April 22, 2020,

To Our Volunteers:

This is National Volunteer Week in Canada. The theme of National Volunteer Week 2020 is: It’s time to applaud this country’s volunteers. During these uncertain times, there is one thing that remains constant and gives us hope for the future. Of course, this is the unwavering dedication of our volunteers. The support you give to Youth Haven reflects the compassion each one of you has for our youth experiencing homelessness and our youth in outreach programs. By volunteering, you have chosen to #BeTheDifference.

I know people volunteer without recognition in mind. They volunteer because they want to give back. They have a spirit in them that reflects generosity, dedication and selflessness. Whether it is volunteering at our Coldest Night of the Year walk or launch party, volunteering to host a fundraiser, to cook meals for our youth, to assist with Home Depot’s Orange Door Campaign, spruce up the gardens and front lawn of our property, or do touch-ups to the inside of our shelter, the list goes on and on and there can never be enough ways to say thank you. We will get through these unprecedented times together. We will be stronger as a people and as an organization.

Volunteering with Youth Haven means not only do you want the best for our youth, you also want the best for your community.

“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve…. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

On behalf of myself, the Board of Directors, our staff and our youth, thank you for volunteering.

Be safe. Be healthy.

Lucy Gowers
Executive Director, Youth Haven