The Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration recently announced the 2012 Change The World Ontario Youth Volunteer challenge broke all previous records.
This year 28,000 high school students from across the province contributed an outstanding 124,000 volunteer hours during the three-week campaign from April 15 to May 6.
That represents an 87% increase of youth volunteer participants from the previous year, and a 77% increase in volunteer hours.
“Twenty-five Ontario Volunteer Centres and community organizations participated in Change The World this year and the results were incredible,” said Carine Strong, chair of the Ontario Volunteer Centre Network (OVCN). “The results show that youth volunteerism continues to grow strong in the province of Ontario.”
Funded by the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, in partnership with the OVCN, the campaign’s goal is to engage youths across Ontario for at least three hours each in voluntary commitments over three weeks.
This year’s campaign kicked off during National Volunteer Week.
In Guelph and Wellington County, 697 high school students took part, contributing a total of 3,020 volunteer hours over the three week period of the challenge.
“Congratulations to the Ontario Volunteer Centre Network for making this year’s Change The World campaign a great success,” said Charles Sousa, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. “Through hands-on experience, Ontario’s young volunteers are playing a key role in improving all our lives.”
This year, more than 450 communities were involved, and included over 300 schools from close to 60 different school boards.
