Tag Archives: Volunteering

Volunteers

Recognizing Our 2024 Volunteers

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Our annual event to recognize our 2024 volunteers took place in the library of the Royal Canadian Military Institute on the evening of 6 February 2025.

Twenty-five attendees included our weekly volunteers, members of our museum’s Board of Governors, the Curator and Assistant Curators of Casa Loma (which hosts our museum) and Major Rhys Henderson, Deputy Commanding Officer of The Queen’s Own Rifles (on behalf of the Commanding Officer) and Master Warrant Officer Darnel Leader, Quartermaster Sergeant Major Instructor (on behalf of the Regimental Sergeant Major.)

After an hour of socializing and snacking on beef sliders and grilled cheese sandwiches and introductions, Museum Director John Stephens recognized individuals for their hours of service in the past year. From just 6 hours from our newest volunteer Eli to 270 hours by our dedicated Curator, Shaun Kelly.

Thanks to the Casa Loma operator Liberty Entertainment Group, we were pleased to present $50 gift certificates for any of Liberty’s Toronto restaurants to six volunteers with the most hours (except Shaun):

  • Anne (73 hours)
  • Sarah (75)
  • Patrick (77)
  • Brock (95)
  • Bruce (95)
  • Briahna (98)

Three volunteers were also recognized for some significant all-time hours milestones: Graham Humphrey (since 2013) and Briahna Bernard (since 2018)  for surpassing 1,000 hours and Shaun Kelly (since 2012) for reaching 2,000!

Major Henderson congratulated all our volunteers for their important contribution to collecting, caring for, and sharing the long and distinguished history of The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada and the soldiers who served in it.

We are also very grateful for the support of the members of our museum’s Board of Governors for their thoughtful oversight, the Queen’s Own Rifles Trust Fund for their funding, the Regimental Senate for recognizing the Museum as an important part of the Regiment Family, and not least the support of both the leadership and members currently serving in the regiment, particularly for their support on QOR Day at Casa Loma!

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If you would like to provide financial support for the operation of the museum, please note that the government has put in place a temporary extension for donations made before the end of February 2025 which allows them to be used with your 2024 income tax returns.

Volunteers

Acting Curator Awarded 2021 Rifleman of the Year

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I’m very pleased to announce that the QOR Association’s 2021 Rifleman of the Year Award recipient is former Regimental Sergeant Major Shaun Kelly.

As deputy curator of the QOR Museum, he has shared a wealth of knowledge and provided over 1,200 hours of service.

His service in Latvia this year for 7 months has been a credit to Canada and The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada.

Shaun has been very involved with the Association. He stayed connected with the QOR Association group by sharing pictures and updates during his overseas posting. He also kept track of all the emails that have been shared with the Keep Connected Group since they started.

Congratulations to Shaun and well deserved.

Because of previous COVID restrictions, the award was presented to Shaun by the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Scott Moody, at the June 6th, 2022 1860 Club Dinner held at Casa Loma.

 

Volunteers

National Volunteer Week 2022

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Museum Curator, Major John Stephens, CD (Ret’d) is awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers

As many of you will know, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Museum and Archive is maintained totally by volunteers, without their hard work the museum wouldn’t exist. It is fitting that, on Sunday 24 of April 2022, during National Volunteer Week, our Curator, Major John Stephens, CD (Ret’d) should be awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers on behalf of the Governor General of Canada by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario her Honour Elizabeth Dowdeswell, OC, O Ont.

John has, over the last decade, made incredible improvements to our beloved museum that have been praised throughout the Regimental family and the Canadian Army in general. These improvements came because of the time, effort, and attention to detail that John has invested but also because of the incredible team of volunteers he has been able to “rope-in” over the years. Our museum volunteers come from all walks of life; some serving or former soldiers in the Regiment, some through their studies at Toronto schools and others from their interest in military history. Wherever they came from and regardless of if they helped-out for a couple of months or have been with us for ten years, they have made a difference. They have logged over 13,000 volunteer hours and contributed to telling the story of our Riflemen, the Regiment, and Canada that tens of thousands of visitors to our museum at Casa Loma see every year.

Thank-you for your time and congratulations on a well-deserved award.

CWO (Ret) Shaun Kelly, CD

Acting Curator

The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Museum and Archive

Volunteers

Volunteer Recognition Reception

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The Museum held their latest annual volunteer recognition reception in the Library at the Royal Canadian Military Institute on Thursday February 7th.  The purpose of the evening was to give thanks and recognition to our dedicated and hardworking volunteers.  In 2018 our team put in just over 1900 hours although we can be sure there were more hours that weren’t recorded!

Besides our weekly volunteers, three members of the museum’s Board of Governors were present. We were also pleased to have Commanding Officer, LCol Frank Lamie, and MWO Jeff Johnston on behalf of the Regimental Sergeant Major, who both expressed their appreciation for the work of our volunteers and the importance of the museum both internally and externally.

And of course being museum nerds, we were also pleased to receive a tour of new exhibits installed in the last year by the RCMI Museum Curator, Ryan Goldsworthy.

Museum board chair Jim Lutz presented appreciation certificates to the following volunteers who as of 31 December 2018, had provided at least 25 hours of service since 2012 (issued in 25 hour increments):

  • 25 Hours – Mr Colin Sedgwick-Pinn
  • 25 Hours – O/Cdt Steven Ye
  • 50 Hours – Pte Ashley Patoine
  • 50 Hours – Mr Matt Noel
  • 75 Hours – Ms Meryn Winters
  • 200 Hours – Capt Ken Kominek
  • 425 Hours – Ms Cheryl Copson
  • 700 Hours – Sgt Graham Humphrey
  • 750 Hours – CWO (Ret’d) Shaun Kelly

Certificates will also be provided to the following who were unable to attend the reception:

  • 200 Hours – Mr Alex Meyers
  • 425 Hours – Ms Briahna Bernard

Our museum team has a great cross section of serving soldiers, former serving soldiers, museum professionals, and public historians. If you’d be interested in joining our team and helping at the museum on Thursday evenings, please see our volunteering info page and complete a volunteer application. Of if you have questions, you can email the Curator at museum@qormuseum.org.

If you are unable to volunteer but would like to support the work of the Regimental Museum, please consider becoming a sustaining donor!

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General, Volunteers

#GivingTuesday?

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So it’s almost Tuesday. Hopefully you’ve survived the Black Friday crowds or maybe you opted to splurge online instead on Cyber Monday. Or maybe you didn’t partake in either but just got bombarded with promotional emails for the past week. But now we’d like to change the channel because December 1st is not just Tuesday, its #GivingTuesday!

What is GivingTuesday?

Imagine a day dedicated to giving back … around the world, across Canada and in your own community! Just as Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season for many people, GivingTuesday is the opening day of the giving season. GivingTuesday is a global day of giving. GivingTuesday is a time to celebrate and encourage activities that support charities and non profits. Whether it’s making a donation, volunteering time, helping a neighbour or spreading the word, GivingTuesday is a movement for everyone who wants to give something back.

And you’re telling me this because….?

Today and frankly until the end of the year, everyone is telling you they need you to give – Santa boxes for needy children, food banks need volunteers, and many local churches and charities are preparing to receive refugees in the coming weeks. And as passionate as I am about the work we do, I’m not asking that you make support for The Queen’s Own Rifles Regimental Museum a priority over these other urgent needs.

But some of you may be in a position where you can support more than one cause – be that with your money or your time. If you can make a financial donation great – it would go to help us with projects like digitizing 16mm films in our collection before they become unplayable; or to purchase new digital display products that can make our exhibits more engaging. You can donate on our GivingTuesday page to the Queen’s Own Rifles Trust which operates the museum – just type MUSEUM FUND in the online form Message box.

Some of you may be willing to give of your time as volunteers. We have a variety of opportunities. We generally gather at the museum most Thursday evenings from 1900 to 2200 hrs to work on very hands on projects from exhibits to hanging pictures to cleaning to cataloguing. But we also have volunteers who work remotely on research or transcribing or other tasks that don’t require your physical presence. If you’re interested in volunteering with us, check out our Volunteer page and complete an application.

What if I can’t do either at the moment – can I still help?

Giving-Tuesday-2015_250x250_greyYou can always become a social ambassador and share the word on Facebook, Twitter and Instragram about #givingTuesday – just make sure you use this hashtag.

Whatever the cause, we hope you’ll consider investing your time or financial resources or become a social ambassador on #GivingTuesday!

General, Volunteers

National Philanthropy Day and Charitable Giving

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“They who give have all the things.  They who withhold have nothing.”
(Hindu Proverb)

Did you know November 15 is National Philanthropy Day? 

NPD.Sig.Hor.ColorThis special day is set aside to recognize and pay tribute to the great contributions that philanthropy—and those people active in the philanthropic community—have made to our lives, our communities and our world.

What makes philanthropy so special is that no one is required to give of themselves. There are no national laws or regulations which mandate that you must volunteer or get involved. Philanthropy is so powerful and inspiring precisely because it is voluntary—that through the goodness of our hearts, through our need to connect, through our desire to see a better world, we come together to improve the quality of life for all people.

Through your generosity, billions of dollars and volunteer hours are given every year to countless nonprofits and charities around the world. Millions and millions of programs—from feeding the hungry and clothing the needy, curing the sick, saving the environment—happen every day because of you and your commitment to your favorite causes.

On National Philanthropy Day®, charities around the world thank you for your support. Your involvement—whether it’s mentoring, volunteering, giving, staffing an event or showing your support on social media—makes philanthropy possible, and makes National Philanthropy Day so special and meaningful.

Philanthropy and our Regimental Museum

In 2013 we’ve been very thankful for the many generous volunteers who have assisted us in a whole variety of ways at the Regimental Museum. So far this year we’ve seen 43 volunteers provide over 675 hours of service – from cataloging and photography to construction  and painting to exhibit planning and event support! And aside  from these recorded hours, are many many more where are supporters have helped connect with us and share our Museum and the history we tell, through their social media outlets.

Volunteers are really priceless but if we did chose to put a monetary value to their time and effort, even at minimum wage that amount would exceed our annual operating budget – and the year still has a month and a half to go!

We have also been the recipient of gifts in kind from four corporate donors in 2013:

  • The Hudson Bay Company (Flagship Store)- Mannequins
  • Benjamin Moore Paints – Paint
  • Pegasus Catering – Food vouchers
  • Vifloor Canada Ltd – Computers

The Museum’s operating funding (for day to day expenses), rent and  insurance is provided by the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Regimental Trust Fund – to which many of your already contribute financially. Together the Trust, our dedicated volunteers and generous corporate donors form a pretty formidable combination.

But we’d also ask you to consider a special financial donation, particularly in recognition of National Philanthropy Day, to help us move closer to creating a museum of the 21st century – one that will help us tell the very important story of our Regiment and our Rifleman in the most engaging and effective manner we can.

You can mail a cheque to (note your donation is for the Museum Fund:

QORofC Trust Fund
Box 250, Unit 12A
4981 Highway 7 East
Markham, ON L3R 1N1

You can also make a donation online via our Trust Fund’s CanadaHelps page (under Fund/Designation select “Museum Fund”.)

We are most grateful for both your volunteer and financial contributions.

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
(Theodore Roosevelt)