Volunteer Team Update

From far and wide they came – Downtown Hamilton, Binbrook… even North Bay!  (Via email, for that last one.)

Thanks to everyone who visited during last night’s volunteer drop-in.  At various points we talked about:

• Creating safe spaces for LGBTQ youth in Hamilton that are focused on healthy relationship development and mentorship opportunities
• The Well’s approach to new services: Our best programs started when a member of the community came forward and said “we need this!” and got the ball rolling.  My job as volunteer coordinator is to find the volunteers who are interested in the same things you are, and get you the space, the partners and the resources you need to get the idea off the ground.
• That The Well works with volunteers of even the most unpredictable schedules by using email, relying on a lot of self-directed effort to support group work and scheduling meetings to suit everyone.
• An increased sense of community among volunteers. Without a centralized space like The 519‘s and a geographic “Gay Village” like Toronto’s our programs and events are spread out all over the community.  We’re setting up more opportunities for the volunteers who make these programs run to kick back and enjoy each others’ company.  For example: Come out to coffee night at The Well on Thursday, February 25th!
• The tension between creating visibility for our community and the challenge of using language — how some people find the word ‘queer’ very comfortable and others associate it too closely with past violence to accept it.
• The Well’s website: lots of info, but too complicated!  What do you think?
• Some upcoming volunteer opportunities: visibility campaigns, Trans 101 training and ‘Everything You Need To Know About the T in LGBTQ’, e-counseling and other innovative support services, promotion of support groups and gearing up for Hamilton Pride.

And I have to say a special thank you to Victoria, who during the drop in picked up a drill and mounted the two bulletin boards that I’ve left sitting in a corner of the office for two weeks!  We’re increasing the ways we can highlight the queer-friendly programming going on in Hamilton (do you have a flyer we can post on our boards?), and hope you’ll stop by and also visit us on the web regularly to stay connected.

Hoping to see you Feb 26!

Simon
Volunteer Coordinator, The Well