The Western Development Museum is hosting their first Volunteer Fair on May 4, from 1 to 4 p.m., and they’re hoping to see an enthusiastic turnout from both organizations and potential volunteers.
Karla Rasmussen, programs coordinator at the museum, wants to see the fair bring together all of the Friendly City’s various non-profit organizations in one convenient place for people to get involved in volunteering around the community.
“The fair would offer a sort one-stop shop for local residents to find organizations that are in need of volunteers or members, and that will help make our city a better place,” said Rasmussen. “It's always better when everyone's involved.”
Volunteering is a good opportunity to build a resume and make a difference in one’s community, said Rasmussen, adding that the fair is meant to make that a much easier task to tackle for new volunteers.
“Volunteering is a great way to grow those marketable skills,” said Rasmussen. “Those sorts of networking opportunities, where you can meet other people from other organizations, they can definitely do better and bigger things down the road too.”
The focus is not only on the volunteer force, however; the fair wants to help out organizations at the same time.
“It's a great opportunity to hopefully meet a lot of new people and network, and see who might be available to help out your organization,” said Rasmussen. “I think every organization kind of goes through those cycles where they maybe are getting a little bit low on their volunteer force and they're needing to bolster those numbers up.”
Also supporting the event is the Moose Jaw Multicultural Council, the City of Moose Jaw, and the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work; the mutual agreement is that volunteers are necessary for everyone in the community.
“We are hoping this [event] will be a good size and that the people coming to see the different opportunities, will have a lot to choose from, a lot of different things to look at,” Said Rasmussen.
The Fair is taking applications for tables, with no fee to attend the event. Interested organizations are to call Chris with the Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work, at (306) (306) 693-1761 to register.
