We can always count on our volunteers to be passionate, interesting, and engaged. ONFE has been privileged to recruit and train school volunteers for 27 years.  

 

This year, before the pandemic, 1,259 volunteers were placed in schools through our Ottawa Volunteers in Education program. These amazing people read to children to boost literacy skills, tutor math, and assist teachers in many ways. From September to March, they worked an estimated 1.1 million volunteer hours! 

 

Volunteering tends to give more than it takes. With the unfolding pandemic, we’ve heard many of our volunteers say just how much they miss the kids, and how they look forward to seeing them again.  

 

To keep the connection in this new virtual-focused world, we’ve been using our Facebook page to highlight some of our volunteers’ special skills, and to connect them with K-12 students, through a campaign called ONFE Learns. 

 

Through ONFE Learns, we’ve learned how to make sourdough bread and feed sourdough starter.

 

 

 

We’ve had stories read to us by several volunteers, in French and English. 

 

 

 

We’ve learned how to ‘Sway Like a Palm Tree’ in a dance lesson from recent Nepean High School grad Rachel Lowenberg and got a tour of an accordion from volunteer Tim Mark. 

 

We’ve found a library of math tutoring videos from our volunteers. Midori Fujita and her friend Chelsea Jodoin started a Youtube channel focused on answering the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of math concepts for students grade 6 and up. Emil Dukovac started a Youtube channel with a focus on geometry, particularly for students preparing for high school. 

 

We’ve learned how to build a story with Timm Holmes  – for kids but appropriate for creative writers of any age. 

 

 

We love how these ONFE Learns videos have highlighted the many skills of ONFE volunteers. This is only a tiny sample of all the amazing people across our city who give their time and energy to make K-12 student experiences better. 

 

Thank you to all of our volunteers! 

 

 

*Please note that for all external links of volunteer teaching, ONFE does not have control over the content posted.