Letter to VON Volunteers with thanks for your service to others
We are living in challenging times, and for many of the people VON cares for, the past seven weeks have been particularly difficult.
For many VON volunteers, too, life has been disrupted – with new challenges at home perhaps, and with limits to our ability to connect closely with each other. Many of us have found our volunteer work completely changed in nature too. Like you, being a volunteer is an important part of who I am – and perhaps like you, I miss the personal connectons that are an intrinsic part of volunteerism.
This is National Volunteer Week. Organized every year by Volunteer Canada, it is intended to provide national focus on the value and contribution of volunteers. This year’s theme is Let’s all Cheer for Canada’s Volunteers – and I offer a grateful salute to you for everything you do to improve the lives of others through your work with VON.
I have been heartened and sometimes awe-struck by the courage and commitment so many of our volunteers are demonstrating as together, we find ways to continue to serve – to ensure people are fed, that they have someone to talk to, that they are active and connected even while isolated. Some things have changed, but the value you bring to others remains undiminished.
As a committed VON volunteer you are part of a larger volunteer movement – nearly 13 million volunteers strong - across Canada. Our country’s communities simply would not be as healthy, happy and enriched without this collective effort.
You play a very important role as a partner in VON’s work to positively benefit our communities. Thank you for being a volunteer with us and for all you do to support VON’s vision of Every Life Lived to the Fullest.
Jo-Anne Poirier
President and Chief Executive Officer
