Category: Focus

The last thing on the mind of Gordon Pearson was that he would be handed a new computer network. As corporate relations director for the Ottawa Food Bank, Pearson had asked Cognos Inc., a software development company, to estimate the cost of a new computer system. For too long staff had been taking down food orders into a ramshackle system of loose papers.

Jennifer Curran has been volunteering her time to community organizations since she was “a wee little girl” in St. John’s, Nfld. When the 31-year-old started law school at the University of Ottawa three years ago, a friend told her that she would be too busy to keep volunteering. Curran was busy, but that didn’t keep her away from the work that she finds so rewarding.

A couple of weeks ago Renata Soutter posted a volunteer opportunity for a “web wizard” with Volunteer Ottawa. Her organization had launched a website last year and now needs people to maintain it. But not all charitable organizations have the technology resources and skills to do this. So Soutter listed the web wizard position as a job to be done from home.

A woman sits at a sewing machine mending clothes for a homeless man. A junior boys soccer coach claps his goalie on the shoulder after making an impressive save. There is no question that volunteers make a difference in people’s lives.