Volunteer with Us

Volunteer Roles

Volunteers will never be put in dangerous situations or abusive situations

In the Community

As Good As New Store Volunteer (Regular Shift) Customer Service (greeting and assisting customers); taking money and recording sales; sorting, steaming, and pricing donations; organizing clothing on the floor and in displays.

Picking Up/Delivering Donations (On Call) Collecting donations and delivering them to the necessary locations (As Good As New Store,shelter, etc, may include some lifting

Shelter and Program Support

General Shift Support (Day or evening shift, 4-8 hours, weekly or monthly) Assisting counselling staff, Administrative and/or shelter duties may be required.

Running activities/interacting with women

Children’s Program Support (Regular Shift or On Call) Support Children’s Program, Playtime, Homework help, Running/planning crafts, and activities

Volunteer Driver (On Call) Driving our clients to and from counselling sessions, appointments, etc. Must have a clean driving abstract and proper insurance. If providing own vehicle, mileage compensated.

Movers (On Call) Help women move household items and furniture to new residence. If providing own vehicle,

Grocery Shopping and Delivery (Regular Shift, Back Up Volunteers Appreciated) Collect grocery shopping weekly, residents and staff will help unload the vehicle upon arrival

Headlice Team (Very Occasional, On Call) Nit checking, vacuming, clean up

Garden/Yard Maintenance: Gardening, Spring cleans up, raking leaves, Cutting the lawn, Snow shovelling, salting

Shelter/store maintenance (minor repairs, painting, etc; lifting or moving furniture. Happy to welcome more support in this area depending on skill level

Donation Volunteers (On Call, Seasonal – Especially the Holidays) Receiving, sorting, and putting away donations; Planning for surplus donations; Assist with Holiday donations

Organizing and Maintaining Storage Rooms and Pantry (On Call, Regular Shift as Needed): Occasional assistance with keeping our shelter organized. May include assistance with organizing the linen closet, pajama and underwear supply, kitchen and pantry, winter clothing, storage areas, monitoring inventory of supplies, etc.

Administrative Support

General Office Administration (Regular Shift or On Call): Volunteers may help with mailouts (stamping, stuffing and sealing envelopes), filing and organization, writing thank you notes, or other office administration help as necessary. Proficiency with computers is an asset. Volunteers may also assist with data entry, proficiency with computers is required for this role.

Event Support (On Call)

Committee Support: Assisting with planning, create and distribute marketing materials and/or solicit auction items and sponsorships.

Day of Event Support: Volunteers will assist with day of duties such as set up, registration and clean up

Public Education/Community Event Support: Volunteers will support staff members at community events like the Farmer’s Market or Maple fest. Volunteers will distribute informational materials and merchandise as well as provide the community with information on LCIHCS

Board of Directors (attend meetings and events, regular support of the agency as determined): Board members must be dedicated feminists with a strong commitment to equity, fairness, diversity, harm reduction and anti racism/oppression practices. Ideal candidates will possess a strong interest in working towards the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence, show integrity and commitment, and support the work and the mission of the organization.

Special Skills

We are always appreciative of volunteers who can use their special skills to help our clients or staff. We also love to have our volunteers host occasional “specialty nights” or activities for our residents (women and/or children) or clients.

Below are some examples of special skills we could use to support our shelter or programs, but we are always open to hearing about your special skills!

Cooking or Baking

Photography/Videography

Hairstyling/Aesthetics

Tutoring

Yoga

Music

Art 

Massage Therapy

We welcome other skills you may wish to sharel Please indicate the skills when listing your preferences and speak with our Volunteer Coordinator!

We love being able to provide fun activities for our residents! It is not required that you be a professional to host a Specialty Night or Activity. Ideas include nail painting/spa/ self care day, games night, arts and crafts, etc.

LCIHCS is partnered with the nonprofit family law organization Luke’s Place and Guelph University to conduct community-engaged family court research across five Ontario communities. Using observations of family court proceedings (virtually and in person), we seek to learn more about how cases with intersecting legal issues (i.e. intimate partner violence, family law, criminal law and/or child protection) are identified, addressed and decided via family law motions and trials.

As part of the research project, we have a volunteer opportunity for students interested in gaining experience as Social Science Citizen Researcher between November-December 2022.

Key Responsibilities:

• Complete all free, online Citizen Researcher training activities
• Attend monthly Citizen Researcher team meetings
• Attend assigned virtual family court motions and trials
• Collect and submit data using an online survey tool
• Provide valuable insight and feedback regarding court attendances, research tools and data collection processes

Qualifications:

• Baseline understanding and commitment to social justice and intersectional-feminist framework
• Demonstrated capacity to use online video conferencing software
• Ability to learn using online data collection tools (Qualtrics)
• Good time management and organizational skills – Students who require a research or placement component for their program are encouraged to apply

We are looking for students who:

• Seek research experience from November 2022 to December 2022
• Have an interest in issues related to Intimate Partner Violence and/or family law
• Are able to attend the Citizen Researcher training
• Can attend court through Zoom or an in=person attendance at the Ontario Criminal Court in Perth

Time Commitment: 

• Online training completed at your own pace (6-8 hours)
• Monthly one-hour team meetings
• Citizen Researchers are scheduled to attend court twice weekly  (Thursdays and Fridays, midmorning til afternoon)

To Apply

Please fill out the application here.

 Since 1980, As Good As New (AGAN) has been the best place to find quality used clothing in Carleton Place and a great opportunity to support women and their children escaping abusive home lives! Run entirely by volunteers, AGAN is an integral part of the community and one of the biggest sources of funding for the shelter and extensive community support programs run by LCIHCS.

Key Responsibilities:

• Sorting and organizing donations (including pricing clothes, steaming, etc.)
• Displaying items in the store
• Running the cash and front desk (including answering the phone)
• Greeting and assisting customers 

We are looking for volunteers who:

• Have excellent customer service abilities – the store is the face of our agency in the community and we want to put our best foot forward!
• Have good time management and organizational abilities
• Are comfortable taking money and making change
• Are comfortable sharing information about LCIHCS with the public
• An eye for fashion and retail experience are an asset!

To apply, please complete and application! Contact volunteer@lcih.com for more information.

Help our counselling staff perform general daily or evening duties.

This may include:

• Administrative Tasks (filing or organizing filing cabinet, make up resident’s files for new admissions, tidying notice boards, photocopying)
  
• General shelter duties (tidying, organiizing, preparing welcome baskets)
• Running activities for and/or interacting with our residents (after training)

We are looking for empathetic and nonjudgemental volunteers who take extra care with confidentiality. Volunteers must be able to commit to one, 4 hour shift between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. per week

We will once again be accepting applications in some of our programs for student placements. Availability will be subject to the needs and capacities of our programs. 

Complete an application here. 

For more information, please email volunteer@lcih.com or call 613-257-3469 ext. 63