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This past Saturday night, YCI representatives Jane and Jessica had the pleasure of attending the Toronto Timeraiser in the Distillery District.
Jane with the YCI setup!
Timeraiser is an event that has been described by its founder, Anil Patel, as “like speed dating for volunteers.” Volunteers have an hour to talk and meet with agency representative before selecting organization that fits their interests. Once they’ve selected their top agencies, they’re able to participate in a silent auction for art by local artists–but instead of bidding with money, volunteers bid with time, or the amount of hours that they will dedicate to volunteering in their community in the next year.
Jessica gearing up to talk to volunteers at the YCI booth
While YCI offers a number of opportunities for prospective volunteers and returned alumni, including the Volunteer Action Network, the Volunteer Advisory Committee and our in-office volunteer program, we were present at the Timeraiser to highlight some new volunteer opportunities! (Including the very exciting opportunity to get involved with planning our anniversary. Did you know that YCI has been sending volunteers overseas for more then 20 years?) Volunteers at the event came from a diverse range of backgrounds, but many were young professionals looking to get more involved in their community, and in some cases, looking for opportunities to apply their professional skills to help out organizations like YCI.
Jess chats up some prospective volunteers. (Credits to Timeraiser’s Flickr album for this photo.)
The event was a success. If the Timeraiser is, in fact, like speed dating, then Jane and Jess both met tons of prospective volunteers that would be solid second-date material.
The crowd at the 2009 Toronto Timeraiser.
By the end of the night, more than 10,000 volunteer hours had been raised for Toronto organizations. A big thank you goes out to the Framework Foundation for having us. We’re excited to welcome new volunteers into our office–regardless of whether they’re seasoned pros, or first-time volunteers.
For more information about how you can get involved and volunteer with YCI in Toronto, or in your home community, check out our website or email us at generalinfo@yci.org.
To learn more about Timeraisers in your city, check out www.timeraiser.ca.
-Jessica Lockhart, International Programs Coordinator, and Jane Baldwin, Volunteer Programs Liasion
Today started off like any other typical day. After studying a little for my economics course before work at the local King Street Starbucks, I made my way to the office, battling the morning rush-hour traffic, with a double-tall vanilla non-fat latte in hand (yes, I know, I’m THAT kind of Starbucks customer!).
I was mid-way through a full day of e-news writing, email-answering, and bank-depositing, when some bad news fell into my lap. I was causally checking my personal email after lunch, and learned that I had been unceremoniously rejected from one of the graduate programs I had applied to. I turned to my coworkers and, dejected, let them know that I no longer had as great of a chance of going to grad school in the fall. They gave me pats on the back and a couple of words of support and encouragement – talking about creating “plan Bs” and unabashedly ridiculing the school that had sent me the unfortunate news. I managed to crack a smile, thinking about how great the YCI team was for keeping my spirits high.
And then, not even 20 minutes later, I felt the need to check my email just once more. This time, I noticed an email from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario – another graduate school I had applied to. Before I even had the chance to click on it, the words “we are pleased to tell you” popped out at me from the subject line, and I immediately knew what I would find inside!
With a whoop, I jumped out of my office chair, and right away the YCI staff were at my side, giving me hugs and high-fives. I couldn’t believe that in the span of half an hour, I had been rejected AND accepted to grad school!
Well, this called for a celebration. Myself and a couple of my colleagues headed down Queen Street West to a little place called Dufflet, an expensive pastry shop, and picked up the richest, most delicious chocolate mousse cake we could find (see accompanying photo – mmm). The YCI gang gathered around the lunchroom table and talked and laughed about our lives, the future, and all the awesome things that it can bring.
Sarah holding the delectable Dufflet chocolate mousse cake!
And to think, I was nearly hit by a cab this morning. It’s amazing what 20 minutes can do to change your day, and your life, in the most profound of ways!
- Sarah Tuckey, Administrative Assistant
This is my third month with YCI as the new International Programs Director and my first blog. After living away from Canada for the past four years and skipping the last four winters, its been great to be back in Toronto. The transition has been relatively seamless and I’ve really enjoyed being back.
Prior to working with YCI I spent time in Chad, Sierra Leone, Angola, South Sudan, Sri Lanka and Palestine, as well as York, England for a graduate degree in Post-war Reconstruction. I’ve been managing diverse programs in the field from health and education to de-mining, which has provided a great foundation in programming and management and will hopefully mean I’ll be well-placed to take on this new challenge here at YCI.
The past two months have been a steep learning curve. Leaning about YCI programs in East and West Africa as well as Central and South America, meeting staff and volunteers, participating in a strategic overview and budget design for the coming financial year have meant a busy and thorough induction. YCI has a long tradition of volunteer engagement, strong partner support and youth focused programming and the coming year will see a renewed commitment in how YCI views programming and how we can ensure maximum impact within the communities we work.
The IPD position includes oversight of staff in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda for our CIDA funded program as well as collaboration with out Alliance partners in South and Central America and the Group Leaders who facilitate volunteer groups. There is also a focus on financial management, reporting to donors and working on the quality and expansion of YCIs programs.
Next month I head back to the ‘Continent’ for a five-week trip to Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda. An opportunity to see our programs up-close, meet our local partners and volunteers and assess the possibility of expanding YCI programs into Uganda. This will be the first time I’ve traveled as a visitor compared to being a field staff and have a lot to condense into a short time.
Ghana and Tanzania are new countries for me so I look forward, as always, to seeing a new place. I traveled briefly in Uganda and spent a lot of time in Kenya traveling back and forth from South Sudan and this will be my first time back after a long hiatus, and with four countries in five weeks, I’ll have lots of time in airports, on the road and back in the field. I can’t wait.
- Steve Cumming, International Programs Director
She was instantly recognizable as an exchange student. It wasn’t her red hair or her unusual dotted red shirt that made her stand out—it was the pocket translation dictionary that she held in her hand.
I met Helka on school registration day for my final year of high school. Apart from family trips to Mexico and the United States, I had never really met anyone who wasn’t Canadian before. I envied my friend Angela because her grandmother was British (which, for a born and bred northern Albertan, seemed very exotic) and asked my friend Mike endless questions about his time in Germany. So when I saw Helka struggling to thumb through the pages of her Finnish-English dictionary, I knew I had to meet her. That same afternoon, I called her host family and asked her to coffee.
The questions came quick and fast. I wanted to know anything and everything about Finland. But the first question was, by far, the most memorable. “So what language do you speak in Finland, anyway?” I asked Helka. “Spanish, right?” The fact that Helka was willing to humour me instantly solidified what would become a pivotal relationship in my life.
Helka and I celebrate Albertan culture at the Calgary Stampede
Born half a world apart, Helka and I had a lot in common. Seinäjoki, her hometown, was comparable in size to Cold Lake. She instantly understood the dynamics of our small northern town—much like I had grown up in Cold Lake my entire life, she had grown up in Seinäjoki her entire life. Helka and I were also both interested in traveling, politics and music. So when she asked me to sign up for a multimedia class with her, I instantly agreed. I knew it would be a challenge—she was still far from fluent in English, but I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to learn more about her and explore our mutual interests.
We became partners in writing, filming and editing weekly segments for a cable news show. It may have only been a local news network, but the positive feedback we received from the network producer made me start to realize that there were two key things that I wanted in a career—the opportunity to explore and experience different cultures, and the opportunity to share those experiences.
More than a full year after we first met, I boarded a plane, and met Helka in Berlin. We spent two months traveling through Eastern Europe together, before returning to Finland for her high school graduation. During Helka’s time in Canada, she had became very close with my family, so I was eager to meet hers—I wasn’t even daunted by the fact that neither of her parents spoke English. Soon, the very same worn pocket dictionary that Helka used during her time in Canada became dog-eared from my own page turning. It was challenging at times, but the relationships I formed and the experiences I had during my short time in Finland only solidified my desire to travel more extensively.
And much like my interest in Finnish culture, Helka has also remained a fixture in my life—in 2005, she joined my family on a sailing trip in British Columbia. And last summer, nearly five years to the day since we first met, her boyfriend Touko came to stay with me in Toronto. Helka and I still share our common interests as well—while I currently work for Youth Challenge International, Helka and Touko now reside in London, where Helka is studying international development with a focus on youth.
For me, Finland wasn’t just the start of my love of international affairs—it was also the start of a lifelong affair with learning more and with exploring the unique distinctions each culture has to offer.
-Jessica Lockhart, International Programs Coordinator
