Non-profit groups and societies in Parksville Qualicum Beach, as well as event organizers, have recenly found it harder to attract volunteers to help maintain programming and run events.
Volunteers are vital to the success of many public events and the operation of non-profit organizations.
To help build the volunteer base in the PQB region, there is a new initiative being created to provide incentive for potential volunteers.
A small group formed from Leadership Vancouver Island (LVI) is working to create Volunteer Vancouver Island Passport (VVIP), a special discount card to be given to volunteers for participating or helping non-profit organizations. They can use the card to get special discounts from participating shops and restaurants.
“We are trying to assist local, not-for-profit organizations, events co-ordinators in our community to help with their volunteer recruitment and retention,” said Paul Trudeau, the member service manager at Qualicum Beach Chamber of Commerce and also a member of the VVIP program. “Volunteers are becoming less and less available and a lot of these programs are starting to disappear.”
This group has now started to approach area businesses to see if they would like to support volunteers by offering a discount or other perks through this program.
“We hope that local businesses are willing to help us by providing discounts and incentives for volunteers,” said Trudeau. “We will list all of the various incentives and post them on our website and then provide a card that organizationscan hand out to their volunteers. Volunteers simply show the card to participating businesses to get their discount. In turn, we hope that business will also see increased traffic due to volunteers visiting these participating shops and restaurants.”
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Anyone who volunteers at participating non-profit organizations will have access to these cards. Trudeau said they are working with the Society of Organized Services (SOS).
“The SOS will be able to distribute the VVIP cards out to their more than 250 volunteers and we hope it will also help them in their goal to gain an extra hundred volunteers they need to support their 25-plus programs that they offer to the public,” said Trudeau.
The QBCC and the Parksville & District Chamber of Commerce are collaborating in getting the program off the ground. The targeted launch of the program is April during volunteer appreciation week.
Trudeau said this is a pilot project. Once it has been established, they plan offer the program to other non-profit organizations in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area. Organizations in other communities have also expressed interest in collaborating with the VVIP team.
For information, contact the QBCC at 250-752-0960. The office is located at 2711 Island Hwy West in Qualicum Beach.