Major shortage in volunteers across Winnipeg

Siloam Mission is sharing that they are currently in the midst of a crisis-level volunteer shortage.

"As we've come out of the pandemic here at Siloam, we've been struggling to get back to a full complement of volunteers," says Luke Thiessen, the Communications Manager at Siloam Mission. "We've really been feeling the pinch lately as we struggle to keep our kitchen fully staffed with volunteers and our donations sorting areas."

People can commit to any time that works for them, according to Thiessen.

"There isn't a specific time commitment. We do have set volunteer times depending on what role you'd like to do and when you're available but it is very flexible."

Siloam is specifically in need of volunteers during the evening and weekends. 

"Whether you're in the kitchen or our donations sorting, the shifts are generally no more than a couple hours long." 

Thiessen encourages people to volunteer with a group of people if they don't want to come on their own.

"If you have a group, a church group, youth group, sports group, a work group even of your colleagues and you want to come as a group that's really helpful for us. Then we can fill an entire meal shift or donations sorting shift with you and your friends."

Province-Wide Issue

Thiessen says this volunteer shortage isn't just at Siloam. 

"We've been hearing across our sector things that we're finding challenging at Siloam Mission, many other places, charities, and social services are finding challenging as well. Volunteering is definitely one of them."

Thiessen says there are a few reasons for this shortage. For some people, they don't want to come back for fear of COVID. Others have had lifestyle changes that make it difficult to volunteer as they once did. Still others have retired or moved away. 

"We're needing to adapt, us and many charities across Manitoba."

For anyone who is interested in volunteering at Siloam Mission, they can ask questions and fill out the application on their website.