On Saturday, 5 February 2022 we hosted a ‘Volunteer Appreciation Day’ for our (young) adult volunteers. As a foundation, we believe strongly in contribution made by volunteers: our 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩 work would not be complete without their time and dedication to youth.
Our volunteer pool knows different categories, all who contribute to our work in different ways:
1. Heart-Centered Impact Coaches (HCICs):
One of the pillars of our heart work who assist in our activities, facilitate small groups, guide youth in carrying out projects, and become buddies for other youth. HCICs reflect the 5 heart-centered core values and are role models and mentors for their younger peers. HCIC’s follow training to prepare them for their roles and must assist a minimum of 4 Impact Activities during a calendar year.
2. Heart-Centered Youth Leaders (HCYL):
Heart-Centered Youth Leaders are youth role models who reflect the core heart-centered values and carry out projects and activities for the community. Youth between the ages of 14-17 learn about leadership through a heart-centered values perspective and give back to their community via different projects and activities.
3. Heart Team:
Volunteers who play an equally important role and assist in many other creative ways. For youth, they get the opportunity to assist in recruitment initiatives, help with behind the scenes work in preparation of or after an activity or seminar. For adults, they can be trained to guide small groups during Impact Café, help during our Heart-Centered Activities by doing behind the scenes work in preparation for a seminar or activity or by assisting during a seminar, and more.
To thank the group of volunteers who we call Heart-Centered Impact Coaches and our Heart Team volunteers, we hosted a Volunteer Appreciation Day at Art.ish Café in San Nicolas.
Besides showing our appreciation, we also guided them through a small goal-setting session and discussed how we can continue to support them in their roles as volunteers with us.
The day was a little bittersweet as we said ‘te oro’ to our Heart-Centered Impact Coach candidate Alyeska, who is returning to the Netherlands to complete her Master's degree. We surprised Alyeska with her certificate of completion of the first phase of the Heart-Centered Impact Coach training and with the recognition that she is our Volunteer of The Year.
The Volunteer of the Year award is organized by CEDE Aruba annually and recognizes the work of volunteers in Aruba. It was a difficult decision to choose one volunteer among our group, but Alyeska stood out this year for going the extra mile and for taking a leadership role among her group of volunteers to help organize an extra activity for our HCYL candidates.
Thank you, Alyeska for your heart work! We hope to see you soon again!
We aim to strengthen our volunteer pool in 2022 so that we can organize more empowering activities and reach more youth. If you are interested in making an impact in the lives of youth, consider joining us as a volunteer! You can register to become a volunteer by filling out this form. There are many different ways to volunteer, read more in the like above.
