National Volunteer Week is upon us again. There will be mentions of this by politicians, and there may be a few small ceremonies and banquets where some of our most dedicated volunteers across B.C. are singled out for praise.
After which, they will go right back to work, doing what they do best.
Volunteering at its core is one of the most basic, human activities we do. You see a job that needs doing, someone who needs a hand, a problem that has to be solved. So you get it done, without asking for anything in return – just because it’s the right thing to do.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that our society would swiftly grind to a halt without volunteers.
We think of government and business as the two big engines that keep things moving – growing and shipping food, making clothing, paving roads, keeping the lights on and the schools and hospitals open.
But beyond those, there are countless places where neither government nor business is best placed to help, or is capable of helping.
From picking up litter to animal rescues, from collecting Christmas gifts for needy families to campaigning for wetland preservation, from food banks to heritage societies, there are countless causes that would immediately come to a screeching halt without a dedicated corps of volunteers.
That goes for both purely volunteer organizations and projects, as well as for many non-profits, which may have permanent and paid staff, but which couldn’t function without the folks who gave a couple of hours on weekends or after work.
The number of Canadians who give at least a little bit of time every year to volunteer is truly staggering.
Just under four in five Canadians volunteered in some capacity in 2018, and 42 per cent did some kind of formal volunteer work.
While the disruption of the pandemic put a kink into those numbers, organizations are now rebuilding, and people are coming back to volunteering, or discovering it for the first time.
Volunteers, like most people, probably enjoy a little recognition now and then. Those banquets and plaques and plaudits are nice to have.
But that’s not why anyone does it. People do it because they like to help, to solve problems, to make things a bit better in our communities.
– M.C.