Volunteer Airdrie Society’s Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC Airdrie) appointed Jessica Neufeld as their new Director of Program Administration in early December.
Neufeld is not new to the world of volunteering, as she has spent the last nine years helping out various organizations in Airdrie.
After previously being heavily involved with the Airdrie Girl Guides, she was happy to switch over and join Volunteer Airdrie's youth-focused group and take on a position with YVC Airdrie.
“I think it's a goal of many volunteers to be able to put those skills they've learned through volunteering toward something that can help their family,” Neufeld said.
Since December, Neufeld has been managing the volunteer corps’ programming, overseeing a staff of three team leads at the service-based organization.
“It's my job to make sure we are delivering the best possible programming and that it's a safe and inclusive environment for everyone,” Neufeld said.
Established in September 2019, YVC Airdrie’s mission is to create volunteer opportunities for adolescents and teenagers to address community needs and inspire youth to a lifetime commitment to service, Neufeld explained.
According to the YVC website, YVC is a network of affiliated organizations across the U.S. and Canada offering team-based, structured, diverse, flexible service-learning opportunities for youth.
“Essentially, my job is to try to find opportunities for youth to get out into the community and do some good things,” Neufeld said. “We all know that youth have great ideas and great energy, and if they have some mentorship and some good support, they can do amazing things.”
Youth volunteers from Airdrie YVC were busy in the summer of 2020, maintaining a Crossfield-area called The Garden of Hope. Members harvested the produce grown in the garden and donated it to the Airdrie Food Bank and the Airdrie Rotary Community Kitchen.
Later that year, a group of Airdrie youth participated in the 2020 CANstruction contest, assembling 837 canned food items at the local Real Canadian Superstore into a three-dimensional sculpture of the Rocky Mountains.
Other projects in which YVC Airdrie has been involved included helping out at the 2020 Alberta Winter Games in Airdrie and at the annual Airdrie Festival of Lights (AFOL).
While Neufeld will be doing a lot of administrative work behind the scenes, she hopes to interact and work alongside the youth as much as possible as they conduct their projects.
She believes that working with the youth as a team, instead of a boss, will help empower them.
Volunteering is more important than ever due to the impact of COVID-19 on the community, she added, and for the fact that many people have been fairly sheltered for the past two years.
A lot of the programming at YVC Airdrie is youth-led, meaning the organization seeks out what the young members value and are passionate about, she said.
“If the youth aren't behind what we're doing, if they're not passionate about it, if they're not excited about it, they're not going to want to do it,” Neufeld said. “That's the difference with YVC – the youth actually lead the way in the programming. They're invested in it.”
Neufeld hopes to bring her own ideas to the role and make the leadership position her own. She said she has a fairly laid-back collaborative leadership style and likes to work with people and hear different ideas. Giving everyone a voice promotes ownership of the work and staff and youth become more invested, she said.
“I'm a mother of three. My children are 13, 19, and 21, so I know how much having a compassionate inclusive safe environment to work in with someone who really has your back can really help you to grow,” she said.
Neufeld is excited to make connections with people, get out in the community, and do some really good work with local youth.
She said YVC Airdrie provides great opportunities for local youth ages 11 to 18. There’s even room for youth to take some leadership initiative at the organization, like joining the youth advisory board.
“We'd love to see youth that want to take a little bit more of a leadership role, that want to get involved in the community on a little higher level,” Neufeld said. “My goal this year is just to see this organization grow.”
