A call out for grandparents

Why am I recruiting grandparents? With all the benefits that Whistler offers as a community it lacks the generations of families living in the same town to be called on when a new family member is born. In the past few years, Whistler has experienced a baby boom and with many first time parents having extended families that live in other provinces or around the world there is a gap in intergenerational support. A natural part of being a new parent is experiencing uncertainty as you are learning about this little human who has just turned your world upside down. A senior who may have their own children and grandchildren is able to provide some perspective to parenthood and an extra set of experienced 'grandma or grandpa' hands for a new family is never turned down. 
Hopefully I have sparked your interest as Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS) offers a program called Helping Hand that supports new parents who might need an extra help and we are looking for additional volunteers. What would a recruited Helping Hand Grandparent be doing? Some of the tasks that a volunteer may assist with are: preparing a simple nutritious meal for the family, helping around the house and playing with the newborn’s siblings. If there is an older child a walk around the neighborhood or to the park to play would be a great way to spend an hour. Watching the world through the eyes of a young child is magical. I recently learned how much fun watching a stick twirl in a puddle is for a 2 year old. My world slowed down in that moment. A quick trip to pick up groceries or mail could also make the difference to a new family since organizing and packing up a new baby can take longer than the simple errand for milk. Seniors in our community who are parents and grandparents can identify with how much laundry is created by babies, so helping do a load of laundry and putting it away could be one thing to help make a new parent feel less overwhelmed. If you are a ‘hands on’ kind of person, spending an hour in a rocking chair, cuddling a new baby may give mom a break to have a shower or cross a task off her long to do list. What's wonderful about this program is that volunteers have the flexibility to select a task if it fits their interest and schedule. This is excellent for those who are retired and looking to give back to the community without any set schedule. Seniors have a wealth of knowledge from their life experience and the challenges they may face on their own. You might be asking yourself “What's in it for me?” Supporting another member of our community brings feelings of purpose, an opportunity for fun, and the development of new relationships. An hour a week of volunteering can impact the life of the individual receiving the support so if you are interested in volunteering or are in need of support please contact Melissa at helpinghand@mywcss.org, 604-902-0865. WCSS will try to lend a Helping Hand.

Volunteers Support & Inspire

The impact that volunteers have at Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS) is powerful and should be celebrated. Volunteers at WCSS provide energy and inspiration for staff and clients. There is also a significant, positive economic impact on our non-profit society that can be attributed to volunteer support.

The energy and inspiration can be found in many programs at WCSS where volunteer participation is prevalent. One example of this is at the Food Bank. Every Monday, Food Bank volunteers arrive early and start to unpack and shelve donations. There is a lovely buzz of energy as the volleys socialize while working. As one long term volunteer puts it, “Volunteering gets me out of the house and gives me purpose.  I like to interact with my fellow Whistlerites and lend hand.  It makes me feel good to know I can be helpful. Most of all I develop new friends and learn from others." Their energy is infectious and as an employee when you look around the room and see five individuals who have given up a portion of their day to assist people who don’t have enough to eat, you feel inspired to work that much harder.

Food Bank Volunteer collects cash and fresh produce at the
Whistler Farmer's Market

Volunteers’ actions can also have an inspiring impact on the people they help directly.  A recent client of WCSS who received volunteer support in the Helping Hand program wrote, "I would like to thank you for all your support and help you have given me in the last few months.  Before I had my injury I had no idea how much I might benefit from the Helping Hand program and other community services.  Everything, from you coming to my house and providing information on all services that were available to me and also talking to me about my injury and daily challenges, to finding volunteers that could get me to the swimming pool for rehab, to giving me a credit towards the cost of using the pool, it has all had such a positive impact on my life!  I also appreciate how the support is ongoing and how I get phone calls from you to follow up on how I am doing or to let me know about other forms of support I may be eligible for.  Living in Whistler as a family with two young kids and no other family around to help can be overwhelming, especially when you get injured and only have one income.  It is so good to know that, apart from friends, we have our community services out there, where there are people who really care and who will step in to help when you are feeling stuck or don't know where else to turn.  Thank you so much!  I am looking forward to being better and able to give back a little!” In fact, WCSS does see many people come back to be part of our volunteer team once they are in a place in their lives where they are able to be in a supportive role.

At WCSS, we track the number of hours that are given by volunteers. The tracking allows WCSS to have an understanding of how integral volunteer support is to being able to provide extensive social service programming for the Whistler community. Imagine Canada, with whom WCSS is accredited by uses a Volunteer Value Calculator to help quantify the economic impact that volunteers have on non-profit organizations.  WCSS acknowledges that the energy, generosity and knowledge that volunteers bring to our organization can’t be measured or counted easily.  However, it is useful to measure some aspects of contributions such as amount of time and economic impact. When plugging the number of hours volunteered last year (4680) into the Imagine Canada calculator, we get the following statistics: Volunteers at WCSS contributed the equivalent of $78, 120 in salaries, or 2.3 full-time year-round jobs. For every dollar WCSS invests in its volunteer program, we receive a return valued at $15.62 in unpaid volunteer activity. Just another reason to be thankful for our dedicated volunteers- WCSS would not be capable of running over 25 social service programs without ongoing volunteer support. 

If this blog has inspired you to contribute to the social sustainability of Whistler Community Services Society (WCSS), please consider giving some time to the FoodBank, Helping Hand program, Re Use It Centre, Re Build It Centre, Peer Educator program, or fundraising events. Your time and energy will be appreciated by the entire community as you help to improve the quality of life for those in need of support.