Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.
-Author Unknown

Volunteers come from all walks of life, and contribute their time to thousands of different organizations across Canada. We believe every volunteer connection makes a difference in its own way, and helps create a better community in which to live, work, and play.

As a token of recognition to these thousands of community champions, organizations across the country will celebrate National Volunteer Week in Canada from April 16-23.

People volunteer for different reasons, from wanting to help a cause that’s important to them, to looking for a fun way to fill their free time, or as a way to meet new people. Whatever the reason, there’s no doubt that many organizations would not be able to achieve success without the generosity of their volunteers.

FOPLA is one of those organizations, one that wouldn’t be possible without the time and dedication of our more than 300 volunteers. From our Board and Committee members, to the volunteers that run our bookstores on a daily basis, FOPLA is over 99% volunteer-run.

Our volunteers sort, lift, scan, price, sell, manage, promote, translate, and plan every week of the year to help make FOPLA’s mission a reality. They’ve been doing this since FOPLA was created fifteen years ago, and thanks to their efforts more than $3 million dollars has been donated directly to the Ottawa Public Library.

If that’s not deserving of a pat on the back, we don’t know what is. So this week, we pay tribute to our volunteers and every volunteer by saying thank you! Thank you for working with us, for spending your time with us, and for believing that public libraries have an important role to play in our community.

We hope the next fifteen years are just as fulfilling for you as they will be for us.

If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer with FOPLA, check out our current volunteer openings here. For more information, contact us at volunteer@fopla-aabpo.ca or 613-580-2424 x14383.