Volunteer at the house
Volunteers are in the house at every hour: at the bedside, in the kitchen, at the front door, and in the garden. Almost none of them had done anything like it before they started.
Roles
Most volunteers try two or three roles before they settle into one.
Bedside companion
Sit with a resident so a family member can sleep, or so no one is alone. Read, listen, or say nothing.
Kitchen
Cook breakfast, bake, keep the tea going, and learn what each resident feels like eating today.
Garden
Weed, water, and plant along the river slope from April to October. The garden is the view from eight rooms.
Front door
Answer the phone, greet families, and know where everything is. Four-hour shifts, seven days a week.
Grief group co-facilitator
Help a counsellor run the After group or the Tuesday walk. Extra training, and a year at the house first.
Driver
Bring residents to appointments, and family members to and from the house when they cannot get here themselves.
Night companion
Stay with a resident through the night when a family cannot. Most shifts are quiet, and a few are not.
Training
Every volunteer completes the 30-hour hospice palliative care course before their first shift. It runs on Saturday mornings, and the next intake is September 26 to November 14, 2026. After the course you shadow four shifts with an experienced volunteer, then choose your role.
What we ask
- You are 19 or older
- A criminal record check with vulnerable sector search, and an adult abuse registry check. We cover the cost of both.
- Two references
- One four-hour shift a week for a year
- A willingness to sit with sadness without trying to fix it
“I do Tuesday nights. Mostly I make tea and sit. Once a man asked me to read him the hockey scores at two in the morning, so I did.”
Ravi, night companion since 2019
Apply
Jasmine Flett, our volunteer coordinator, will call you within a week to talk about the course and your availability.
This is a demo site, so nothing sent from this form reaches anyone. To ask about volunteering, call 204-555-0142.