As you know, all high school students need to have 40 hours of community service in order to graduate. Use this information to discover where your 40 hours can best be used.

Volunteer Centres work in local communities to strengthen volunteering and citizen engagement. With more than 200 in Canada, each volunteer centre’s name, size, structure and services reflect the unique characteristics of their community.

To find a volunteer centre in your area, click here.

Many volunteer centres are independent non-profit organizations, while others are part of a United Way, Social Planning Council, Community Information and Referral Centre or municipal services. Though diverse in many ways, they share the following common functions:

– Promote volunteering
– Build the capacity of organizations to engage volunteers
– Facilitate connections between people with volunteer opportunities
– Provide leadership on issues related to volunteering and citizen engagement

If you want to volunteer, your local volunteer centre is there to connect you to opportunities in your community. It may have a database of volunteer opportunities or can connect you directly to opportunities within its member organizations.

If you are an organization, your local volunteer centre may offer workshops on volunteer engagement, post your volunteer positions on its database or help you network with other volunteer-involving organizations.

There are many other activities that volunteer centres involve themselves in, including but not limited to employee volunteering project management; community service learning initiatives; volunteer resource management for various programs and initiatives; research; community leadership programs and public policy dialogues.

Volunteer Canada works in partnership with the Canadian Volunteer Centre Network, which includes local volunteer centres and provincial associations of volunteer centres to strengthen volunteering and citizen engagement.