{"id":3103,"date":"2012-04-11T08:34:43","date_gmt":"2012-04-11T15:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=3103"},"modified":"2012-04-19T11:38:40","modified_gmt":"2012-04-19T18:38:40","slug":"making-the-summer-count-by-donating-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2012\/04\/11\/making-the-summer-count-by-donating-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the summer count by donating time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The semester is rapidly coming to an end and most Camosun students will be scrambling to find a menial summer job to pay off those loathsome bills. But a lot of summer jobs lack relevancy towards a career aspiration.<\/p>\n

For some students, the way around this is to volunteer. Camosun Sports Management student Sarah Smith spends the majority of her free time volunteering, not just in her area of study but also as her way to strengthen the community.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Victoria Film Festival is just one of many volunteer opportunities in Victoria (photo Aaron Licht).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIn the summer I volunteer as a camp counsellor, I\u2019m on the Victoria Goddess marathon committee as a volunteer coordinator, I\u2019ve just signed on with the Greater Victoria Public Library to be a driver to drive books to and from people\u2019s houses who cannot get to the library themselves, I coached a kids\u2019 ice hockey team, and I donate blood as often as I am able,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Smith notes that as important as it is to excel in one\u2019s professional life, it\u2019s more important to help others who don\u2019t have the fortune of a professional life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spend enough time focused on my life, so it\u2019s amazing how taking a little bit of time for someone else can rearrange my priorities and make me realize that young children, impressionable teens, or the disadvantaged are what need our attention,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

For those who cannot commit a lot of time but want to get involved, a good place to look is Volunteer Victoria. This organization even caters to students\u2019 area of study.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe provide guidance for anyone who\u2019s looking for something in particular to fit with their career path,\u201d says program coordinator Leanna Hill. \u201cOur website lists a variety of volunteer positions that coincide with students\u2019 needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the positions available at Volunteer Victoria require an easy three-month commitment, some as little as two hours a week. The site lists numerous organizations, such as the James Bay Community Project, Alzheimer Society, CRD Parks, CFUV 101.9FM, and BC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Wild ARC.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery six months we have a training program and 100 people can come,\u201d says BC SPCA receptionist Amy McLaughlan. \u201cRight now we are full until August, but a lot of people don\u2019t follow through for one reason or another, so we are always accepting volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BC SPCA requires a minimum six-month commitment, although longer is preferred (it\u2019s easier on the animals to have consistency). For students who cannot have a pet, being an \u201canimal companion\u201d is a convenient option. All it takes is a couple of hours a week.<\/p>\n

Volunteering is a great way to network, but in the end it\u2019s about reaching out, touching lives, and giving back to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can take a little bit of time out of my day to help someone I absolutely will,\u201d says Smith. \u201cIt\u2019s vital to care for each other to make our community stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The semester is rapidly coming to an end and most Camosun students will be scrambling to find a menial summer job to pay off those loathsome bills. But a lot of summer jobs lack relevancy towards a career aspiration. For some students, the way around this is to volunteer. Camosun Sports Management student Sarah Smith […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-april-11-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3103"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3233,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3103\/revisions\/3233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}