National Volunteer Week
April 24th to 30th, 2022 marks this year’s National Volunteer Week. This is always an exciting time as we get to honour and celebrate the commitment, dedication, and selflessness that are the hallmarks of volunteerism across Canada.
On behalf of St. Joseph’s Hospice, I would like to thank each one of our volunteers and staff who volunteer their time, for their hard work and devotion. You all truly live the mission, vision, and values of St. Joseph’s Hospice, as it is witnessed through your support and generosity of your gift of time and energy to us; as well through your kindness and compassion to those we serve.
This year’s National Volunteer Week Theme, from Volunteer Canada, is Volunteering is Empathy in Action. Empathy is a quality that can help people relate to others and build awareness around different experiences. It connects people in ideas and actions and helps create bonds forged in common goals and aspirations. It is evident that as a volunteer team, we are fortunate to have such caring, compassionate and empathetic team members, who go above and beyond to put the needs of those we are serving before their own. As you live and fulfill our mission, vision, and values, you are true ambassadors of St. Joseph’s Hospice, providing empathy and understanding to those we serve.
To start off this celebratory week, please know how appreciative we are to have you on our team. We would not be able to do the work that we do, without the support of our many volunteers. The compassion and care you provide to those in our community during their journey through Hospice are truly incredible!
From direct care to bereavement support, to cooking delicious meals for our residents and clients to enjoy, to offering a smile and a helping hand at the reception, to keeping the building and our gardens cleaned and maintained, to making home visits and providing companionship, to providing respite for our caregivers in our community, to educating those in our community and to providing support at our many events and fundraising initiatives; while the past couple years have been challenging for our Volunteer Program – your loyalty and passion to St. Joseph’s Hospice does not go unrecognized.
Thank you for your continued support and we hope that if you have not been able to volunteer with us during the course of the pandemic, you will remember your Hospice family, and when the opportunity arises to return to your role, you will be welcomed with open arms. We miss those we have not been able to see, and we are thankful to those who have been able to come in, we understand and respect these times have been difficult and challenging for many. Whether you have been actively volunteering over the last year or not; we want you to know how special you are!
Hope you have a wonderful day and keep an eye out over this week as we share emails of thanks, opportunities to win prizes, and the second year of our Volunteer Showcase Campaign!