The end of a decade and the beginning of a new one offers a time for reflection.
If part of that is making a commitment to give back to the community, the Native Friendship Centre wants to hear from you.
There are several ways to volunteer at the friendship centre, which is one of the biggest community service agencies in Prince George.
Clientele is Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples who have been supported by the centre's programs for more than 40 years. The PGNFC provides culturally appropriate programming to meet the community's diverse needs. The centre offers services that include education, employment, health, and social programs.
Emergency resources has quite an active food bank and clothes closet in the basement of the Friendship Centre, Emma Faulkner, health team leader for the Native Friendship Centre, said.
Faulkner said they need help there and ask for a commitment of two-hour shifts Monday to Friday, either from 10 a.m. to noon or 2 to 4 p.m.
"Volunteers pack all the dry goods for the non-perishable food portion of the hamper," Faulkner said. "They then prep the perishable portion of the hamper. We have quite an active stream of donations for clothing so volunteers also organize a free clothes closet."
Ideally people work in pairs during their shift because of size constraints of the space. Many of the volunteers are elders and seniors so some of the volunteers needed would just be to fill in the odd shift every now and then.
The Native Friendship Centre also has a Better at Home program for elders 55 years and older.
"We're looking for volunteers for that program for Friendly Visiting," Erin Anderlini, director of health at the Native Friendship Centre, said. "We have a lot of elders who live alone or even if they live with family who work a lot, they can struggle with loneliness or depression so we're looking for people for two to four hours a month just to visit elders and hang out with them - play card, go for a walk, have tea - it's really a very rewarding experience."
Right now there are about 20 elders who are waiting to be matched with someone. There are 35 volunteers who have already been matched with an elder.
"We try to match people by their interests, abilities and comfort level," Anderlini said. "So the first on the list doesn't automatically go with the first on the other list. Sometimes it takes a while to match people well."
There is also the Learning Circle literacy program that is looking for volunteers at the friendship centre facilitated by Roxanne Umpherville.
"There are many components to the program but the biggest one is the one-on-one tutoring that needs volunteers for basic English, basic math, and basic computer skills," Faulkner said. "Each learner has diverse needs and might only need help in one of those areas and some in more than one of those areas."
Like with the Friendly Visiting program tutors are matched up with the person in need based on availability of connecting with one another, the goals set by the learner and the pace they wish to achieve that goal, Faulkner added.
The learners' needs are very diverse," Faulkner said. "I remember years ago there was a gentleman past his 40s who had never read in his whole life and his goal was to be able to read and he learned to read at a very introductory level but it was very empowering for him."
Faulkner said volunteers of the past who had occupational therapy experience or mental health counseling background added a really helpful layer onto their skill set they needed to be very supportive to clients who might be multiple-barriered coming into the program.
As part of the process to volunteer at the Native Friendship Centre everyone has to be 19 years and older and have a criminal record check. For more information call the Native Friendship Centre at 250-564-3568 ext. 261.
