Volunteers met the day after Earth Day this year for a community clean-up in Dorset, an event that happens annually. /SUE TIFFIN Staff The following groups and organizations in the Minden Hills and Algonquin Highlands area have volunteer opportunities for those looking for something to do, or a way to give back to the community.
100.9 Canoe FM
Contact: Station manager Roxanne Casey at 705-457-1009 or manager@canoefm.com
As a volunteer-based, not for profit, community radio station, Canoe FM offers Haliburton County residents unique volunteer opportunities in the broadcasting field.
Currently we have openings for on air hosts during daytime hours – all training will be provided. We are also looking for individuals to join our Radio Bingo Team as callers or verifiers.
We are also open to suggestions — if you have a skill that you feel we could use, please get in touch and we can discuss all the possibilities.
Abbey Retreat Centre
Contact: Barb Smith-Morrison at barb@abbeyretreatcentre.ca
We are looking for people to volunteer a few hours per month to help us carry out our vision to create a safe, loving, and healing community for people affected by cancer. We are especially looking for bed-makers, kitchen volunteers, people to tend the grounds, and we have some indoor small maintenance tasks. Please visit our website for more information at abbeyretreatcentre.ca/volunteering/
Community Living Trent Highlands
Contact: Lisa Corp, 705-743-2411 ext. 527 or lcorp@clth.ca
Our mission is to inspire respect and equality for people living with a developmental disability by promoting community knowledge, organizational excellence, and individual quality of life. Volunteers are a vital part of our organization and help bring the people we serve and their communities together. We have a volunteer opportunity to meet just about any interest or talent including:
- Board or committee members – Consider sitting on our Board of Directors or on one of our many Board Committees.
- Friendly visitor/leisure pal – Spend time with someone just being a friend. Share activities that you both enjoy – take a walk, go out for coffee, or just visit.
- Share a skill – Share a special talent or skill with a person or people we support, their families or our staff and other volunteers. The sky is the limit!
- Office support – help out at one of the Community Living Trent Highlands offices.
Fuel for Warmth
Contact: Joanne at 705-854-9208, or info@fuelforwarmth.ca
Fuel for Warmth is volunteer- operated. Ninety+ percent of donations received are spent on fuel for families when help is needed during the cold winters in Haliburton County. Wood is delivered by volunteers and other fuels by fuel companies. The Christmas Shindig is the major fundraiser, again operated by more volunteers who are keen on helping keep families warm. The Treasurer and Executive Director positions are filled by volunteers. Thanks everyone for your volunteering with Fuel for Warmth again in 2021-2022, keeping families warm in their homes.
Haliburton County Master Gardeners (HCMG)
Contact: Carolyn Langdon, carolynlangdon3@gmail.com, 705-935-0380
The HCMG provides horticultural advice to new and seasoned gardeners in our northern community. We develop resources and programmes specific to the challenging growing conditions in our region.
We’re looking for Members as well as Friends of Master Gardeners to join us in our shared passion:
- to include more native pollinator plants in gardens
- to naturalize shorelines
- to provide consultation services to property owners
- to assist with an annual fundraising plant sale
- to answer specific questions gardeners may have
- to take photos for the website and Facebook page
For more information go to www.haliburtonmastergardener.ca/ and to join this northern community of gardeners join the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/haliburtonmastergardener.ca.
Haliburton County Red Wolves Special Olympics
Contact: Tracey Pratt at 705-286-1842, Yvette Brauer at 705-488-2282 or haliburton@specialolympicsontario.ca
Help our amazing athletes, coaches and volunteers to the finish line. Join Haliburton County Red Wolves Special Olympics volunteers. Make a difference in athletes’ lives today! The missing piece in our community could be U! Want to help? You could also join a committee (fundraising, planning events) or just come out and be in the cheering section. This summer we are offering a unified softball program. A unified sport is composed of athletes and volunteers playing alongside each other. Together the athletes learn how to play the game and have fun! Special skills are not necessary. Making new friends and being supportive is the most important thing! Why not come out and see what we are all about?
Haliburton County Snowmobile Association
Contact: info@hcsa.ca
Our year-round efforts provide central Ontario’s premier outdoor winter experience and help small business. Everyone has a skill the HCSA needs: finance, engineer, equipment operator, carpentry, project management, trail maintenance, equipment maintenance, landowner relations, fundraising, grant funding, research, events, property maintenance, marketing, IT, legal, accounting, budgeting, lake staking. Send us an email or register online at this link: http://hcsa.ca/volunteer/
Haliburton Highlands Health Services
Contact: Call 705-457-1392 x 2927 or email volunteering@hhhs.ca
Volunteers wanted! There are many meaningful and important roles to be filled at Haliburton Highlands Health Services, and Brigitte can’t wait to hear from you. We are looking for volunteer drivers to help with short or long distance drives to medical appointments, hospice volunteers to share time with clients and provide respite to caregivers, Meals on Wheels delivery, adult day program volunteers who enjoy working with seniors, friendly visiting volunteers for telephone or in-person visiting, and long-term care volunteers for one-on-one visits, social activities, entertainment, technology help or gardening. Looking to give back to your community this spring? Get involved at HHHS!
Haliburton Highlands Health Services Foundation
Contact: Carol at 705-457-1580 or visit hhhs.ca/foundation
We are grateful for the time and talent of volunteers to assist at our various fundraising events.
Haliburton Highlands Land Trust
Contact: admin@haliburtonlandtrust.ca, 705-457-0455, www.haliburtonlandtrust.ca
As a volunteer, you can play a hands-on role in a wide range of Land Trust activities. The Land Trust relies on the support of volunteers to successfully manage our properties and plan events that raise the profile of the Land Trust, encourage donations and promote the importance of land conservation. Become a property monitor, join a committee such as fundraising, communications or education. You might enjoy volunteering at one of our events. Did you know that a recent grant involved 309 hours of volunteer work by 31 volunteers? Wow! HHLT celebrates and appreciates all of our wonderful volunteers!
Haliburton Highlands Outdoors Association
Contact: Ken Fielding at kenfield@bell.net
Mission: The Haliburton Highlands Outdoors Association (HHOA) helps maintain and enhance local fisheries. Its mission is to help residents and visitors to the Haliburton Highlands enjoy angling and other outdoor activities while practicing good conservation.
Since 1998, the HHOA has raised and stocked over 800,000 fish in local lakes. For more information on the HHOA visit www.hhoa.on.ca. Volunteers: The HHOA is always looking for new volunteers to help at the hatchery and assist with the stocking of area lakes. In addition, we need people with the following skills to help us tell the hatchery’s story and continue its valuable contributions to the outdoors community.
- Website design and/or development
- Fund-raising
- Grant writing
- Artists to help create posters and other materials
- Social media
- Advertising and marketing
- And any other skills that you think can be helpful
Heat Bank Haliburton County
Contact: call or text 705-306-0565 or email heatbank@centralfoodnetwork.org
Heat Bank Haliburton County provides free and confidential support services to households that are struggling to keep the heat and/or hydro on in Haliburton County. We offer emergency grants, firewood, advocacy & information and referral services and more. We are an authorized intake agency for LEAP and OESP hydro credit applications as well as host yearly income tax clinics through CRA’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program.
Heat Bank is a program of the Central Food Network, a registered charity. Volunteers are a vital part of our program. It’s kind-hearted folks that cut, split and deliver well over 55 pick-up truck loads of firewood across Haliburton County every year to households who find themselves in a pinch. Volunteers are also the driving force behind our income tax clinics, assisting households with tax filing in order to access critical benefits such as Canada Child Tax benefits and Guaranteed Income Supplements for seniors.
Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society
Contact: Call our office at (800) 661-2843 ext. 1260
We are looking for volunteer drivers who can drive infant, children, and youth to family visits, camp, school, and various appointments. Drivers are reimbursed for mileage and parking expenses. Some drives are “one time” drives (such as an appointment) and some are “ongoing” (such as to school, or weekly visits), so there are varying needs for drivers. If you only have limited time available, you may still be able to help!
Lochlin United Church
Contact: Helen Burk @ 705-286-6087
Lochlin United Church is looking for new members who can give of their time to help support the church. We meet every Sunday at 10 a.m. We could use help with our fundraisers in the fall and general maintenance.
Minden Agricultural Society
Contact: Eric Casper at casper.3742@gmail.com
The MAS organizes the annual Haliburton County Fair as well as other fundraising events. We are looking for new board members to help make decisions and leading our community events that help promote agricultural awareness in our area.
Whether you are interested in helping or leading a section of our activities which include; horse shows, children’s attractions, food and beverage, music and entertainment, concessions, farm animals, arts and crafts, logistics of running events, social media and more, we would love to have you be part of our organization of like-minded people that care about how food is grown and where it comes from.
Minden Cat Angels
Contact: Don at 705-457-6923 (no texts)
We are a registered charity providing shelter and eventual permanent homes for feral, stray, and abandoned cats in the Minden area. As the demand on us is growing we need some new volunteers to help with care and socialization of cats we are taking in, as well as with general maintenance of our shelter. Our cats have free access to three different areas, and we have just opened up new patio areas spacious enough for anyone that wants to come up and even just sit with some of the cats that need more attention. Our new areas are also being set up as “memorial areas,” so also looking for help from anyone that likes both cats and gardening to help plant and maintain our new “garden areas.”
Minden Community Food Centre
Contact: Jean Munroe, manager at 705-286-6838, mindencommunityfoodcentre@gmail.com
The Minden Community Food Centre began operation in the late 1980’s, providing nutritious food to the needy in the Minden community. Currently, the food centre has approximately 250 family members who benefit from the services of the centre. The food centre located at 24 Newcastle Street in Minden operates with limited full-time staff and approximately 30 volunteers. The volunteer board of directors wishes to encourage additional volunteer help, particularly those with cooking experience who could assist the centre to re-establish the making of nutritious meals for clients.
Minden and District Horticultural Society
Contact: Sue Sisson, 705-286-2000
The objective of the Society is to encourage interest and improvement in horticulture in our district by promoting the protection of the environment, by encouraging the improvement of private and public grounds and by promoting the circulation of horticultural information. Membership fee is $10.00.
Minden Health Care Auxiliary
Contact: Marie Lennard at lennards@interhop.net
Minden Auxiliary is looking for new members who can give of their time to help raise funds to support the Minden Hospital and Hyland Crest long-term care home. Meetings are every two months, and some things we do are raffles, tag day and operate our gift shop.
Minden Hills Cultural Centre Foundation
Contact: mindenhillsccfoundation@gmail.com
The MHCCF supports the whole Cultural Centre through organizing various events including fundraising. One hundred per cent of all funds raised are used to support improvements in the Cultural Centre including new acquisitions. Volunteers are needed to support event setup and operations. The Centre includes the Agnes Jamieson Gallery, holder of the prestigious Andre Lapine Collection, the Museum and Heritage Village, and Nature’s Place. We are looking for people with a few hours a month that want to support a gem of Minden Hills’ cultural community. Whether your interest is in the arts, the environment, or Minden Hills history, if you have a few hours to spare and want to interact with guests or just light setup activity, please join our efforts to showcase and improve the Minden Hills Cultural Centre.
Minden Legion
Contact: 705-286-4541
The Minden Legion is trying to recruit volunteers to help out with various projects/activities at the branch. If you have time, please sign up today. Bartenders, kitchen help and servers, dishwashers, and table bussers for weekend functions. High school students are welcome in order for them to acquire their community service hours.
Minden Pride in the Haliburton Highlands
Contact: Email us at info@mindenpride.ca
Minden Pride hosts a number of events throughout the year, plus our amazing, annual Minden Pride Week (August 22-28, 2022). We have many opportunities for volunteers to get involved, socialize and share in the fun of celebrating inclusivity and diversity in Haliburton County. Interested in helping to organize events, set-up for events, take a shift with the Pridemobile, for example? Find us on social media and check out our website for opportunities to volunteer at upcoming events: www.mindenpride.ca
Minden Rotary
Contact: www.MindenRotary.ca
We are looking for fun-loving, community-minded people that would like to join us at weekly meetings, when they are available. Members help with the events we host throughout the year at the Canada Day barbecue, fall golf tournament, annual dinner/auction, annual online Christmas Auction, participate in the Santa Claus parade on the float, help on the road toll day and other special events. Members can get as involved as they want either by enjoying the socializing with other members or taking on a leadership role if that is what they are looking for. The funds we raise go back into community programs. Give Rotary a try and see if we are the right fit for you!
Minden Sparks, Brownies, Guides and Pathfinders
Contact: Unit Guider (phone or text) 705-455-2100
We meet every Thursday at the Minden Guide and Scout Hall (Room 3, Minden Community Centre). We’re an active, growing multi-branch unit (ages five -11) learning, playing games and having fun together throughout the school year. Guiders work together to support the girl members of our unit to reach their potential and be involved members of our community. There’s so much to do and explore! We camp, we sing songs, we make things, we get outside to explore, we learn about science and technology, we share and lend a hand. There’s lots of great experiences and exclusive training opportunities for our Guider volunteers too, for example, First Aid, camping and canoeing certifications, group activity planning and many other skills transferable to your life outside of Guiding.
Phrag Fighters with The Land Between
Contact: info@thelandbetween.ca or call 705-457-1222
Phrag Fighters protect our waterfront views, recreational lake access, and property values, while decreasing fire hazards and increasing biodiversity. Join us to save our wild and preserve the nature we love to enjoy! Phrag Fighters protect our community from the aggressive and fast-spreading invasive reed, phragmites. Volunteers can help with surveying, removal, or both! As a surveyor, you can work at your own pace to report stands of phragmites that you see within an assigned area. You can also join a team to remove a phragmites stand, with events taking place two or three times during the summer and taking about half a day each.
Places for People, Haliburton Highlands
Contact: info@placesforpeople.ca
Healthy, safe communities begin with you! Our team at Places for People creates and manages quality affordable rental housing in Haliburton County, fostering an environment in which our tenants can thrive. We house seven long-term tenant households in villages across the county and are venturing into multi-unit new-built developments. As a volunteer-driven organization, we are always looking for energetic people to join our team. Your time is important – make every minute count! Get to know us by participating in one of our two major fundraisers – the Highland Yard and Sleeping in Cars – or join one of our working committees – Property Development, Marketing and Fundraising, Finance – then consider joining our Board of Directors. Make a positive, long-term impact in the future of your neighbourhood. Meet us in person at the Home Show June 3, 4, 5 in Haliburton or visit www.placesforpeople.ca to learn more.
Razzamataz Kids’ Shows!
Contact: Dawn Mole-Hurd at 705-854-0728
For over 30 years, Razzamataz Kids’ Shows! has fostered in children an interest in the performing arts by providing access to high quality, affordable children’s entertainment locally and by engaging children actively in the arts. Our artistic vision is to present culturally and artistically diverse artists from Canada and around the world that appeal to children and adults alike and we strive to showcase innovative art forms or innovative ways of presenting traditional art forms.
To bring performers to Haliburton, we are always seeking volunteers to help with any part of the following: managing finances, writing funding proposals and reports, researching and hiring artists, fundraising, organizing venues and artist accommodation, liaising with other presenters, community partners and schools, advertising in print, online and radio, distributing posters and brochures, and lending a hand during the performances.
Stanhope Heritage Discovery Museum
Contact: info@stanhopemuseum.on.ca
We are a happy, co-operative group of volunteers who operate the Stanhope Museum in the summer months on North Shore Road in Algonquin Highlands. Some of us work as volunteer museum hosts – either occasionally or a three-hour shift per week. During the off season, we keep busy cataloguing donated artefacts, creating new exhibits, adding to our Heritage Map and Family Tree websites, scanning photographs, and transcribing archival records. We love to learn about our local history and share it with others. Our friends are foster parents to small citron gardens and our Marmaladies make award winning citron marmalade. If you would like to join us, we’d love to find a spot for you.
The Cats of Paint Lake
Contact: Heather Deveaux, catsofpaintlake@gmail.com or 705-854-0827
The Cats of Paint Lake rescue is a community of awesome people, working together to care for rescued cats, and see to their needs – medical, social, and emotional. The whole team works to prepare feral and stray cats for a chance at a new life in a loving home. The rescue is based out of our clean, climate controlled and friendly facility in Dorset, Ontario.
There are many ways you can help:
- Rescue centre
- Cleaning and feeding
- Deep clean and special projects
- Cat companions to help socialize the cats
- Foster homes, short or long term
- Volunteer drivers – for supply runs, vet visits, and cat pickup and drop-offs
- Board and committee members
- Fundraising and events
- Social media co-ordinator
- Admin support
- Anything else you’d like to offer! If you have ideas about how you might like to contribute, please get in touch!
The Township of Minden Hills
Contact: Elisha Weiss, eweiss@mindenhills.ca or 705-286-1936 x.558
Volunteers needed:
- Assisting with special events held throughout the year within the township (Canada Day, Family Halloween Party, Santa Claus Parade)
- Leading or assisting with sports and recreation programs at the recreation centre
- Assisting with the museum collections, gardening, living history and special events at the Cultural Centre
Turtle Guardians
Contact: 705-854-2888 or email info@turtleguardians.ca
Be turtley inspired! Helping turtles is easy and rewarding. Turtles move in unique ways and have specific needs. They navigate using earth magnetics and the sun, they use the same hibernation, feeding and nest sites year after year and they know where they are going! They keep our lakes and wetlands clean and thriving. They’ve survived five mass extinctions but now they are on the brink of disappearing because of road mortality and persecution. Volunteer as a Turtle Guardian. Learn how to handle our snappy friends, monitor wetlands and protect nests. We are in need of turtle crossing guards, road researchers, nest sitters, and wetland watchers. Turtle Guardians are found in communities across Ontario, and are based in Haliburton County! This is a program of the Land Between charity that works to celebrate and conserve Cottage Country.
Woodlands Wildlife Sanctuary
Contact: woodlandswildlifesanctuary.ca/volunteer
At Woodlands Wildlife Sanctuary at Duck Lake Rd in Minden Hills, we are seeking volunteers to help with the rehabilitation of sick, orphaned and injured wildlife. Minimum five hours per week required. No experience necessary. Must be over 16 years old.
