By Felicia Deng

Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels

Have you been struggling to find meaningful volunteer opportunities? If that’s the case, here are a few ideas and resources that are sure to satisfy your mandatory 40 hours for graduation!

  1. Political Canvassing/ Flyer Distribution

As the provincial election closes in on June 2nd, the month of May is a great time for you to catch up on your volunteer hours through canvassing for the candidates of your riding! Simply find your preferred party and register to become a volunteer. Some of the roles you could be asked to participate in are: canvassing, distributing flyers or making phone calls. As students are still too young to vote, political canvassing provides the perfect opportunity for students to get involved politically while also training their socialization skills. 

Before canvassing, remember to bring your volunteer forms and download the CIMS 2 Go app. Usually, students will be able to earn around 3-5 hours for one morning of service and 7-9 hours for the full day. If you’re lucky, the candidate’s office might provide you with a free pizza lunch as well! 

Here are a few links for canvassing registrations:

Political PartyCandidate/Riding Link


Progressive Conservative		Billy Pang (Markham-Unionville)May 9th- 15thhttps://markhamunionville.ontariopc.ca/volunteering/
(general signup)https://ontariopc.ca/volunteer/



Liberal		Sandra Tam (Markham-Thornhill)https://www.sandratam.ca/
Roozbeh Farhadi (Richmond Hill)https://farhadi.ca/volunteer/
(general signup)https://ontarioliberal.ca/volunteer/

New Democratic Party		(general signup)https://www.ontariondp.ca/volunteer?source=ONDP_VOLUNTEER_NAVBAR
Green Party(general signup)https://gpo.ca/get-involved/#volunteer
  1. Center for Immigration and Community Services

CICS is a non profit organization and charity dedicated to helping new immigrants smoothly transition to life in Canada. Through this goal, it provides many volunteer opportunities to community members and students. They administer a variety of tasks ranging from food banks, to marathon helpers, translating, tutoring, political canvassing and more. If you are interested in registering, all you have to do is fill out the link below and you’ll receive an email soon after for their monthly volunteer orientations. New volunteer opportunities are usually updated once every month. 

https://www.cicscanada.com/en/registration/Volunteers/

  1. Summer Camp Counselor

With summer approaching, summer camps are looking for volunteers to assist in running their camps. Some of the most common opportunities for this are at local churches that usually host VBS camps during July. Another option for students grade 10 and above would be to volunteer at Camp Green Acres (https://campgreenacres.com/staff/) as it is still accepting applications. Helping out at these camps is a great way to practice leadership skills which will be valuable to have for future applications, scholarships, and more.