Volunteers

Parkgate Community Centre accepts volunteer application forms throughout the year. All applicants are interviewed, screened (criminal record checks processed), trained, and supervised throughout their volunteer service. The goal of this program is to provide volunteers with the opportunity to gain valuable experience, skills and contacts in their own community.

The Volunteer Coordinator determines the interests, skills and time commitment of a volunteer and then places the individual in the appropriate programming or service area.

  • Volunteers are given the opportunity to assist with decision-making on committees and projects.
  • Volunteers assume responsibility and take leadership roles in programs and services.
  • Volunteers are provided with staff support and guidance.

Volunteers work in the following areas

  • Administration
  • Seniors
  • Youth
  • Childcare
  • Pottery
  • Sports programs
  • Summer camps
  • Special events
  • Board of Directors
  • Committees
 

Volunteer: Mark - Office   Volunteer: Ron - Weight Room
Volunteers:  Kathy and Pamela - Seniors' Kitchen

Current Volunteer Opportunities at Parkgate

To apply for Volunteer positions, please contact Erin Smith, Volunteer Coordinator or 604-983-6385.

How do I apply and get involved as a Volunteer at Parkgate?

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please complete the following steps.

  1. Check to see which opportunities best match your current interests, skills or reasons for volunteering.

  2. Make sure you meet our requirements for the volunteer position you are applying for.

  3. Make sure your available time matches the availability needs of your position(s).

  4. If you would like to apply, print out the Volunteer Application form and complete it. (If you are unable to print out the form, call 604-983-6385 or forms are available at Parkgate’s front desk)
  5. When the Volunteer Coordinator has received your completed application, she will contact you to set up an interview.
  6. Please submit your completed application form(s) to:

    Volunteer Coordinator

    Parkgate Community Services

    3625 Banff Court, North Vancouver, B.C., V7H 2Z8

     

Volunteer Recognition

Volunteer Draw

Each month a name is picked at random from our database of volunteers to win a coffee card for a local coffee shop. To be eligible, volunteers must have contributed volunteer hours at Parkgate Community Centre during the current year.  The winner's name is announced on the Volunteer Board in the foyer at Parkgate Community Centre.

Annual General Meeting

At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Parkgate Community Services in May each year, volunteers with 100+ hours at Parkgate Community Centre are recognized by receiving an invitation to the AGM, as well as the reception that follows.

Each year we create a Thank You! poster that lists the names of volunteers with over 100 hours of more, as well as the primary funders and community contributors to the Society is proudly displayed in the foyer.

The number of volunteers who participate over the course of a year through all the services and programs offered at Parkgate, Seycove, or Seymour Youth Centre is significant!  Volunteers hold positions on our Board of Directors, advisory committees, youth centre, seniors’ centre, early childhood programs, summer day camps, sports and art and the many special events held throughout the year.

Volunteer hours are systematically colleted to ensure that the financial in-kind contribution from the community is reflected in all correspondence to partners, donors and contributors - locally, provincially and federally.

Also, each year a volunteer plaque is mounted in the foyer to acknowledge the many volunteers to the Society. During the 2008 year, 336 volunteers contributed a total of 18,736 hours to the different programs and events at Parkgate. 

The Anne Mooi Volunteer of the Year Award

This award was established in recognition of former Executive Director, Anne Mooi and of her belief in the power of volunteerism. The joint recipients for the year 2008 are Hazel Best and Betty Edge, seen below with Anne Mooi at the Annual General Meeting.

Volunteer Ambassador Awards

Volunteer Ambassadors are a special group of volunteers who have partially or fully retired from a long and rich volunteer history with Parkgate Community Services. The recipients of this award at the 2009 AGM were: Lillian Hall (no photo available) and Doreen Wensley (seen below with Arleta Beckett, Executive Director of Parkgate Community Services at the Annual General Meeting).

Previous recipients of the Volunteer Ambassador award are: Marge Buchanan, Peggy Cardno, Fran Haberlin, Mary Hunter and Janice Taylor.

Volunteer Award - Parkgate Crafters

The Parkgate Crafters are a group of dedicated volunteers who meet weekly at Parkgate’s senior centre to create items to display and sell, raising funds for the seniors’ centre.  They welcome new members, provide instruction and assistance, as well as a happy social experience.  The format and support of this group also allows for people to make the items at home or for people with disabilities to participate.  They produce items that are sold in the Centre at various yearly functions at Parkgate, such as hand-knitted crafts and hand-made cards for all occasions.  The group actively seek donations of supplies to keep their costs to a minimum.  They also knit ‘comfort dolls’ which are used as packing material for delicate medical supplies destined for Africa and on arrival the dolls are distributed to orphans and children dying of AIDS.

Joanne Brooks and Paula Schaefer of the Parkgate Crafters accepted the plaque (seen below with Natalie Siewert, Seniors' Services Supervisor) in recognition and appreciation of the Parkgate Crafters’ fundraising dedication to the seniors’ centre at Parkgate at the 2009 Annual General Meeting of Parkgate Community Services.