News

2011 Holiday Hours

December 22, 2011

We will be closed from December 23 at 12:00 noon until January 3rd, 2012 at 8:30 am.

Please call 211 if you have any information inquiries.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all from IVC!

Posted by: Tracy | View Post →

Holiday Guide 2011

November 16, 2011

The Holiday Guide 2011 is out! A guide to assist families and groups in finding places to volunteer and/or donate to during the Holiday season. Check it out!

Holiday Guide

Posted by: Susan | View Post →

Blog - Mandated Volunteerism: The Great Irony

May 28, 2010

It’s that time of year again. It’s the time of year when volunteer centres across the country start getting the phone calls.

“My son has to volunteer 10 hours before the end of June. What do you have that I can give him?”

Every year.

You see, some schools (or school systems) mandate that a student has to volunteer a certain number of hours before they can pass ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - Altruism Shmaltruism

April 15, 2010

Is there such a thing as a truly unselfish act? Often, I hear people talk about how volunteerism is a selfless act of altruism. I don’t buy it.

Have you ever seen the Friends episode where Phoebe and Joey have a contest to find a truly selfless act? It turns out Phoebe loses. There is no such thing as altruism. When she let a bee sting her, the bee ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - Pulling Back the Cloak of Secrecy

March 19, 2010

We have an image problem. At least it seems that way.

There was a blog in the Globe and Mail on March 16th about charities and transparency. Apparently an MP is putting forward a bill that would require charities to report their top 5 salaries each year and would cap salaries for senior executives at $250,000.

Now this is so unnecessary for so many different reasons. And I assume ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - The Big Olympic Challenge

March 1, 2010

To the men and women in the blue jackets, you are the undisputed heroes of these games. The class of 2010.”

Thus began John Furlong’s accolade to the thousands of volunteers who helped make these past 2 weeks a blur of memories. Fourteen gold medals later, I sit back and marvel at what I just witnessed.

I watched as hundreds of athletes had their experience of a lifetime. I ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - The Real Value of Volunteers

January 8, 2010

So what IS the value of volunteering? There has been a lot of talk lately about the value of volunteerism, the need to express its value and whether or not we should place an economic value on it. There are perhaps valid reasons why we should do this, but I’m going to argue that we absolutely should not.

Let’s look at a recent survey on volunteering. When asked ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Holiday hours

December 18, 2009

Please be aware that we will be closed from December 24 to January 3 inclusive over the holiday season. If you are in crisis or require information about services in the community, please call 211.

All the very best to you and your family during this festive time.

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

Blog - What's Your Story?

December 14, 2009

Are you a storyteller? Of course not. Very few are. I’m certainly not. But if you could tell a story, which one would you tell?

I recently had the opportunity to meet Greg Baldwin, the President of Volunteer Match. In his keynote speech, he talked about storytelling and whether or not we seriously consider which story we tell. There are all kinds of stories in our organizations. Do you ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

International Volunteer Day!

December 4, 2009

December 5 is International Volunteer Day! This special day is an opportunity for us to acknowledge and celebrate the amazing work volunteers do every day.

That’s why we hope you take some time to say thank you to the volunteers in your life and let them know they’re appreciated for their donated time and efforts. A little recognition can go a long way!

For those not involved in ...

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

Blog - The Trouble With Temporary

November 30, 2009

It’s no secret that the trend in volunteerism is shifting toward episodic volunteerism. People are far more willing these days to give a few hours on a weekend or an evening and seemingly unwilling to make a regular commitment for a longer term. This trend is great for some organizations and not so great for others. There are many implications of this trend but I’m just going to ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - A cloud of suspicion

October 22, 2009

How much is too much? When is enough enough? How do you justify it? How do you justify NOT doing it? Risk management is a tricky subject. We’ve had to ask a few of these questions on our own lately. But what’s really at stake here? And why do we do it?

A recent editorial in the Globe and Mail highlights an interesting perspective. Although off the mark ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - The Importance of Fruit-Basket Hats

September 22, 2009

Where have we ended up?

Volunteerism has become more professionalized. It’s become more highly skilled. Some of the work that’s being done around volunteerism is fantastic. We’re moving forward on many issues. Issues like:

• Tax credits for volunteers
• Screening for volunteers
• More research than ever
• Connecting volunteers with business
• Insurance and risk management
• Social networking and community mobilization

We’re using terms like “Social Return on Investment ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - 35 Million Canadians for Supper

August 31, 2009

On September 11th this year, President Obama is asking Americans to volunteer, making this year’s anniversary of the terror attacks the first National Day of Service and Remembrance.

Now it seems to me that we’d have a hard time harnessing that pride of community and pride of country if Mr. Harper stepped up to the microphone and declared a National Day of Volunteerism. I’m not suggesting that ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Blog - Confession: I like my shoes

August 5, 2009

A couple weeks ago, a colleague emailed this quick blog to me asking why men in the not-for-profit sector wear bad shoes. I didn’t realize women looked at my feet. It turns out they do. And they’re being judged! For the record, I like my shoes. Not that I have a lot. And also, for the record, my colleague claimed she had never noticed my shoes.

I’ve ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Did you know.....

July 31, 2009

There is a very large percentage of youth in Strathcona County who make it a point to partake in several volunteer opportunities regularly. For example, Our youth program runs an on-going project called the youth page. This page is dedicated to writing stories about youth volunteering in our community.

The stories are written by youth who range from 10 to 18 yrs old. The stories are selected and researched by ...

Posted by: Le-Ann | View Post →

Way to Go!

July 22, 2009

I just wanted to say a “BIG” warm and fuzzy thank you to all of the youth who volunteered their time to be involved in the Canada Day Strathcona County Parade. Your time and effort is so greatly appreciated by all of the community residents. The abundance of energy that was shown along with your bright smiling faces was PRICELESS and quite frankly addictive. Who said volunteering wasn’t fun ...

Posted by: Youth Program | View Post →

New Twitter to follow!

July 17, 2009

We have a new Twitter feed geared specifically toward youth volunteerism! Check it out…

Posted by: Youth Program | View Post →

Blog - The first two scary months

July 3, 2009

I know I tend to blather on about the value of social media for nonprofits. Everyone I talk to seems to be scared to death of it. Truth is, I’m scared to death too. I know I don’t sound scared, but I am.

We have this shiny new website. We don’t even have any parking lot dings yet! We’re on Facebook and Twitter. Yet some of ...

Posted by: Scott | View Post →

Volunteer Centre Retooled

June 30, 2009

Ok, maybe not the whole Volunteer Centre. But we’ve got a new page that connects you directly with our Facebook page, our Twitter feed, and any other quick newsy bits.

Find out what all the excitement’s about!

Posted by: IVC | View Post →

1 2 | Next »

100 Ordze Avenue, Sherwood Park, Alberta T8B 1M6 Copyright 2012 | design by lift