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Each year, over 1,000 Katimavik volunteers live and work in communities across the country. Our volunteers are committed to meeting the socio-economic needs of the municipalities they serve and integrating into Canada’s diverse cultural and geographic landscape.

As a Katimavik community, you engage in a partnership that generates more than 10 thousand volunteer hours in not-for-profit organizations, targeted Community Involvement Projects as well as special projects that will have a positive impact on your community as a whole.

In order to ensure both the quality and quantity of services provided to the community, it is essential for Katimavik and its work partners to show openness and flexibility towards volunteers’ work schedules. This way, everyone benefits from the partnership!

With partner organizations

During their assignments, volunteers work on a regular basis with Katimavik community partners, which are not-for-profit organizations that endorse Katimavik’s mission and need volunteers to realize their projects. Here are a few examples:

• Manitou Drummondville, in Drummondville, Québec: Volunteers work at an organization that sells and recycles used furniture and electronics to low-income families. Some of this work involves dismantling electronic devices to recover hazardous but also valuable metals for resale, thus reducing landfill waste. More importantly, Katimavik volunteers help supervise at-risk youth employed by the centre, and act as positive role models for them.
  
  
• The Canadian Red Cross, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario: Volunteers work for the Community Kitchen and Gardens Program promoting healthy and affordable meal planning and food security to working families and people recovering from substance abuse. Says Mara Defazio, Community Services Coordinator, “Our clients are really impressed with Katimavik and see how youth can make a positive contribution to society. They are really missed once they leave.”
  
  
• Winnipeg Harvest, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Volunteers work at a warehouse that supplies some 300 food banks and helps to feed more than 36,000 people. “There is a real social element to the work being done here as a lot of our clients are also volunteers,” says Volunteer Service Coordinator Garry McGhee. “Katimavik volunteers fine-tune their communication skills as they work alongside a very diverse population.”
  

Community Involvement Projects (CIPs)

During their stay in your community, Katimavik volunteers also consult with local stakeholders to help identify one or many projects that will best serve the municipality. The nature of the project depends on your community’s specific needs and the feasibility of the project. The following are some examples of typical CIPs:

• Reparations or upgrades to municipal infrastructure
• Organization of community festivals and events
• Large scale cleanups of municipal land and parks
• Community gardens
• Recycling and composting initiatives
  
  

Special community projects

Despite their busy work schedules, volunteers are frequently asked to volunteer as a group in the community for one-time special events. These one-time projects initiated by partner organizations or others in the local community reinforce their commitment to serving the community. Here are some examples:

• Participation in a spaghetti dinner for an annual fundraiser
• Renovate and moving a daycare centre
• Bag groceries
• Participate in a car wash
• Sell flowers at a shopping centre