National Volunteer Week 2022
by Katy Chen
April 24-30 is National Volunteer Week – this week (and all other weeks!), we celebrate the wonderful volunteers of the BC Brain Wellness Program and beyond. This year’s theme revolves around Empathy in Action, which affirms the strong connection between volunteerism and empathy. During National Volunteer Week, we celebrate the contributions of volunteers: their actions, their understanding, and their genuine concern for the world around them.
Here at BC Brain Wellness, volunteers are at the heart of all we do – the empathy, compassion, generosity and tenacity of our volunteer cohort is incredibly invaluable. From keeping participants safe during exercise programs, to supporting major projects and events, our volunteers’ contributions culminate in building the caring and compassionate community that we all know and love today.
And this is especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic – as we faced an unexpected shift to online programming in March 2020, volunteers continued to provide essential support to our programs, instructors, and participants; stepping up to help in any way that they could. Amidst the uncertainty of the world, our volunteers were our constant.
Here are some quick stats and a handful of the successes we have achieved with volunteer support:
Over 3500 hours of volunteer hours logged since March 2020
Over 80 student volunteers from multiple disciplines, including pre-med, kinesiology, nutrition, psychology, sciences, and many others
Two student volunteers led the creation and currently oversee the Participant Advisory Committee
Volunteers have assisted with the launch and implementation of new programs, including the Care Partner Series and the Intergenerational Storytelling Project
Student volunteers have returned to our program after graduation as instructors, and student volunteers have transitioned to Program Assistant roles
From all of us at the BC Brain Wellness Program, a big thank you goes out to all of our volunteers that have dedicated their time and heart to be the backbone of our program. We truly couldn’t do what we do without you!
Learn more about National Volunteer Week here: https://volunteer.ca/nvw, and if you are interested in becoming a volunteer with the BC Brain Wellness Program, please visit https://www.bcbrainwellness.ca/volunteer.