Massey Centre - Become a Volunteer

WOMEN SUPPORTING WOMEN

Volunteer Mentors

Thanks to the generosity of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, we are seeking up to 20 volunteer mentors for our Women Supporting Women pilot program.

The vast majority of the pregnant/paretning teenage clients of the Massey Centre come from backgrounds of violence, neglect, and abuse, involvement with the child protection system, and with minimal, or non-existant, familial support. They have no income, or incomes well below the poverty line; they are likely to drop out of high school before graduation; they are marginalized societally by race, gender, cultrure, and ethnicity -- and isolated, which places them, and their infants, at high risk.

This isolation from critical supports places Massey Centre clients at serious risk when they leave our program and return to the community. Without the supports we offer while the clients are in residence, they are at risk to return to previous patterns of behaviour -- substance abuse, intimate relationships with violent or abusive partners, living in at-risk neighbourhoods with high rates of crime.

Women Supporting Women seeks to ensure that Massey will continue to provide long-term supportive relationships -- similar to those formed while clients are in residence -- with a responsible, non-familial adult who can guide, nurture, and counsel our clients as they make their transition back to the wider community.

Women Supporting Women is seeking mature volunteers representative of the ethnocultural communities we serve to provide telephone and in-person information, referral, and advocacy support to a Massey Centre client. We anticipate that the level of involvement required will be 7.5 to 10 hours per month, and prefer volunteers able to commit this time for the three-year project period.

Full training and support for this volunteer role will be provided by the Women Supporting Women Project Coordinator and other Massey Centre staff in areas such as strategies for dealing effectively with the Centre's high-risk, high-need population, crisis intervention and de-escalation, accessing community resources (e.g., housing, employment and income support, etc.), and advocacy strategies.

While this program will begin following the resolution of the current labour dispute, we are now accepting resumes from interested volunteers. If you are interested in this unique and rewarding opportunity, please e-mail or fax your resume to Cheryl Denomy, Manager, Resource Development, at cdenomy@massey.ca or fax 416-425-4056.

NOTICE

Volunteer activities at Massey Centre will resume in August 2010.

Volunteer Information Evenings for those interested in volunteering at the Centre will resume in September.

Become a Volunteer

You can help Massey Centre by giving the gift of your time. Each year our 50+ volunteers donate over 2,000 hours of their time to support our programs alongside our staff. While we are very fortunate to have dedicated volunteers who are so committed to enhancing the lives of our clients, we are always looking for new volunteers to join our team.

Here are some ways you can support the work we do at the Centre:

Clothing Bank Volunteer – Support our donations program by sorting through, labeling and displaying clothing, baby items and toiletries for the moms and children who rely on our Donations Room.

Women Supporting Women Volunteers – Provide telephone support and advocacy for isolated teens after they leave Massey Centre by sharing knowledge of relevant community support resources.

Labour Coaching – Support moms-to-be throughout pregnancy, labour and delivery.

Tutoring – Assist clients in earning their high school credits and diploma.

Parenting Relief – Watch a client’s child, on-site at Massey Centre, while she takes a much-needed break.

Sistering/Mentoring – Provide much-needed support by being a mentor for a client.

Fundraising and Special Events – Join our dynamic and exciting fundraising group and put your event planning and coordination skills to good work.

Nursing Support – Assist our nursing staff in providing prenatal, postnatal and infant care for our clients.

Front-line Program Delivery – Utilize expertise in the field of infant or child care, or social work to volunteer within one of our many programs.

Cooks Helper – Assist our Cook with meal preparation, food service and kitchen clean-up.

Please call Cheryl Denomy at (416) 425-6348 ext. 224 for more information on becoming a Massey Centre volunteer. We hold monthly information sessions for potential volunteers to explain the application process and current volunteer opportunities.

Upcoming Volunteer Information Evenings

Volunteer Information Evenings will resume in September 2010.

Ontario government legislation requires that all employees and volunteers of Massey Centre have a police background check and vulnerable sector screening. If you have had this check and screening done in the last six months, please bring the original of this document with you to the meeting.

If you have not had a background check within the last six months, forms will be provided at the meeting. At the meeting, completed police check forms and fees will be collected and submitted as a group by the Centre, as we have a Memorandum of Understanding with the Police Service that enables us to have these forms processed in an expedient manner.

Space at Information Evenings is limited; please call 416-425-6348, extension 224, to register.

What do our volunteers say?

“Volunteering at Massey Centre has brought new meaning to my life. My executive job in the corporate world is very stressful and being able to hold a baby for two hours a week reminds me what is really important.”

“I love spending time with S. and her baby. When I came to Massey Centre I was only thinking about what I could offer to the young women's lives. I now realize that my involvement with them has given me so much more! They are truly remarkable young women.”