Volunteers are at the core of what we do at HOPE. We’re celebrating National Volunteer Week by featuring some of our amazing volunteers.
Join us in learning about Yuri, one of our stellar Logistics volunteers and the 2024 recipient of our Spirit of HOPE award.
Questions and answers have been edited for clarity.
How long have you been volunteering with HOPE for?
I’ve been volunteering for about 20 years now.
What inspired you to join?
To be honest, I got asked to join up from my brother-in-law. It was only supposed to be for one year and I got hooked.
Do you still do the same role that you started with?
Yep. I've taken on more roles as things come along. But essentially, yeah, taking care of the nets.
Why did you choose to do the nets?
Well my skill set made it easy for me to jump into adopting that role and able to provide some of my knowledge to make the job easier and better for the volunteers.
Tell us a fun story about your experience volunteering with HOPE.
Fun ones? They’ve all been fun. Dealing with the volunteers is probably the best part of it all. Every group is different every year. You get to meet new people all the time. So probably that, every year is great. I always like meeting new people.
Do you get a lot of recurring volunteers as well?
I do, yeah. Past couple of years, we've had a bunch of recurring volunteers. So I'm always glad to see them.
What’s involved in net maintenance?
You're doing everything. So nets might fall down. Nets might be droopy. Court marks might be out of line or whatnot. But it's gotten a lot easier over the years. When I first started, it was an all day affair. There were ten of us, we were all running around. And last year, I think I got maybe 5 or 6 calls.
That’s a bit of pressure then!
At first it was, but then I realized everybody's just there for fun anyways. As long as you smile and explain why you're late and whatnot.
What was it like receiving that Spirit of HOPE award?
Oh, it's definitely an honor. It was nice to be recognized by my peers and I put in the good work. I didn't actually think anybody would nominate me. I’m just floating in the background, doing my thing just happy go-lucky and I didn't realize it impacted so many people in certain ways. So it was nice.
Do you have any advice for someone who is thinking about volunteering at HOPE?
Do it. Go into it full tilt and don’t hold back. If you have any ideas about changing anything. Feel free to voice it. And it's always good to have new ideas.
Thank you, Yuri, for being a part of our HOPE family.
Join our volunteering squad! hopehelps.com/volunteers
