Miranda BrumwellWith over 5,000 serving personnel at Garrison Petawawa, it is one of the busiest operational bases and just one of many communities VETS Canada serves. Though surprisingly, their volunteer numbers are low.
“We have less than 10 volunteers. People are surprised when we say that, given that Petawawa is such a large base,” said Debbie Lowther, chair, and co-founder of VETS Canada. “We’re looking at different parts of the country where we are and where our volunteer numbers are low and trying to do some targeted recruiting.”
In an effort to bring in more volunteers, VETS Canada will be having an information session on April 12, 2018. While VETS Canada prefers volunteers who are currently serving, veterans themselves or military family members; they gladly accept civilian volunteers as well.
“(Civilians) might not be doing the kind of hands-on, face-to-face interactions they expect, but we might be looking for someone to do something as simple as drop off a gas or grocery card to a veteran,” said Lowther.
VETS Canada wants as many volunteers as they can, and there are no limits to the amount of time you can volunteer.
“If you’ve only got 15 minutes, we’ll take it,” said Lowther.
For that reason, Lowther adds, they will take as many volunteers as possible.
The meeting in scheduled to take place on April 12, 2018, at the Pembroke Legion in the boardroom from 6:30pm till 7:30pm.
