Volunteers Make a Difference       

Letter to the editor 

Every year during National Volunteer Week, we have a golden opportunity to show our appreciation to volunteers for their commitment and service. Thousands of dedicated individuals across Ontario give freely of their time and energy to community organizations.

As Acting Chair of the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), one of Canada's leading grantmaking foundations, I feel strongly about the importance of volunteers. The Foundation's Board of Directors and our 16 Grant Review Teams - more than 330 people in total - show remarkable dedication to serving their communities across the province.  Whether we realize it or not, we all benefit from the important work they do in a wide range of organizations. Their involvement in their communities helps to change lives.

Volunteer time is unpaid time, and that makes it especially valuable. I wish to recognize the OTF Grant Review Team in Toronto for their unflagging commitment, under the energetic leadership of Grant Review Team Chair Bahadur Madhani.

There are many volunteers giving their time and talents to their community. Last year, in the Toronto area alone, close to 15,500 volunteers contributed more than half a million hours of their time to support organizations that received funding from our Foundation. If we translate their efforts into monetary value, it comes to almost $ 8.6 million of giving!

All of us are touched and enriched by these efforts, whether we volunteer ourselves or benefit in some way from the volunteer work of others. So take a moment during National Volunteer Week, April 10 to 16, to thank volunteers for generously donating their time, talents and passion to countless causes across the province. Thanks to their commitment, our communities and our province are better places to live.  Find out more at www.trilliumfoundation.org

Sincerely,

Janet Passmore

Acting Chair, Ontario Trillium Foundation