Katimavik teaches youth importance of volunteering
Published Thursday August 21st, 2008
National group is looking for more recruits.
Non-profit organizations have been enriching Canadian communities for as long as anyone can remember. Cities, towns, and villages of all shapes and sizes, from Vancouver Island to Sydney, Cape Breton, rely on volunteer support to provide essential services to the public. Whether they're installing a wheelchair ramp, building hiking trails, or organizing after school programs for young children, volunteers play a key role in Canadian communities everywhere.
For over 30 years, Katimavik has been helping to make the volunteer experience an exciting and rewarding venture for Canada's youth. The group takes its name from an Inuktituk word that means meeting place. Since its founding in 1977, Katimavik has helped guide more than 28,000 youth into volunteer roles in over 2,000 communities.
This fall, the organization will be on the look out for new volunteers willing to visit various communities across Canada to lend a helping hand.
"We've been recruiting for a while now," said Rachael Weir, Fredericton's Katimavik project leader. "Our biggest challenge is making people aware of who we are and what we do. It's a really great opportunity, and it's free." The Katimavik program is a nine-month program for young people aged 17 to 21 years old. Throughout the program's nine-month term, volunteers live in three different provinces and play an active role in a variety of non-profit organizations. Outside of their volunteer work which comprises roughly 35 hours a week, participants also benefit from a learning program built around five major areas: developing leadership skills, proficiency in Canada's official languages, environmental awareness and protection, cultural discovery, and developing a healthy lifestyle.
"In the evenings and on weekends, we provide workshops and activities for our volunteers in all five of these areas," said Weir. "Some volunteer placements include some aspect of the five groups, but the majority of the focus in those areas takes place at home during the evenings." All the volunteers live together with the area's project leader. In Fredericton, Weir shares are household with volunteers working in the community, who have come from all over the country to be part of the Katimavik experience.
"I knew about the program and my Mom suggested I try it," said Kelly Henderson, a 20-year-old resident of Winnipeg, currently volunteering in Fredericton at the Union of New Brunswick Indians Training Institute. "I never really considered doing it until last year. After high school, when everyone started going off and travelling, I wasn't ready to continue school. I knew about Katimavik, and I also knew it was free so I made a decision to this. It's a good program," she added.
Once she got comfortable with the program, Henderson noticed both her interests and her goals growing at a rapid rate.
"You start off with one goal, like say, wanting to gain more work experience, but just being in Katimavik, you get so many secondary things you want to do without really realizing it," she said. "I didn't realize I wanted to improve so many things. It just happens. My leadership skills and my confidence have improved, along with so many other things I never thought about." The registration process is a simple one, done through the group's website www.katimavik.org. After a medical exam, criminal record check, and insurance issues are sorted out, Katimavik looks after the rest, providing transportation, food and lodging, and even a daily allowance. Volunteers also receive a bursary of $1,000 after completing the nine-month term.
Vince Hannon, a 20-year-old from St. John's, Newfoundland learned about the program through a group volunteering in his hometown. He's in the final stage of the program and for him, the opportunity to build on his knowledge and use of conversational French was enough to make him sign up.
"I've been wanting to do a program in Quebec for almost two years now but I haven't been able to apply because I can't speak French," he said. "Since I've been in Katimavik, I've learned enough French to be accepted into that program." Hannon, a volunteer with the Fredericton Boy's and Girls Club, feels the program's structure has also helped him set and obtain a lot of personal goals.
"We set specific goals for ourselves at the beginning of each trimester," he said. "We've tried to search for things we'd like to improve on ourselves and by structuring things in such a way that we can actually gauge our progress, we're able to spot our own advances. By keeping on top of things and monitoring our goals, we're also able to stay motivated," he said.
Participants in the program usually spend up to three months at a particular placement. Katimavik tries to offer all its volunteers a western Canada placing, a central Canada placing, and an east coast placement. Of the three areas, one is always in a French community, providing an excellent opportunity for all volunteers to brush up or learn the basics of a second language.
Weir, the Fredericton group's project leader, has welcomed three different groups of people to the city during the course of the term.
"This group has been here since June," she said. "I've had one group from January until the end of March, another group from April until mid-June, and I'll be with this group from mid-June until the end of August." Weir's involvement with Katimavik came through a job advertisement. Katimavik hires project leaders in all its participating communities. The leaders run the household activities, look after the bills, provide some transportation, and help manage the group's learning program.
"I graduated from university last May and wasn't really sure what I wanted to do," she said. "I came across the job posting, looked into the program, learned what it was all about, and thought it sounded pretty cool." Following a training period, she relocated to Fredericton from her hometown of Moncton, set up her project, and a month later, welcomed her first group volunteers.
Each placement organization, the groups who welcome the volunteers into their offices, have a designated supervisor who mentors each volunteer they work with. In Fredericton alone, Katimavik has volunteers in seven different community groups including the New Brunswick Lung Association, The Multicultural Association, and York Manor Inc.'s Annual Yard Sale.
Arthur Thompson is with the New Brunswick Lung Association. They have welcomed several Katimavik volunteers into their offices over the years.
"We've had about 10 that I can remember," he said. "There have been times when we've had two volunteers here but generally we work with one." By getting to know the individual volunteers and their goals, Thompson and others in his position are encouraged to create an environment of learning.
"We try and gear their work around what they like to do. During the course of their term, they create a learning plan and we go over it with them when they first start and try and help them achieve the goals they set out for themselves." For him, the Katimavik program has been a huge help to his office and a great benefit in more than one way.
"It's an extra body around the office and they're actually here for a full work week," he said. "It's very helpful for us to have the extra hand to help get work done, but it's also great because these are fun, outgoing, easy to get along with people. They act as kind of a breathe of fresh air when they come to the office. It's an experience for them, but it's also an experience for us," he added.
To learn more about the Katimavik organization, check out their website at www.katimavik.org.
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