Volunteer Profiles

Youth Engagement Action Team (YEAT)

The City recruited a team of youth volunteers, ages 15 to 35, for a Youth Engagement Action Team to help the us better understand why youth do not actively engage in civic matters and make recommendations on how to improve engagement. One of the City's strategic directions to create a connected city; increasing and improving opportunities for residents to connect with each other and the City is one way to work towards this goal. 

“City Council recognizes that youth have a lot at stake whenever decisions are made at City Hall,” said Maggie Burton.  “We want young voices to be better heard, so we are recruiting volunteers for an action team that will help us better engage with this demographic.”

With the city's aging population, it is imperative to attract and retain young people to live and work in St. John's, and to get this demographic more actively engaged in municipal matters and decision making. The team is currently gathering feedback from the community and will be preparing a final report with recommendations for Council.

Northern Youth Abroad

In 2020, 16-year-old Dawn Siutinar was welcomed to the Paul Reynolds Children and Youth team as a youth delegate for the Northern Youth Abroad Program. Dawn volunteered for five weeks. She really enjoyed volunteering with children and has an interest in recreation and sports. She comes from the rural community of Coral Harbor, Nunavut with just under 900 residents. We are so excited to have supported her in this adventure and provide her with opportunities to exchange cultures. 

From Junior Volunteer Lifeguards to Staff Positions

Matthew Whelan, Emily Butler and Rebecca Vickers have something in common.  They all have a passion for aquatics, they completed their swim lesson program and joined the City of St. John's Volunteer Junior Lifeguard program and are now current aquatic staff members.

Program Supervisor Leslie Kuntz said: “We implemented our Volunteer Junior Lifeguard program three years ago and it has really boomed in interest.  We wanted to give our youth the opportunity to experience what our aquatic staff do on a day and day basis and to stimulate our participants to pursue an interest in the area of professional lifeguarding.”

Participants can expect to be exposed to physical training, simulated emergency situations as well as on deck pool surveillance training. Emily Butler noted: “I loved how hands on my volunteer experience was. We volunteer side by side with a professional lifeguard doing all the task assigned to them. We were always very busy, and it gave me a better idea what to expect when I pursued employment as a lifeguard.”

“I started swimming at an early age and I always loved going to the pool," said Rebecca. "My Red Cross swimming instructors always encouraged me to do my best and as soon as I heard about the Volunteer Junior Lifeguard Program, I applied right away.”

Matthew Whelan, who began volunteering in February of 2018 said, “I really enjoyed learning how the pool operates day to day.  I thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the staff who were so supportive of the volunteer lifeguards. The City's aquatic staff truly made my volunteer experience so valuable.”

Paul Reynolds Community Garden

In 2021, youth volunteers took on a community garden beatification project.

As a way to promote the community garden, several youth painted the garden beds with multiple vegetables that some of our residents were known to be growing. It was incredible to showcase our volunteer's artistic talents in a way that brings life and beauty to our community.

Come check it out at the Paul Reynolds Community Centre!