Michelle  and I had the opportunity to travel to Marystown on the Burin Peninsula of Newfoundland and Labrador at the end of November. Thanks to Sharon Snook a member of Imagine Canada’s Advisory Council and Foundation Director of the Burin Peninsula Health Care Foundation for making the arrangements for us to visit the area. We also appreciated the warm welcome from Marystown’s Mayor Sam Synard who agreed to host the Community Conversation at the Town Hall. 

Brenda Cameron Couch, Director of Community Outreach

This was an important visit for us and a reminder that many organizations in the Sector do not have paid staff. Many people around the table had multiple volunteer roles. The power of community and collective action was evident at first glance as the group brainstormed ideas for who might replace the usual Santa in this year’s parade.

A focus of the conversation in Marystown was around volunteering and changes in volunteers. This is an area that has seen significant out migration of young people and this has had an impact on volunteers. Some people also felt that there was a decline in the willingness to be involved in community activities.

One person posed the question: Do we need to look at another model of volunteering or another model completely for community involvement? There are no answers to this at the moment but it is one of many important questions that we heard raised across the country that would benefit from our collective thinking as a Sector. 

~Brenda