(Fort McMurray, AB – October 28, 2021) – FuseSocial is pleased to announce a three-year partnership agreement with NorthStar Ford that will ensure the Wood Buffalo Volunteer Centre (WBVC) continues to thrive and support local social agencies that depend on the power of volunteers to fulfil their mission.
“We are incredibly grateful to NorthStar Ford for their generous contribution,” says Chantal Beaver, Executive Director of FuseSocial. “Under this new partnership, the NorthStar Ford Wood Buffalo Volunteer Centre (NFWBVC) will continue to support capacity building within the social profit sector through active volunteer recruitment and engagement, as well as mass volunteer coordination needed for recovery efforts and disaster risk reduction.”
“As a family and a business, we have always maintained a core value to support the exceptional community that has supported us,” says Dennine Giles, owner of NorthStar Ford Lincoln. “Through this partnership, our contribution will support countless agencies and groups by streamlining volunteerism, which in turn allows theses agencies to focus on social problems and supporting our community’s most vulnerable. Our community was built upon helping one another and this initiative is glowing example of exactly that.”
The NFWBVC will continue to promote volunteerism and support agencies and groups by providing a platform for them to find appropriately matched volunteers vital to local social programs and events, recruit and train skilled board members, and build capacity in the local social profit staff and volunteer workforce. In addition to the day-to-day volunteer support, the NFWBVC will continue to work as a critical partner to Emergency Social Services during emergency activations, as they did during the 2016 wildfire and 2020 flood. And more recently, NFWBVC partnered with the Artic Winter Games 2023 to recruit and coordinate volunteers.
Since 2020, the NFWBVC has registered more than 3,500 volunteers and produced over 15,000 hrs of volunteer service which equates to a value of over $400,000, in the middle of a pandemic no less.
This partnership could not have come at a better time. Until now, the WBVC was funded heavily by the Canadian Red Cross Wildfire Recovery Fund – an agreement that is set to expire in early 2022. Without funding, WBVC capacity would have been cut by at least 50 per cent which would have left our community without this powerful resource.
FuseSocial wishes to express its sincere gratitude to the Canadian Red Cross for their support during wildfire recovery efforts. FuseSocial’s volunteerism efforts are also funded in part by Suncor Energy Foundation, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, and the Government of Alberta.
About the NorthStar Ford Wood Buffalo Volunteer Centre | woodbuffalovolunteers.ca
The NorthStar Ford Wood Buffalo Volunteer Centre aims to strengthen the community by supporting volunteerism within the social profit sector and Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo as a whole. Woodbuffalovolunteers.ca provides a one-stop-shop for local volunteer opportunities, and an effective and efficient way for organizations to recruit, retain, and reward volunteers. The NFWBVC also strives to demonstrate leadership in the world of volunteer management by stewarding best practices, facilitating opportunities for continued learning and networking, and promoting the value of volunteerism and its role in creating a healthy
For more information, please contact:
Chantal Beaver, Executive Director, FuseSocial
P: 587.646.3346