentary filmmaker, social media strategist, media educator, founder of [Continue reading Telling Your Organization’s Story with Social Media]

Do you volunteer as a family? Are you curious about how to involve your child in helping out, or giving back?

The post below originally appeared in the HandsOn Blog on March 15th 2011. It is a great intro to volunteering as a family, and they were generous in their permission for us to re-post for your reading pleasure!

If you are curious about where to start volunteering as a family in Victoria, read on to the bottom, or please share your experiences and insights through the comments!

[Continue reading Volunteering as a family (and how to start in Victoria)]