Kingston volunteers celebrated during National Volunteer Week

*Paid Business Feature*

National Volunteer Week is being celebrated all across Canada this week, April 16 to 22, 2023, and this year’s theme is Volunteering Weaves Us Together.

The thread of every strong, tight-knit community is the volunteers who step up to help — at organizations both large and small, at special events and fundraisers, in soup kitchens and food banks, and to support individuals in the community who need an extra hand.

Jean Lawson, President of the Kingston & Area Association of Administrators of Volunteers (KAAAV), said that volunteers are the backbone of the Kingston community and beyond. “We are so lucky to have such a diverse number of volunteers — students, parents, seniors, and families give their time, talents, and hard work to hundreds of organizations that wouldn’t be able to operate without this support,” she noted.

KAAAV is proud to celebrate its 40th Anniversary as an organization in 2023. This group of volunteer administrators, managers or coordinators meets monthly to share ideas, listen to guest speakers, and network with other like-minded professionals.

With new technologies, volunteers are able to help virtually, in-person, remotely, and sometimes from halfway around the world, all of which is meaningful and valuable to the staff, members, and clients of the organizations in need.

Many volunteers are registered with organizations for specific roles either daily, weekly, monthly or episodically, and that assurance of support means so much to the managers of volunteers and their teams. In addition, there are the casual volunteers in our community who show up for someone in need, such as snow angels who shovel that extra driveway for their elderly or incapacitated neighbour, the check-in buddies who call or drop by to make sure everything is ok for the individual living on their own, and the seasonal volunteers who look after community gardens and grow food for those in need. None more valuable than the other because together they make our community strong and caring.

While we mark National Volunteer Week each year in April, non-profit organizations, charities and neighbours — alongside volunteer managers — celebrate our volunteers every day. Thank you, volunteers!

Learn more about Kingston & Area Association of Administrators of Volunteers (KAAAV) on their website.

This article is sponsored by Kingston & Area Association of Administrators of Volunteers, who also provided the content. Interested in a Business Feature on Kingstonist? Contact [email protected]