Valuable Resources for Volunteer Engagement Professionals
OUR VISION
A world where the professional management and leadership of volunteers is respected, valued and recognized as essential to a civic society.
In this October 2020 Issue:
PAVRO Town Hall - Oct 28th!
Message from our President - IVMD
Meet a PAVRO Bursary Winner
Help Find Content
Halton Region - Re-establishing an AVA
Member Discussion Forum - 2 Questions from Members!
An Invitation
Renew Your Membership Button
Thank you!
Covid-19 Resources
PAVRO TOWN HALL
for MEMBERS
Wednesday October 28, 2020
SAVE THE DATE!
PAVRO is convening a Town Hall on Wednesday October 28 from 12:15pm – 1:15pm
to explore the topic of ADVOCACY
Let’s talk Advocacy: your voice is important!
Join us at this one-hour Town Hall and contribute to PAVRO’s advocacy strategy.
Help PAVRO determine its role and priorities related to advocating on
behalf of our profession. Come and share your current realities and
help your professional association move forward.
Plan to attend this one-hour Town Hall,
facilitated by Reeva Cooper and Adriane Beaudry,
to help shape the advocacy strategy for PAVRO.
International Volunteer Managers Day Asks Us What’s Next?
In this incredible year of crisis and change, and in honour of International Volunteer Managers’ Day (IVMD) on November 5th, I wanted to send my personal thanks to all of my colleagues working in the field of volunteer engagement for their tremendous contribution.
Thank you to you, your profession, your organizations and society as a whole!
The theme of this year’s IVM Day is “What’s Next?” and I can’t imagine a more fitting theme. As noted on theIVMD website, “the pandemic has created challenges on many levels and those of us leading volunteer efforts have found ourselves in positions we never imagined. It’s our hope that… we will continue to have time to reflect on the lessons, challenges and most importantly opportunities that confront us.”
PAVRO has certainly faced its share of challenges this year, including the postponement of our annual conference. But one wonderful possibility has opened up with this delay, it is the opportunity to present our Awards Ceremony virtually this year on November 5th.
I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate International Volunteer Managers Day than to announce this year’s winners of the Linda Buchanan Awardand the newly renamed Alison Caird Young LeaderAward. Please stay tuned for more details on joining us for this virtual celebration.
In the day-to-day trenches of our work, we often forget that what we do has such a far-reaching impact, on volunteers, on those served by our organizations, and on our communities. Thank you once again for your dedication and commitment.
In advance, I wish you all a Happy International Volunteer Managers Day on November 5th!
Aleksandra Vasic, PAVRO President
PAVRO Professional Bursary 2020 WINNER
You probably saw Linda’s picture on your social media feeds earlier this month!
PAVRO highlighted some quick facts about Lynda to celebrate that she is a PAVRO Professional Bursary 2020 Winner.
Let’s learn a bit more about this great volunteer engagement professional:
Q: How long have you been involved in volunteer engagement?
A: Surprisingly, about 25 years – the time has flown! I began working with volunteers part-time at the Alzheimer Society, then in Long-Term Care, and now with Kingston Health Science Centre (KHSC).
Q: How long have you been a PAVRO or AVA member?
A: I have been a member of KAAAV (Kingston & Area Association of Administrators of Volunteers) for over 20 years. I successfully completed my PAVRO certification while working in long-term care. I am honestly not certain how long I’ve been a member of PAVRO….
Q: What is your current role and responsibilities?
A: Currently, I am the Manager of Volunteer Services for Kingston General Hospital and Hotel Dieu Hospital. Pre-Covid-19 we had approximately 800 volunteers across the two hospitals, with four full-time staff, and our Director. Presently I remain in the manager role, however; we have 13 active volunteers plus two auxiliaries/associations conducting business off-site. One of our staff has been redeployed to screening for 70% of their time.
I am working on our re-engagement strategy for KHSC volunteers: safety and needs assessments for each role, designing training with Infection Prevention and Control, and I will provide support and education to the volunteers and those who will directly supervise them. In late August we welcomed back volunteers in our ICU Family Support role and at one of the hospital Gift Shops. In addition to these needs, I am also responsible for leading communications, education, and appreciation initiatives for volunteers at KHSC.
Q: What words of wisdom do you have for a new volunteer engagement professional?
A: Network! For many years, I hesitated to engage other professionals in volunteer engagement as I allowed myself to feel intimidated. What if I did not have the right answer? What if I did not have anything in common with them? They are all SO experienced! I would go to conferences and ensure I always had familiar people to sit with.
Well, I challenged myself to break out of this “comfort zone” and the results have been so rewarding! Now, when I go to conferences, I try to ensure that I don’t know anyone at the table (or ZOOM break-out room these days!)
Do not be afraid the reach out and share you experiences, successes and challenges. Each of us has SO MUCH to share and SO MUCH that we can learn from each other. There are amazing people in this field who are more than happy to share. Join your local AVA and/or PAVRO and seek opportunities to get involved with others who share your passion for volunteerism!
Would you like to help us find content for this newsletter?
Please reach out to pavro@pavro.on.ca to express your interest in helping us fill up this newsletter with helpful, useful, interesting content for members and adherents.
Re-Establishing an AVA in Halton Region
Anne Lech, Director, Volunteer Halton, has reached out to PAVRO to engage with members in the Halton Region about re-establishing an AVA to support volunteer engagement professionals in the region. She is interested in connecting with volunteer engagement professionals who are keen to work together to create a community focused on education, networking, and promoting volunteer engagement.
PAVRO supports Anne’s vision and is pleased to share her call to action with you:
Does your work include coordinating and engaging volunteer teams in Halton Region?
If your role includes engaging community volunteers to support your organization's mission, there are professional associations that provide leadership, support, resources, networking and much more for administrators of volunteer resources.
One of the associations is that of a local AVA (Association for Volunteer Administration). In the past, Halton had an AVA network but, as with some things, people move on and things change.
I have had some expressed interest from a few people who are interested in re-establishing an AVA for Halton Region.
This is a great opportunity for not only volunteer management professionals, but also those in any title role who work with volunteers. It includes opportunities to communicate and learn from each other, network, share and promote professional development opportunities, and engage in education and advocacy.
The importance of volunteerism in the community has been spotlighted now more than ever during COVID-19, and to have opportunities to connect with your peers is invaluable.
There is a need for individuals to form a leadership committee to drive the viability of a Halton AVA.
If you are interested in leading a Halton AVA, please connect with me!
Anne Lech at alech@cdhalton.ca I look forward to hearing from you. Anne
ASK A PAVRO MEMBER!
Calling all VE experts (hint: that’s YOU)!
The following questions have been received in the PAVRO Discussion Forum.
Please log on to help your fellow members with their queries!
Tessa Hettrick, CVRM, CVA asks: I am in the process of setting up a Volunteer Advisory Committee within our organization. I have some great resources I have found through other peers but was wondering if anyone from PAVRO has some others they may be willing to share. Charmaine Cades asks: What are the privacy standards or acts that apply to volunteer records management in organizations that share volunteer data among their provincial or national bodies? Do these standards apply to the storing, protection and privacy of volunteer’s personal information? If no standards, can you please share your best practices regarding “record keeping” storing and privacy, related to volunteers’ personal information for large non-profits, with multiple semiautonomous sites.
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The Member Discussion Forum is here for us all!
We can all learn from each other and share resources and knowledge through this unique and valuable province-wide vehicle.
Feel free to ask questions, post responses or answers, comment on articles... The sky's the limit.
To access the Forum from your account, simply follow these 3 easy steps!
An Invitation
We invite you to submit an article/story/other, to our newsletter, that will inspire/inform/illuminate your voluntary sector colleagues.
Celebrating Success is the theme for November to January!
PAVRO reserves the right to edit the content of any e-Powerline Newsletter article/story/other submission and also reserves the right to decide when to publish any accepted submissions. All submissions to PAVRO’s newsletter will be given freely and honourably and no remuneration will be expected or given for any submission.
Please send all article/story/other submissions to pavro@pavro.on.ca
PAVRO will publish your full name with any article/story/other. If you wish to not have your name published, please submit this request in writing at the time of submission.
For your information, members are invited to make any comments on published articles through the PAVRO Members Discussion Forum.
Thank you for contributing to the volunteer management profession and PAVRO.
We appreciate your contribution(s).
