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Volunteer

We love our volunteers! If you are interested in doing what you can to help youth and families find safety and recover from homelessness, check out the positions below! If you’re interests, capacity and availability align with any of these roles, please get in touch!

Please note: we require a vulnerable sector screening from all volunteers with our organization. We can provide the paper work to make it easier.

Food Cupboard Crew

At YES, we provide three meals every day to all of the people in shelter, as well as food boxes to people in the community. We need weekly volunteers to help our food coordinator keep the food cupboard tidy and organized, put away food donations, help us redistribute food we can’t use, and make up food boxes for people who participate in the food box program.

There are three weekly shifts available:
Tuesday, 11:30am – 2:00pm
Wednesday, 12:00pm – 3:00pm
Thursday, 11:30am – 2:00pm

If you are interested in helping out with the Food Cupboard Crew, please contact Kathleen Wild by email or by calling 705-748-3851, ext 203.

Shelter Crew

The Emergency Shelter at 196 Brock St. is a very busy place, and that means our staff can always use some help with tidying and organization. If you love to make spaces work well, and look their best, this could be a satisfying volunteer role for you.

The Shelter Crew will be made up of people who can see what needs to be done, and aren’t afraid to do it. This will include garbage pick up, recycling box break down, donation room organizing and tidying, toiletries management, and assisting with incoming donations.

We’re looking for people who can come once/week for a 4 hour shift. Timing is flexible, but must be between the hours of 10am and 4pm, Monday – Friday.

If you are interested in helping out on the Shelter Crew, please contact Kathleen Wild by email or by calling 705-748-3851, ext 203.

Gardening Crew

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

This role is a weekly commitment May through October. You can volunteer on your own, or with a companion or two. All gardening tools, plants and gardening supplies, with the exception of footwear, will be provided by YES Shelter for Youth and Families. 

Activities include: 

  • Spring cleanup of garden beds
  • Soil turnover and enhancement
  • Planting, weeding and watering
  • General yard clean-up, including picking up garbage and sweeping the walkways

If you are interested in helping out on the gardening crew, please contact Kathleen Wild by email or by calling 705-748-3851, ext 203.

Maintenance Crew

If you’re a handy person, this could be the role for you! People in this role with assist our Maintenance Coordinator 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!

This role can be more adhoc in terms of timing. If you have time between jobs, you can get in touch and we’ll make use of your skills during the time you have available. Shifts will be limited to weekdays, between 9am and 4pm.

Activities may include: 

  • Drywall repair
  • Painting
  • Replacing fixtures
  • Deep cleaning work

If you are interested in helping out on the Maintenance Crew, please contact Kathleen Wild by email or by calling 705-748-3851, ext 203.

Holiday Crew (December only) FULL FOR 2024

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 only. We need 5 individuals to commit to one 3-4 hr. shift, once/week. The shifts can be determined based on availability but have to be within the times of Monday – Friday, 10am – 4pm.

If you are interested in helping out on the Holiday Crew, please contact Kathleen Wild by email or by calling 705-748-3851, ext 203.