95%
of services are provided in the child or youth's own home
81%
of protection workers are
co-located in the Halton community
The Halton Children’s Aid Society (CAS) relies on more than 200 volunteers.
Juanita Gransaull, a 65-year-old retired office manager who’s been volunteering at Halton CAS for 25 years, is among them. “I love children, that’s why I started volunteering,”said Gransaull. She says she contributes about 160 hours a month to Halton CAS as a driver.
Gransaull is responsible for taking children to daycare, hockey practice, parental visits, court and to trauma centres. “Knowing I have to drive them, it helps me get up in the morning,” said Gransaull. “It’s really just all about the children. They’re just so wonderful.”
Gransaull was bitten by the volunteer bug after she took a trip to England to visit her sister, who is a foster mother. She says that’s what she originally wanted to do, but wasn’t able to at the time. When Gransaull returned home she noticed an ad for Halton CAS looking for mentors for teenage mothers who didn’t have family support and decided to start there.
Last year in Canada, 13.3 million people contributed 2.1 billion hours of volunteer time—that’s the equivalent of 1.1 million full-time jobs! National Volunteer Week, in its 72ndyear, is celebrated from April 6-12, 2014. We encourage you to take the time to thank the volunteers who do so much in our communities.
As the Halton Children’s Aid Society celebrates its 100th Anniversary (1914 to 2014), we want to take the time to thank the many volunteers who have played an essential role in our work over the past 100 years. “Our volunteers truly make a real difference in the lives of the children, youth and families we work with,”notes Nancy MacGillivray, executive director.
