Youth in Nanaimo are striving to make a difference in the community by volunteering.
These youth help build community togetherness by helping organizations host events throughout the city. This summer, the youth volunteers, age 11-18, logged about 1,100 hours.
"This is a real positive take on what kids want to do in our community," said Rita Innamorati, from Volunteer Nanaimo. "A lot of things that happen in Nanaimo without volunteers would never happen."
Volunteer Nanaimo's youth program is a summer initiative but the organization hopes to expand it to run year-round. Innamorati said Volunteer Nanaimo wants to raise money to hire a part-time facilitator to coordinate the youth volunteers.
All other positions within the organization are volunteer, but she said it is a huge job to oversee a year-round program and because all youth volunteers are under 16 they must have an adult supervisor.
To raise money, Volunteer Nanaimo is hosting Touch-a-Truck, an event featuring family activities and a wide variety of trucks and vehicles, including vintage tractors, logging trucks, ambulances, army and police vehicles, and more.
Touch-A-Truck is Sept. 20, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Beban Park fairgrounds. Admission is by donation.