The volunteer placement that I choose to do my hours was the Community Resource Service. They are located at 110 Icom Drive in a new building In this essay will discuss a brief history of the organization, some of the programs they offer, and the philosophy of volunteerism. The Community Resource Service is a community-based organization to meeting the essential needs of economically stressed individuals for food, shelter and employment. Community Resource service was founded in 1979 as a community response to the devastating recession of the late 70 5. Originally known as the Brantford Unemployment Help Center and founded by the Brantford 8: District Labour Council. this agency was established to meet the needs of the unemployed in the city and the region. it was subsequently incorporated in 1987 as an independent charitable organization with a commiunent to the poor unemployed and those facing personal family emergencies, with the goal of assisting them to access. fully, governmental assistance programs and providing job search skills resume writing and emergency food supplies.
Since that time. the agency went through a downsize period to re—assess their direction but still maintained the Brantford Food Bank. The Advocacy Service, Resume Assistance and built their financial assets to assist in the maintenance of the above programs. During 1995, Community Resource Service relocated to a more central location and accessible new building located in the core of the city. hired an Executive Director. established a corporate vision. a comprehensive strategic plan. reorganized and built a Board of Directors that represented the community, and maintained and built effective relationships with other organizations, the community and government, the new organizations brought together individuals from labour, business. governments, churches. and the unemployed to find ways of dealing with the pressing human needs of community in transition.
Over the last year, the Community Resource Service has earned a reputation for its innovative and practical initiatives. including the development of a community food co-operative program, accessing government funding to provide vocational and career counseling and employment assistance for the unemployed. and the transfer of the Christmas Baskets Program. Community Resource Service has been assisting hundreds of workers, left jobless by plant closures. cope with the trauma ofjob loss, by offering labour adjustment processes, One of the programs that the Community Resource Service offers is the Adult Employment Information Service ( AEIS ). The AEIS is a program which is a community based program that is available to participants of adults aged 25 years of age or older who are residing in Brantford or Brant county. Some of the Key program’s functions are career planning. workshops, referral to community agencies and services including educational, training and retraining programs. Another program is the Advocacy Service.
It is a FREE Advocacy Service partially funded by the Brant United Way that provides professional assistance. advice and representation to Brant County residents that are experiencing difficulties with agencies and programs such as: Workplace Safety & Insurance Board WSIB, Employment Insurance, and Canada Pension Plan. Another program is The Brantford Food Bank. The Food Bank distributes a 2 – 3 day emergency food supply once per month to individuals residing in Brantford and Brant County. The program is a non < charitable organization funded by donations from private individuals. agencies, organizations, businesses and industries. The Brantford Food Bank also offers the Fast Fuels Snack Program, a recess snack program which follows Canada 5 food Guide with the goal of exposing students to non»tratlitional snack foods.
They also have the Food Co – operative program is a membership based program partially funded by the Brant United Way. Food Co – operative program is designed to supplement a member 5 monthly allocated income for groceries. Each member is required to pay a monthly fee of $ 10 paid by the lst day of each month and donate 4 hours of work each month, In exchange for the membership and the work, members will receive food, products, and services such as membership meetings with guest speakers, peer support, book for birthdays, newsletters, etc. Members also have the opportunity to learn new skills and to help themselves by helping fellow members. Another program is the Christmas Baskets Program The program supplies approximately 2500 families and 500 individuals in Brant County with a Christmas Dinner and toys for the children. The program is run by community volunteers. The community helps by collecting donations for the Christmas Baskets program, schools collect donations by having school dances and the price of admission is a non-profit food item or toy.
Companies take up group collections of toys and food, donate extra turkeys, etc, Another Program is the Habitat For Humanity Brant. Habitat for Humanity Brant is a Christian housing program that builds homes in partnership with those in need. Homeowners put in minimum of 500 hours of volunteer labour and when a home is built. HFH take takes a mortgage out on the home and the homeowners pay back to HFH at a no interest, no profit mortgage. One hundred percent of the mortgage payments go into a fund for Humanity to build future habitat homes for needy families. Habitat for Humanity began in 1976 and received worldwide recognition when the former US President Jimmy Carter joined the program. Habitat for Humanity Canada was established in 1985. Past Governor General of Canada. Ed Schreyer is another internationally recognized volunteer for the Habitat program. Currently , more than 50,000 families live in Habitat for Humanity homes, with a new dedicated every 48 minutes. Philosophy of Volunteerism, Volunteerism provides a most positive and important contribution to the quality of life in our community.
The contribution of time and effort made by volunteers assist in providing a high-quality, cost – eifective service to the public and allow the agency to maximize the effective use of its resources. Volunteers bring knowledge and many special skills to their work in the agency. Volunteers willingness to freely give time and the benefits of their experience add a special dimension of community accountability and commitment. In conclusion the Community Resource Service is working with the citizens of our community who are struggling to adjust to the rapid changes in our economy. Our goal are to ensure that all members of the community have equal access to opportunity and to continue to advocate for local economic development as our community adjusts to the reality of a global economy. Community Resource service programs are based on a self – help model that encourages participants to explore the potential within themselves. Their goals are to help people become self – reliant and give them the skills, energy, motivation and self – esteem they need to begin shaping their own future.
