Helping Hands Society of Cochrane and Area has been an instrumental part of the community over the years, constantly meeting human needs through volunteers who simply just want to help others.
This year marks the 13th year the volunteer linking organization and registered charity has opened its doors. The hope was to make Cochrane a well rounded community with core values adopted from lifetime locals.
"It's kind of neat how they came up with this idea of filling the gaps with things that Cochrane Family & Community Support Services (FCSS) wasn't able to do and to try and make Cochrane a really inclusive community," explains executive director, Matthew Hagel. "Our focus in the new year is to really sustain our programs."
Hagel started his journey with Helping Hands as the new executive director back in July of 2019. Since his enrolment he has been wide eyed at how Cochranites reach out to lend a helping hand. Coming predominately from a humanitarian background, previously working for the organization Independent Living, Hagel is amazed with how a small town like Cochrane can have such a strong, fundamental sense of community to it which he says continues to be represented by the volunteer numbers within the local organization.
Currently Helping Hands has around 230 volunteers but come food drive time that number rises dramatically to over 800.
"We started out just doing the food drives with the Activettes and now we have seven different programs we are running and it's keeping us busy," said Hagel.
Programs the society offers include: Snow Helper program, Summer Do Crew, Newcomer Helper program, Meal Team program, Caring Neighbours and the Food Drive.
One program that has really taken off over the last two years is the Volunteer Driver program. Hagel explains a volunteer will drive a client to medical appointments or essential outings. In 2018, the program did 250 rides and last year they were on target to accomplish 450 rides by the end of the year.
Volunteers contribute their time to assist with food drives, help with snow removal, lawn care, companionship, English lessons, mentorship, handyman services, moving assistance, meal preparation, groceries and plenty of other tasks.
"We are kind of doing an amazing amount of little community things," mentioned Hagel.
Another new initiative for Helping Hands saw 10 volunteers sign up for a palliative care training course provided by local palliative nurses with Alberta Health Services. The program wrapped up in November 2019 and although there hasn't been anyone requesting the services just yet, Hagel feels this is another important resource to have under their belt.
"It's one of those things where we don't know how big it's going to be because you have places like the Bethany here that have care nurses but as the population gets older, they may need those services."
By linking volunteers to those who need help, low income seniors, chronically ill residents, single parents and newcomers can be looked after. The clients of Helping Hands are those who may not have a support network or the financial resources to help themselves.
Hagel explains volunteers are in every branch of neighbourhoods throughout Cochrane which makes them truly efficient in terms of assisting those who may require it. Taking all the programs into account, Helping Hands services around 700 people a year with the food drives being of use to over 5,000.
The need for volunteers is always in demand. If you are interested in pioneering a new goal this year, reach out to Helping Hands at 587-580-9448 or [email protected].
