Volunteer opportunities

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Wheter you're interested in volunteering three hours per week or per month, or only once a year, the VBM offers you many ways to find what you're looking for.

The Volunteer Bureau of Montreal recruits volunteers for more than 700 charitable and non-profit organizations active in many fields—including health and social services, community development, sports and recreation, education, the environment, arts and culture and others. Potential volunteers have a wide range of activities to choose from. The Volunteer Bureau will direct you to activities that best meet your priorities and that correspond to your interests, skills and availability.


There are many different areas in which volunteers are needed, including the following:

Seniors

  • Volunteer food services: Meals on Wheels volunteers deliver hot meals to seniors who need home care services to help them maintain their independence. Community meal services or Lunch Clubs bring more mobile seniors together for congregate dining and social activities. See also Santropol Roulant.
  • Transporting and accompanying seniors to appointments or running errands for them.
  • Conducting activities in seniors' centres: fitness sessions, arts and crafts workshops, bingo, Internet, social activities, recreational and cultural outings.

Children

Women

  • Information and reference centres. See Women's Centre of Montréal.
  • Day centres, shelters.
  • Active listening.
  • Aid to single mothers, to the homeless, to sexual assault victims.
  • HIV / AIDS.

Hospitals

  • Visiting elderly residents in extended care facilities.
  • Pediatrics: visiting, escorting to appointments, playrooms and day cares, classrooms.
  • Snack bar, cafeteria, gift shop, escorting to appointments.
  • Palliative care: accompanying terminally ill patients, comforting and offering moral support to family members. Volunteers usually undergo an initial training period.

Office work*

  • General office work: filing, photocopying, phone calls, etc.
  • Computer work: word processing, data entry, Internet, Web site programming.
  • Accounting, book-keeping.
  • Translating letters, documents (possibility of working from home).

Special events (ideal for people seeking a short-term commitment)

  • Recruitment or fundraising campaigns.
  • Cultural or sporting events. See La Fête des enfants.
  • Conferences: registration desk, secretarial work, workshop leaders, etc.

Youth

  • Big Brothers Big Sisters.
  • Community recreation centres.
  • Rehabilitation centres for young offenders.
  • Active listening, counseling, intervention.
  • Homeless youth. See Dans la rue.

Education

  • Working with young people or adults, individually or in a group.
  • Promoting adult literacy.
  • Helping young people who are falling behind in their schoolwork or have a learning disability.

Accompaniment/transportation (travel expenses are usually reimbursed)

  • Transporting and accompanying people with reduced autonomy, helping reduce their isolation, taking them to medical appointments, cultural and social events, etc.
  • Delivering Meals on Wheels.
  • Collecting donations: food, clothing, furniture, etc.
  • Driving a minibus (volunteers must possess the required driving licence).

Organization, coordination, communications

  • Organizing all kinds of activities.
  • Coordinating the work of other volunteers.
  • Writing up press releases, doing public relations, developing promotional material, organizing press conferences, sponsorship development, compiling resource directories, etc.

Art & culture

  • Museums: reception, guides, gift shop, checkroom, etc.
  • Orchestras, dance troupes, theatre companies.
  • Musicians for centres for the elderly, for community events.
  • Conducting arts and crafts workshops.

Information, referral, active listening (training is usually provided)

  • Consultation and reference centres, day centres, telephone listening centres. See Tel-aide.
  • Active listening with a positive attitude.

Cultural communities

Food services

  • Delivering Meals on Wheels to seniors with reduced autonomy.
  • Serving community meals in seniors' centres.
  • Organizing services, purchasing, cooking, maintenance.
  • Food banks, community restaurants.

 

Homelessness

  • Organizing and serving meals.
  • Active listening.
  • Used clothing counters.
  • Shelters for the homeless.

Sponsorship

  • Sponsorship of a person suffering from a physical or intellectual disability, former psychiatric patients, AIDS victims.
  • Aiding and supporting a sponsored individual.
  • Acting as a spokesperson, counselor, teacher and companion.

Environment / Ecology

Intellectual Disabilities

  • Services to individuals, such as sponsorship or accompaniment.
  • Group activities, recreational or cultural outings.
  • See L'Arche-Montréal

Physical disabilities

  • Aid to individuals suffering from muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, paraplegia, vision or hearing loss, etc.
  • Services to individuals, such as sponsorship or accompaniment.
  • Conducting occupational or arts and crafts activities, providing physical support during meetings or leisure activities.

Mental health (volunteers usually work under professional supervision)

  • Helping former psychiatric patients or other individuals suffering from isolation, emotional dependence or other psychological problems to become integrated into their environment. See Douglas Hospital.
  • Rehabilitation activities or active listening for people with mental health or substance abuse problems.
  • Conducting sports activities, arts and crafts workshops and collective creation and personal growth sessions.

Fundraising campaigns*

  • Annual campaigns in support of various foundations, research institutes and other organizations.
  • Mailings, information booths, fundraising activities, etc.

Manual labour*

  • Repairs or renovations for community organizations.
  • Loading and unloading food bank supply trucks.

(*) Indicates service of an indirect nature, i.e., carried out without direct contact between volunteers and beneficiaries.

Get in touch with us to find out how your particular talents, skills and interests match up with our needs.

1. Visit the following Web pages:

  • I want to volunteer: Our search engine gives you direct access to over 780 current requests.
  • Less conventional activities: Reading, sailing, crafts, graphic arts, billiards... volunteer activities?
  • Most recent requests: Several new requests come in each week.
  • Short-term activities: Some people interested in volunteering would rather not take on a long-term commitment. The short-term activities listed may be just what they're looking for.
  • Off limits to 18 + : A special listing of volunteer opportunities available to young people.
  • Student volunteering: Frequently asked questions.
  • Group volunteering: Corporations or other organizations often encourage their employees or members to get involved in the community as volunteers. Find out more!


2. Make an appointment with one of our volunteer placement counsellors

Our volunteer placement counsellors meet with members of the general public who are interested in volunteering. They spend 20 to 30 minutes interviewing candidates in order to direct them to volunteering opportunities corresponding to their interests, skills and abilities. A follow-up is conducted by phone a few weeks after the interview. Some 1500 people were interviewed in the past year. Call 514.842.3351 to make an appointment.


3. Consult volunteer listings in the media

The media, especially the written press, are one of our best sources of recruitment. Our press releases are sent out every week in both English and French to some 95 organizations, including major dailies, a number of weekly publications, a few television stations and numerous radio stations.

Don’t forget that you can also consult your neighbourhood newspapers, friends and colleagues. If a particular organization has caught your interest, you can try to contact it directly to find out its volunteer needs. Should you have any questions about the various volunteering opportunities available, feel free to contact us at 514.842.3351 or e-mail us.

We hope you enjoy your volunteering experience!

If you live in the province of Quebec but the volunteer opportunities you find here aren’t in your geographic area, visit the FCABQ Web site to find your closest volunteer bureau. The FCABQ (Fédération des centres d'action bénévole du Québec) is the Quebec federation of volunteer bureaus.

For the rest of Canada, visit the Volunteer Canada Web site for more information. 

Testimonies

"It's so fulfilling to see an elderly lady come out of the doctor's office, look around for me, and then break into a smile, reassured to see that I'm still there, waiting for her. I love this job."       ---Marcel, volunteer

"I do volunteer work because it makes me realize that there are people out there who need us. Listening to the problems and sharing the burdens of others helps me to more easily accept my own. I find this work to be very fulfilling."     ---Marjolaine, volunteer

Volunteer Bureau of Montreal / Centre d'action bénévole de Montréal
2015 Drummond Street, Suite 300 (corner of De Maisonneuve, Peel Metro)
Montreal, Quebec H3G 1W7
Telephone: 514.842.3351 / Fax: 514.842.8977
info@cabm.net