Palliative Care Volunteers must complete the online Hospice Palliative Care of Ontario volunteer training, which takes 30 hours to complete. Through one-to-one matches and facilitated group discussion, volunteers provide support to individuals living with a life-limiting illness and caregivers. Volunteer matches are made based on a client’s preference, and where possible, shared interest, cultures, language and faith. VON Durham Hospice Services implements an early approach to Palliative Care, meaning that supports can be provided to individuals with a life-limiting illness as early as initial diagnosis

Grief and Bereavement Volunteers provide social, emotional and/or spiritual supports to individuals who are bereaved. Our Grief and Bereavement program uses a peer-support model, which requires that volunteers supporting this program must have experienced a significant loss. Grief and Bereavement volunteers can provide supports to individuals both one-on-one or in a group setting. 

Volunteers represent VON Durham in the community at-large and are important ambassadors for VON.

Volunteers help to promote VON Durham Hospice Services programs and supports at local health and information fairs and public events. Throughout the year, there are several fundraising events in the community where volunteer support is always welcome to make these events a success. In addition, volunteers may choose to support ongoing fundraising iniatives such as Charitable Gaming through Delta Bingo (Pickering). 

Administrative volunteers assist during regular business hours at the VON Durham office. Some of the adminsitrative tasks include, but are not limited to:  filing, photocopying, assembling marketing materials and bookkeeping.

The VON CC provides leadership as a Board at the local site level of VON. People interested in this level of volunteering choose to share their expertise and knowledge to enhance organizational objectives and support the goals of advocacy, strategic development and fundraising to enable VON charitable programs to be delivered locally. The VON CC members generally meet in the evenings on a monthly basis. 

The contributions of VON CC are vital to the success of VON in the local community and across Canada. Community Corporation Directors provide leadership, identify local community needs, and advocate for those needs. They also build partnerships in the community, raise funds, and speak on behalf of VON within the community. As such, these boards carry a major responsibility for developing effective relationships with community partners using a strengths-based approach and working together to build a healthy local community.