Join Our Team: Become a Volunteer

Through Supporting Cast, PAL Ottawa recruits volunteers who, working together with training and backup, provide direct assistance to our friends and colleagues in the Capital region’s professional arts community. These volunteers provide an array of services, such as shopping or errand assistance, transportation to appointments and arts events, and friendly check-up calls.

Our volunteer facilitators also help friends and colleagues connect with appropriate community-based health and social services in the region. Or they can liaise with caregivers, or members of a local support group to assist them in supporting colleagues or family members.

Supporting Cast helps connect clients to important community resources and resource networks, some of which are listed below. Working together, we hope to provide access to a broad range of health care providers and home support.

  • Community Care Access Centre- Champlain (CCAC)
  • Resources of the Ottawa Community Support Coalition (OCSC)
  • Coalition of Community Health and Resource Centres of Ottawa (CHRC)
  • Victorian Order of Nurses (VON),
  • Other community services, such as Meals on Wheels, Para Transpo, and Legal Aid
  • Other service providers in the areas of mental health, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy

Please consider becoming a Supporting Cast volunteer –

sign up for one of the positions below:

Interested? Get in touch.

Email: supportingcast@palottawa.org

The Resource Referral Facilitator devotes two hours per week to communicating with seniors and others in the professional arts community who need assistance and referral to community social service  agencies and/or community health and well-being  providers. PAL Supporting Cast staff provide support and regularly updated information on which the facilitator can draw. The facilitator will be a good listener who is sensitive to the needs of others, pays close attention to detail, and is non-judgmental.

Commitment: 2 hours per week, 6 months to 1 year

Police Check Required: Yes

Finger Print Required:  No

Volunteer drivers take seniors arts professionals and those with disabilities to medical appointments; they provide a much-needed service to people who are not able to drive or use public transit or Para Transpo. The volunteer drivers use their own well-maintained vehicles to drive clients to and from appointments. The hours for this position are flexible: approximately three to four hours per week, or as mutually agreed.

Commitment: 6 months to 1 year

Police Check Required: Yes

Finger Print Required: No

The Friendly Visitor commits to an in-person meeting with a Supporting Cast client once every two weeks and a telephone call on the week in between. Staff makes every attempt to match volunteers with clients with similar interests. This opportunity is best suited for a patient, calm, compassionate, open-minded, independent and reliable person with excellent interpersonal and communication skills. This opportunity would be great for post-secondary students looking to gain practical experience (e.g. gerontology and social work programs), those retired from fields that involved working with seniors, or those with experience and interest in connecting with seniors. This opportunity operates on a schedule decided upon by the successful candidates and the clients they are paired with in the community.

The friendly visiting program is a wonderful way to give back to the community.

Commitment: Ongoing/minimum: 1 year

Police Check Required: Yes

Finger Print Required:  No

Friendly callers commit to a weekly telephone call to an isolated senior or adult with a physical disability; they are not required to visit clients in person. Calls typically last up to 45 minutes, depending on the client. We make every attempt to match volunteers with clients with similar interests. This opportunity is best suited for a patient, calm, compassionate, open-minded, independent and reliable person with excellent interpersonal and communication skills. This opportunity would be great for post-secondary students looking to gain practical experience (e.g. gerontology and social work programs), those retired from fields that involved working with seniors, or those with experience and interest in connecting with seniors.. This opportunity operates on a schedule decided upon by successful candidates and the clients they are paired with in the community.

Commitment: On-going/ more than 1 year

Police Check Required: Yes

Finger Print Required: No

The Handy Helper assists with odd jobs to ensure that seniors and adults with physical disabilities live in a safe and well-maintained home environment. These jobs include changing light bulbs, changing clocks back or forward, replacing smoke detector batteries, hanging pictures, setting up a TV or a DVD player, and other small jobs.

Commitment: On-going/ More than 1 year

Police Check Required: Yes

Finger Print Required: Yes

Scouts are responsible for connecting senior arts professionals in need with the volunteer support available through Supporting Cast. Clients in this program benefit from a greater sense of security and connection with the community when they receivie a positive, cheerful, friendly “hello” over the phone from a thoughtful and caring volunteer. These clients may be on the waiting list for a suitable match in the Friendly Visitor program. Depending on the client’s need to chat, calls may be short (2-3 minutes) or fairly lengthy (1/2 hour or more).

Commitment: 6 months to 1 year

Police Check Required: Yes

Finger Print Required: No

Volunteers shop for clients (for food and non-alcoholic beverages), according to their stated needs.

Commitment : 6 months to 1 year

Police Check Required: Yes

Finger Print Required: No

The Arts Companion accompanies a Supporting Cast client to arts events. This service  offers an additional opportunity for social contact for socially isolated clients. Volunteers may require their own well-maintained vehicle. Hours are flexible.

Benefits: Personal enrichment through social interchange and volunteer assistance, as well as shared enjoyment of cultural events.

Commitment: 6 months to 1 year

Police Check Required: Yes

Finger Print Required: No