Bleecker Wellesley Activity Network

What services does your organization provide?
We offer hot healthy meals, birthday celebrations, computer usage/instruction too, seminars, holiday events, fresh produce project, access to agencies, and other activities. This year we provided 3 trips as well.

Do you have any age requirements?
18 yrs.

Do you require language proficiency other than in English?
Any other language is of benefit. Our group we service come from all over the world.

What time commitment(s) are you expecting from a volunteer?
Once or twice a month we need a volunteer for 5 hrs for our meals program. The seniors come to us, we have communal dining. Our office is at least 3 hrs per week depending on what you are doing.

Are there any other requirements for being a volunteer?
Not really.

Are there any specific skills and experience required?
If someone has food handler certification that would be great but not necessary. If a volunteer stays with us more than 6 months doing regular volunteer work, we will pay to have them certified. Other than that, just patience is needed since we deal with seniors and disabled.

What type of volunteer positions are typically available?
We at the Bleecker/Wellesley Activity Network help create a happier, healthier environment for the seniors and disabled. We service a low income community in downtown Toronto, Ontario to help them reach out and break the isolation factor that is so prevelant in our present day society.

To provide our seniors with a feeling of safety, caring and independence. Our focus is to build stronger community awareness to help our most vulnerable residents to develop new friendships and get involved in outside activities making them less lonely and at less risk health and safety wise. Empowering our seniors and the physically or mentally disabled to establish relationships through community events and buddy systems so there is less isolation. Giving them the venues to become more self assured individuals and have others to reach out to break their isolation factor.

Do you provide training for volunteers?
It's more or less learn as you go however there is always a person in charge that the volunteer can turn to if they have any questions. For office staff there is a brief orientation of the office.

What are the typical volunteer activities occurring at your organization?
SENIORS LUNCHEON:
We really need a few new volunteers to help us keep our doors open as some of our senior volunteers have retired and to be able to keep servicing all our members we really need to fill these positions

duties include:
- Setting up the room on the second Monday of each month in between 12:30 pm and 2:00 pm and in between 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm for last minute meal preparations.
- Assisting with food preparation, serving a meal to seniors and disabled and clean up on the second Tuesday of each month - 11:30 am up to 3:00 pm
- Setting up the room on the last Wednesday of the month - 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
- Assisting with sorting and packing a weeks worth of produce for our free produce project on the last Wednesday of the month - between 2 pm & 4 pm
- Assisting with food preparation, serving a meal to seniors & disabled and clean up on the last Thursday of the month - 11:30 am to 4:00 pm

How will a person benefit from volunteering with Bleecker Wellesley Activity Network?
They will gain experience with working with seniors and disabled. They will learn cooking skills if working with our meals program. If they work with us long enough we will also pay for their food handler certification.

Do you accept high school students?
Rarely but it does happen on occasion. If we are doing inventory we do it on weekends. We have had a student instruct with our computer program as well. For the most part, our programs run during the day and usually they are still in classes.