Celebrating volunteers who give countless hours to their community

It’s National Volunteer Week and this week volunteers across Canada will be recognized and celebrated for the countless hours they put in to better their communities.

The military communities are especially grateful for the volunteers they receive or train.

“I believe that the volunteers are the foundation of our organization,” said Gary Genttner, OSISS Peer Support Coordinator. “Our volunteers meet with veterans when I cannot.”

Sometimes, Genttner relies on his volunteers in his absence. Whether it means going for coffee with a veteran just to talk or go into more detail about the OSISS resources available to veterans, even running one of the peer support groups offered by OSISS across Ontario.

The Military Family Resource Centres (MFRC) believes volunteers play an important role within their organization.

“Almost every aspect of this organization and every area of programming, development and implementing these services, volunteers play a key role in a lot of what we do,” said Shannon Kisslinger, London MFRC. “It also helps to connect with the military families. When the family members see that it’s military families volunteering, they can connect and relate to a lot of the same type of experiences. It’s that connection piece.”

Volunteering isn’t just about donating your time to certain organizations, but it’s also connecting with the people you’re either helping or working with. Christina McFadden, Petawawa MFRC, said she’s seen a lot of friendships develop within her community due to the volunteers coming through.

“Volunteering here really helps to connect with a new community especially with the military lifestyle, and by helping other families to be strong and resilient, volunteers often find that resilience in themselves,” said McFadden. “We couldn’t really do anything without them like we do.”

While this week means to show appreciation to the tens of thousands of volunteers across Canada, Genttner, Kisslinger and McFadden all agree they like to show their volunteers how much they care and appreciate them all throughout the year. Sometimes it’s a Tim Horton’s gift card, movie passes or a dinner out. Sometimes it’s just a simple thank you, pat on the back and each volunteer knowing they made a difference in someone else’s life.

We love our Volunteers!

Where would the Canadian Military Family magazine be without our Volunteers? We wouldn’t exist! The only reason that we are able to publish the CMFMag is because of our VOLUNTEER contributors that provide incredible articles for each issue.

We would like to thank our current contributors,

Veronique Lavallee (Home Decor)
Deborah Van Her Linde(Avid Reader),
Megan Egerton (Deployment Advisor),
Kari M Pries (Invictus Families),
Laura Keller (Organizing Your Space),
Cecilia Pita (Etiquette),
Crystal Plant (The Galley),
Natalie Maclellan (Resume building)
Joyce Sharp (Money Matters) and
Pierre Goulet (Financial Advice).

We would also like to thank our VOLUNTEER copy editor Lindsey Palka Ly.

Thank you to all of our CHAMPIONS that help us follow our passion to provide relevant, authentic and genuine articles to our military and veteran families!