Last month at the Volunteer Alberta Open House, we invited our guests to help Build Up Alberta’s Nonprofit Sector by building a skyline of well-wishes and gratitude. The instructions were simple: write a thank-you or a wish for the sector on a ‘brick’ and add it to our wall. The result was a lot of love and appreciation for Alberta’s volunteers, organizations, partnerships, and communities!
Some ‘bricks’ featured compliments:
“ECVO are great partners!”
“I volunteer for ACTSS (Animal Cancer Therapy Subsidization Society). They are GREAT to their volunteers!”
“Shout out to the Volunteer Centres for community leadership and support”
“Alberta’s EcoTrust – great leadership around mapping the environmental sector!”
Others left messages of thanks and gratitude:
“Thank you to all of the amazing volunteers from YWCA Edmonton.”
“Much love to Calgary Outlink and Edmonton Pride Centre! Thanks for fighting for warm and welcoming communities.”
“Thank you to Banff Life for making a difference in the lives of youth in Banff.”
“Thank you to everyone in ALL sectors who reach out and build and support Alberta collaboratively.”
Still others reflected on the larger scale impact of volunteers and the nonprofit sector in Alberta:
“Where would society be without the nonprofit/voluntary sector? Thank-you for all the great work being done… in spite of the challenges facing the sector!”
“So many doing so much good!”
“Volunteers make the world go ‘round.”
“I am proud to be a part of the nonprofit sector!! Thanks.”
A few of our contributors looked forward and dreamed big with their wishes for the nonprofit sector:
“My wish for the sector: to be valued, sustainable, and HUGELY SUCCESSFUL!”
“I wish the nonprofit sector a very PROFITABLE future!”
All in all, we think we did a good job of building up Alberta’s nonprofit sector! Now we want to keep it going: in order to spread all of the warm feelings, we will be tweeting the contributions we received over the next weeks – just follow @VolunteerAB to stay updated.
If you weren’t able to attend our open house and would like to join in, you are welcome to add your own virtual ‘bricks’ by tweeting back at us, or leave them in the comment section below. We would love to share your positive messages with the Alberta nonprofit sector!
Sam Kriviak
Volunteer Alberta