My Journey With Health And Fitness – Let’s Talk About My Volunteer Agencies (1 of 3)

Wahoo, 2 days in a row I have been able to workout outdoors. Yesterday I started the morning with a 6k walk down to the beach. Of course since it was Monday that meant walk with the seniors. Finally at the end of the day it was walking the dog for a senior. It was pretty perfect in the temperature was nice and mild and the sun was out. While today is a bit cloudy it was awesome to be able to do a 5k run first thing. Looks like I will get to do this every day this week.

Last week was National Volunteer Appreciation Week which I didn’t realize until I was at a volunteer fair on Sunday. I decided I should post about the main organizations that I volunteer with and talk about the organizations and what I do for them. It will also be a story of how I came to do so much volunteer work. I’ll note that one is part of a world wide organization, another is all across Canada and the 3rd is from my local area but all do amazing work.

Back in 2005 I was appointed to what was known as the Labour Committee (now the Campaign Cabinet Labour Committee) of the United Way of the Lower Mainland (now the United Way of BC) to represent my Union. Hard to believe that 18 years has gone by since then. During my tenure with the United Way I served as co-chair of the Campaign Cabinet Labour Committee as well as served several terms on their Executive Board (and on various other committees). Today, I still sit on the CCLC but now I represent retired union members and I ensure their issues are also brought forward.

I have had the opportunity to watch the UWBC change so much over what is now nearly 2 decades. When I first started we were very much a community based organization that helped agencies provide services to our 3 pillars, kids 0-5, 6-12 and to seniors. We raised money every year through mainly our workplace campaigns which were held every year. I was fortunate to be part of several workplace campaigns as I would go out and speak passionately about the work the United Way performs.

But things changed. Over the past several years there has been so many urgent issues that have developed. These range from wildfires to flooding, the war in Ukraine and of course who can for get the fact that we went through a pandemic. The UWBC took on these challenges raising funds that were immediately needed to help with these issues. I was honoured to be asked to assist with reviewing grant applications to distribute funds received from the Federal Government to disburse to agencies during COVID. Even recently additional money was received to help agencies who had shifted their work in response to COVID and I was asked again to volunteer to review the applications. I found in all 3 of the rounds of reviews I was involved in that it could be encouraging and at times heart wrenching especially when you have to say no to an organization that was doing such great work but didn’t meet the criteria for the grant.

The UWBC still funds programs for children, youth and seniors. But they also have very specific campaigns such as Period Promise, Food Security and Hi Neighbour. I’m impressed with the shift they have done over the years addressing the needs in our communities and I look forward to continue my work with them for years to come.

My next blog is going to talk about how from the United Way I started down a path to lead me to where I am today.