Our friends at Growing Chefs! are looking for volunteers for 2019. This is one of our favourite non-profit programs in the Lower Mainland. We have seen and experienced the difference they’ve made with kids in our own neighbourhood and community, so we hope some of our readers who have some time to spare will consider stepping up to lend them a hand. Here’s their call-out and a link to their volunteering page.

It’s the perfect time of year to be thinking about those spring gardens and the start of another session of the Growing Chefs! Classroom Gardening & Cooking program. We are busy getting prepared for our program launch in April but are still looking for MORE VOLUNTEERS to help us reach even more kids this year.

Do you want to give back to your community by growing healthier kids, connecting them to their food, providing healthy food options, and teaching them valuable life skills? We’re looking for people like you to join us in the classroom.

If you’ve been thinking about volunteering, now is the time! We are looking to confirm our volunteer numbers by March 22nd and have 3 more volunteer training sessions scheduled so don’t delay in registering to volunteer!

We need volunteers for classes in Vancouver, North Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Langley, New Westminster, Port Moody, Coquitlam, and Victoria!

Volunteering is a great way to give back but also a great way to connect with like-minded people in your community, learn new skills yourself, and gain valuable leadership and team-building experience.

We are even offering team volunteer experiences for local restaurants and businesses where 3 or 4 of your staff can volunteer together in the same classroom – a great way for your business to get involved in the community and for your staff to connect in a fun meaningful way. Email [email protected] to find out more and register a volunteer team.

Volunteering Outline

– Volunteer commitment is minimal; it’s only 4 hours a month— 2 hours every 2 weeks, from April – June.

– Teams of three volunteers are paired with an elementary school classroom, Gr. 1-3 where they follow detailed lesson plans from our Growing Chefs! Classroom Gardening and Cooking Curriculum.

– The program starts the first or second week of April until late June, running every second week in the mornings from about 10:30am to 12:00pm on a weekday that works for your schedule.

– You will join us for one, half-day volunteer training where you will learn how the program works, the lessons you will be guiding students threw, as well as many tips and tricks for teaching kids about healthy food. More information will be sent when you apply to volunteer.

– Sign up to volunteer!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact our Program Manager, Amanda Adams, at 778.885.1308 or [email protected].

The number of classrooms we can deliver programming to depends on the number of volunteers. Please apply to volunteer as soon as possible!