RCRG - Blog - An Eye-Opening Experience
Did you know?
More than 100 young leaders have graduated from the Youth Now program.
Each year, over 100 non-profit professionals attend our training opportunities.
Over two dozen non-profit organizations have participated in the Youth Now program.
The CCRR provides nearly 400 child care referrals per year.
On average, the CCRR hosts 30 workshops and training courses each year.
Every year, over 500 child care providers and parents attend CCRR training opportunities.
Every year, RCRG completes over 3,000 grocery orders for local seniors.
Nearly 300 seniors make use of our Better at Home services.
Our volunteer drivers complete more than 1,200 trips annually.
At least 350 people per year find a volunteer position using our Volunteer Match program.
Close to 500 volunteers support RCRG’s programs and services.
Volunteers contribute nearly 23,000 hours to our organization each year.
Each holiday season, the Richmond Christmas Fund helps more than 2,200 low-income residents.
Every year, the Christmas Fund provides over 600 children with toys, books, and sports equipment.
The Richmond Christmas Fund was first started by Ethel Tibbits, in the 1930s.
The number of Neighbourhood Small Grants we’ve awarded has increased every year since 2014.
Block parties are the most popular type of Neighbourhood Small Grant project.
Every year, the Richmond Women’s Resource Centre serves over 7,300 local women.
The Richmond Women’s Resource Centre currently offers 16 programs and services.
Nearly 60 volunteers support the Richmond Women’s Resource Centre, contributing nearly 2,500 hours per year.
Richmond is home to over 350 registered charities, all of which rely on volunteer support.
There are nearly 13 million volunteers across Canada.
International Volunteer Day is celebrated throughout the world on December 5.
There are 35 volunteer centres in British Columbia.
In 2016, the Foundation awarded 10 grants to non-profit organizations, worth a combined $59,000.
The Foundation manages $6 million in 60 Forever Funds, returning, on average, CPI plus 4%.
Between 2020 and 2022, the Foundation distributed $656,000 in grants, scholarships, charitable disbursements, and Emergency Community Support Funds.
Foundation activities result in the enhancement of our community and residents’ sense of belonging.
ROCA has raised over $21,000 for local charities.
ROCA has performed its Elementary School Concert Series to over 8,000 students.
ROCA provides mentoring and life changing opportunities for aspiring musicians.
The Richmond Arts Coalition was founded in November of 2005.
RAC co-produces the ArtRich exhibition every two years!
RAC highlights Richmond's arts events in a monthly email.
The Richmond Music School is the oldest not-for-profit music school in Richmond.
The Richmond Music School offers affordable music lessons through its diverse programming.
Our students performed 40 hours of music to welcome the Olympic athletes to the 2010 Olympic Games.
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RCRG Blog

An Eye-Opening Experience

Published August 29, 2016

This year, our dynamic duo of summer co-op students was comprised of Vinnie Tham and Michelle Hui. Just as Vinnie did back in July, Michelle has written a blog post describing her experience at RCRG, where she worked with our Seniors Community Support Services. From taking grocery orders to scheduling volunteer drivers, Michelle did all that was asked of her - and much more! In a little over three months, she became an integral part of our team. Suffice it to say, we miss her already, but of course, wish her all the best as she returns to school. 

Working as a Program Assistant in Seniors Community Support Services this summer provided me with many firsthand experiences in helping seniors who are in need. These gave me valuable opportunities to build skills, to learn how non-profit organizations operate, and to better understand the services that seniors are looking for in our community. 

I mainly worked with two services: the Shopping program, and the Richmond Better at Home Transportation service. I assisted the Shopping program by taking grocery orders over the phone and shopping at Safeway. For Better at Home, I arranged rides for seniors and coordinated our volunteer drivers. 

The Shopping program was a fun yet challenging experience. I didn’t know how difficult it was to help someone buy groceries until I had spent ten minutes figuring out who “Miss Vickie’s” and “Granny Smith” were. Having said that, shopping at Safeway was very enjoyable! I got to learn how a volunteer program was managed, as well as to know a group of caring and dedicated volunteers who helped keep this program running. (And working while shopping was definitely the best part of this job!)

Arranging over 120 rides per month for seniors was not an easy task. Given that we were short of volunteer drivers while having huge demands of ride requests, this allowed me to acknowledge the imbalance of supply and demand in our community. I could also see the frustrations of seniors and their strong needs for community resources, as well as the stress their caregivers were facing. I’m very glad to have had the chance to work in Seniors Community Support Services, as it provided as many services as possible to meet seniors’ needs. Being able to give practical help to seniors, and to actually witness the help that they have received, was a very fulfilling moment. 

Apart from the above, I was fortunate to be able to help out with our bi-annual special event: Summer WHAM (Wellness, Health and More). This event aimed to provide seniors with all sorts of community resources and information, by hosting information booths from different non-profit organizations and having a music therapy presentation. It was very rewarding to see how everything came together from scratch, and to realize just how much seniors benefitted from the event!

It has been a great pleasure working at Richmond Cares, Richmond Gives, where everyone was very welcoming and caring. Thank you for having me this summer and allowing me to have such an eye-opening and educational work experience with you all!

Photo Caption: Michelle Hui, our summer co-op student, helping out at Summer WHAM. Photo Credit: Vivien Poon