The Calgary Annual Volunteer Fair is back for its fifth year and visitors can expect an even larger turnout of organizations with a range of causes that Calgarians can get involved with.<\/p>\n
This year the fair will include 65 organizations with a range of causes from mental health and social services to food insecurity, environmental health as well as local attractions and festivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI truly believe that you can find something that that works for you,\u201d said Alexandra Kyrska Gram, president and co-founder of the fair. \u201cBecause by coming in and being able to connect and really have those conversations with the groups that you\u2019ll be volunteering with, you can really get a sense right away if this is the right place for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fair will take place on Thursday, April 23 from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the downtown University of Calgary campus. It\u2019s for people of all ages, with visitors ranging from teenagers to seniors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do see a lot of retirees and seniors, they have long time been a backbone of volunteering in Calgary,\u201d Gram said. \u201cWe\u2019re also seeing a lot of newcomers, a lot of folks who don\u2019t have \u2018Canadian experience.\u2019 So they\u2019ll volunteer in their area of expertise versus learning a new skill. We\u2019re also seeing a lot more teenagers and young adults coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult to pinpoint which opportunities tend to be more competitive than others, Gram said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like picking a favourite child,\u201d she said with a chuckle, adding that it fully depends on an individual\u2019s personal interests and skills.<\/p>\n
She advises visitors to turn up showing the most authentic version of themselves so they can find an opportunity that best aligns with their own values.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s up to the volunteer to decide where they feel comfortable,\u201d Gram said. \u201cWe really want to empower them and have them feel like they can find something. If that for them means a t-shirt and jeans, great. If that means a suit, also great. They can bring a resume or don\u2019t bring a resume.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year the fair drew between 600 to 800 people and Gram estimates that Thursday\u2019s event may draw a similar turnout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe weather forecast is not ideal for tomorrow,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they need an incentive, so we\u2019ve got some tickets to the Calgary Surge basketball game in the summer and we\u2019ve got some passes for Calgary Folk Fest.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, it\u2019s meant to be a casual, fun event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to give people a reason to come through the door because once they\u2019re in, they\u2019re really happy and surprised and delighted to see all the different organizations and what they have to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s about giving folks a chance to connect in person.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a digital age and there are lots of resources online,\u201d she said. \u201cThat can be a blessing but it can also be a bit difficult to find what you\u2019re looking for unless you know specifically what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fair amalgamates resources and gives folks a chance to talk to people already working with the organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something about that, that kind of makes it easier to connect faster and more meaningful right off the top,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Calgary Annual Volunteer Fair is back for its fifth year and visitors can expect an even larger…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8292,51,8293,3276,260],"class_list":["post-15786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-alexandra-kyrska-gram","tag-calgary","tag-environmental-health","tag-organizations","tag-university-of-calgary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}