Volunteer Opportunities at YES

Do you want to find a meaningful way to volunteer your time but not quite sure how to go about it? We love our volunteers and can’t wait to meet you!

We are looking for volunteers who can come on a regular schedule. Timing is flexible, between the hours of 9:00am and 5:00 pm, Monday – Friday.

All volunteers with YES Shelter for Youth and Families must sign off on YES Code of Conduct and Confidentiality Policies as well as complete a Child Welfare Check and Vulnerable Sector Screening.

YES volunteers help us to provide nutritious snacks and drinks, hygiene items and clothing through the At the Door Program. The program is available to any community member who comes to our door in need Last year, an average of 36 individuals per day visited YES’ front door to receive vital high protein snacks, fruits, cheese sticks and drinks to keep them going through their day.

The Emergency Shelter at 196 Brock Street is a very busy place, and that means our staff can always use some help!

If you love to make spaces work well, and look their best, this could be a volunteer role for you.

Shelter Crew volunteers assist with incoming donations and organizing the donation room. Shelter Crew volunteers can become involved in deep cleaning and organizing as well as preparing shelter rooms and RISE housing units for occupancy.

The YES Gardening Crew helps to keep the property and garden at 196 Brock St. well maintained and welcoming for youth and families in shelter.

This seasonal role requires a commitment of one morning per week.

All gardening tools, plants and gardening supplies, with the exception of footwear, will be provided by YES.

At YES, we provide three meals every day to all of the people in shelter, as well as food boxes to people connected to YES in our community. We need weekly volunteers to help keep the food cupboard tidy and organized, put away food donations, help to redistribute food, and put together food boxes for people in YES Outreach and Transitional Housing programs.

If you’re a handy person and don’t mind getting down and dirty, this could be the role for you! People in maintenance assist with the many small jobs there are to do keeping the emergency shelter building and housing locations in a state of good repair. This work seems never-ending!

Activities may include: drywall repair, painting, room clean outs and deep cleaning in preparation for move-ins.

We really like to brighten the holidays for folks experiencing homelessness or recovering from homelessness. We do this by requesting items from the community to gift to youth and families in shelter, and in our RISE Youth Housing Programs. But with approximately 75 clients over the holidays, this can be a lot of work.

We need help to take in donations of gifts, organize according to client, wrap and distribute. This volunteer role takes place over the month of December, typically offsite at Murray St. Baptist Church.

We welcome employee groups to volunteer for a day to complete special projects at the shelter. Previous tasks undertaken have been spring yard clean up, staining outbuildings, and painting rooms and hallways. Participants will need to sign a confidentiality agreement.