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Get involved
We are looking for the first hands.
A foundation this new does not need much money yet. It needs people. If you can give a few hours a month anywhere between Vancouver and the eastern Fraser Valley, there is something here for you.
Volunteer
Roles we are recruiting for now.
You do not need experience for most of these. You do need to be reliable, because someone is counting on the thing happening.
Seva day volunteer
2 to 4 hours, occasional
Handing out meals on a street run, packing and delivering hampers, running a donation drive table. The backbone of everything we do.
Driver
Flexible, occasional
Collecting food orders, moving goods, and later taking elders to appointments. Requires a valid BC Class 5 licence, a driver's abstract and insurance arrangements we put in place first.
Punjabi and English interpreter
1 to 3 hours, by request
Sitting with a newcomer or an elder and helping them understand what is being asked of them. Quietly one of the most useful things anyone can do.
Blood drive recruiter
A few hours, around each drive
Signing people up for our Canadian Blood Services team, reminding them before the day, and going along to sit with anyone nervous about their first donation.
Youth mentor or tutor
Weekly, term based
Mentorship and school tutoring for young people. Requires a criminal record check with vulnerable sector screening before you start.
Behind the scenes
1 to 4 hours a month, remote
Bookkeeping, grant writing, photography, social media, translating our materials into Punjabi, or helping plan an event. Tell us what you are good at.
What we ask of every volunteer, and what we owe you
From you: a signed role description with clear limits, a confidentiality agreement, a code of conduct, and a criminal record check with vulnerable sector screening if your role brings you into contact with children, seniors or people in a vulnerable situation. The request for that check has to come from us as the organisation, so we handle the paperwork and the reference letter and we cover the cost. Police occasionally ask for fingerprints to confirm identity.
From us: proper orientation, a named person supervising you, insurance in place before you start, reimbursement of out of pocket expenses, and a role that never puts you in a professional position you are not qualified to hold. You will never be asked to counsel anyone, to handle a disclosure of abuse alone, or to work unscreened with a child.
Register your interest
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Thank you. Your message is on its way.
It has gone straight to our inbox and someone will read it. We are volunteers with day jobs, so please give us up to three working days.
If it is urgent, call 604 750 1389 rather than waiting for us.
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If you copy it, paste it into an email to info@sevasangatfoundation.com. Or just call us on 604 750 1389 and skip all of this.
Would rather just talk?
Plenty of people would. Call or write and someone from the team will get back to you.
- Phone
- 604 750 1389
If you speak Punjabi and would be more comfortable in Punjabi, say so and we will make sure the person who calls you back does too.
What happens next
- Someone reads your message. We are volunteers with day jobs, so give us up to three working days.
- We call or write back, in Punjabi or English, whichever you would prefer.
- We talk through what you would like to do and what we actually need, then find where those two meet.
- If your role needs a criminal record check, we start that before you begin and we cover the cost.
There is no pressure at any point. Plenty of people ask a few questions and decide later, and that is completely fine.
Not ready to commit?
Two things you can do today that need nothing from us at all.
Both are free, both take minutes, and both are run by the organisations themselves rather than by us.
Partner or sponsor
We would rather join good work than duplicate it.
There are organisations across the Fraser Valley and Greater Vancouver already doing much of what we care about, with staff, funding and credentials we do not have. Where that is true, our first instinct is to ask how we can help them rather than start a competing version.
We are looking to work with:
- Restaurants and food businesses who could donate or discount meals for a street run, or hold an order open for us on short notice
- Food banks and hamper programs that need collection partners and volunteer crews
- Settlement and community health organisations already serving Punjabi speaking families
- Schools and shelters that can be trusted distribution points for hygiene and menstrual supplies
- Businesses that can sponsor a meal night, a hamper run or a piece of equipment
What a partner can expect from us
- A named contact and a written scope, so nobody is guessing who does what
- Volunteers who are screened, oriented and insured before they arrive
- Honest numbers, including when we fall short
- Your role described accurately in anything we publish, and never overstated
- No use of your name or logo without your written agreement
We will not claim a partnership that does not exist. Where another organisation is named or its logo shown on this website, it is either because they have agreed to it, or because we are pointing you to a public service they run and we say plainly that we are not affiliated with them.
Give goods
In kind donations.
Goods are genuinely useful to us right now, more useful than money in some cases. But there are things we are not allowed to accept, and it is kinder to say so before you fill a car.
Gladly accepted
- New, sealed, in date packaged food from a shop
- New toiletries and hygiene items, sealed
- New menstrual products, sealed and in date
- New socks, underwear, hats and gloves
- Clean, good condition warm clothing and blankets
- New school supplies and backpacks
- Gift cards for grocery stores, so a family can choose for themselves
Cannot be accepted
- Home cooked food of any kind
- Home canned vegetables, meat or fish
- Unpasteurised dairy, uninspected meat or wild game
- Opened or part used packages
- Anything past a true expiry date, and any infant formula or nutritional supplement past its date
- Leftovers from a buffet or an event
- Used mattresses, used undergarments, or damaged goods
- Medication of any kind
Before you drop anything off
We have no office and no warehouse, so please call 604 750 1389 or email info@sevasangatfoundation.com first and we will arrange a collection or a meeting point. Please also note that we are not a registered charity, so we cannot issue an official donation receipt for donated goods, which the Canada Revenue Agency calls gifts in kind. We are glad to give you a written acknowledgement of what you gave, but it carries no value at tax time.