For this week’s celebrity, I had the opportunity to interview Alice, an avid U2 Pharmacology student from Vancouver, BC. She is the President of the SSMU Volunteer Service, a student-run service that is solely dedicated to assisting students at McGill who are struggling to find volunteering positions that are truly interesting and related to their pursued major, or to those who simply want to give some of their time to helping others in the city. In the following interview, Alice discusses how she got involved in the service, what you can gain from using the service and how to use it efficiently to meet your interests.
Belle Kim for Her Campus McGill (HC McGill): The club title pretty much says it all, but what would you say is the purpose of the SSMU Volunteer Service?
Alice Yuan (AY): At the basis, SSMU Volunteer Service exists to bridge students to volunteer opportunities. There are plenty of students in their first year or even in their final year really eager to volunteer but find it difficult to locate the right volunteer opportunity. Most of us get a bit stuck in the McGill bubble so stepping outside of it for volunteering can seem completely foreign – and rightly so, with the added language barrier for most. Our goal is to collect volunteering opportunities around Montreal so we can direct students toward the opportunity that best suits their interests and needs.
HC McGill: How did you get involved? More specifically what made you interested in becoming part of the team rather than just taking part in one of the volunteering programs offered from the service?
AY: I remember being in first year, set on going to medical school, and walking to the three hospitals around McGill asking about volunteering. To my dismay, all of them required a level of French higher than I was equipped with at the time so I was pretty disappointed that my dream wouldn’t be realized. That seems rather silly now because there are actually many hospitals around Montreal with different volunteer needs but I just had no idea where else to look. Not long after, I went to the volunteer fair and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of organizations present. There still weren’t many medical-related organizations so I wanted to join the Volunteer Service to change that. While we’re still trying to add more hospitals and health-related organizations to our collection, we’re overall aiming for a wider, dynamic range of organizations to attract more students so that the art history major or the finance major can find something that interests them just as easily.
HC McGill: What do you think is the value of volunteering in a student’s life? After all, our lives get pretty hectic during the school year, sometimes it’s difficult to make time for other activities.
AY: As important as studying is in our time at McGill, I think it’s hard to get a dynamic university experience with your head stuck in a book. I think for the individual student, volunteering is a great way to take your mind off of school for a few hours each week and do something completely different than what’s part of your daily routine. Some of the volunteering opportunities are a bit farther away but that allows exploration into other areas of Montreal that you otherwise never would have ventured to. Volunteering is also a great way to meet new people and build relationships. Lending a hand to people and giving back to the community doesn’t take much time at all and it will really does some good for the soul.
HC McGill: So how does it work? Could you perhaps walk us through the steps of becoming a volunteer?
AY: To start off, all of our listings on the database are tagged so you can directly search for a category, such as hospitals. You could also browse through the database and if you still don’t know what would be fitting, sign up for a consultation! The form on our website is pretty general just to get an idea of your interests but in a few days, a volunteer coordinator will contact you to pinpoint more exactly what you’re looking for. We’ll invite you in for a consultation and from your interests, the coordinator will have prepared a list of opportunities that they believe would be appropriate for you. From that point on, we set you off, and if you get in contact with an organization to volunteer at, we help cover some of the initial transportation costs to go and volunteer.
HC McGill: What does the SSMU Volunteer Service offer to students that students alone would have had more difficulty with?
AY: I think one of the questions I get asked the most often is, “Do I need French to volunteer?” There are so many misconceptions that students have about volunteering in Montreal that they get stumped and feel like it’s impossible to find an opportunity that fits them.We know how frustrating it its to dig through the Internet, trying to find something appropriate. We want to help both students who know exactly what they want to do but just need to find the right organization and students who don’t have the slightest clue at all. There are a lot of organizations around Montreal and it definitely is overwhelming but we’re here to help streamline the search. We’d love to hear from students in the Contact Us section of our website or from emails directed at us at ssmuvolunteer@gmail.com. And the answer to the previous question is no, there are plenty of organizations looking for Anglophone volunteers as well!
HC McGill: I attended the volunteer fair held by the club last year and I remember it being helpful and informative. Does the club have any other similar events coming up?
AY: I’m glad to know that you thought the fair was helpful! We actually hold a volunteer fair at the beginning of every semester so look out for it again in January. Other than the fair, we run a few other services, but what might be most helpful for someone really at a loss for where to volunteer would be our volunteer excursions. Volunteer excursions are when we take a group of students to a certain organization to volunteer for few hours, to show them how it is to volunteer in Montreal. By giving a low commitment opportunity, students can try around different types of volunteer roles and stick to the one that they find best fits them. In the past, we’ve taken students to homeless shelters and soup kitchens. At the moment, we’re looking toward running an excursion to an animal shelter.
HC McGill: The club seems to really try and fit the right volunteer opportunity that corresponds directly to the interest of the individual student. Has any opportunity caught your interests?
AY: I’ve actually done some volunteering at a few soup kitchens around Montreal, namely Benedict Labre House and the St. James Center. Growing up in the quiet suburbs, helping out at these places was a new experience for me. I can’t say I was extremely comfortable all the time but I’m so glad I was given the opportunity to talk, share stories, and connect with people, who I otherwise would have never had the chance to interact with. It was emotional and humbling. I’d like to think it has changed the way I go about life. For anyone volunteering, my advice would be to not be afraid of an opportunity that seems a bit foreign to you or you think might drive you out of your comfort zone. You never know whether you’ll help someone or they’ll help you more.
HC McGill: Do you have any goals you want to achieve together as a club during your time as the President of the SSMU Volunteer Service?
AY: As I became the President last year, I now have more time to set and reach goals for the Service to achieve. First of all, I’d love for all students to know that the SSMU Volunteer Service is present to help them find volunteering programs. At the moment, we’re also working on bridging in more McGill student-run clubs. While there are many more organizations out in the city, there’s a large population of students who are more comfortable helping out around campus instead. And finally, we’d love to see our database grow so please send us an email if you’re part of an organization or club looking for volunteers for an event or in the long term.
For more information, you can email Alice and her team at ssmuvolunteer@gmail.com or please visit the website.
Images obtained from: http://ssmu.mcgill.ca/ssmuvolunteer/about-us/
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