ChangeTheWorld: Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge is a program to encourage Ontario young people age 14 to 18 to take part in volunteerism. It also helps Ontario high school youth get their 40 hours community service required for graduation.

The Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration began the campaign in 2008 to mark National Volunteer Week. The campaign operates in partnership with the Ontario Volunteer Centre Network.

2010 Campaign

The 2010 campaign started during National Volunteer Week on April 18 and ended on May 9. The campaign’s goal was 10,000 Ontario youth to volunteer for three hours during the campaign. Twenty-one communities participated in 2010, led by local volunteer centres. The 2010 campaign attracted 11,328 young people who volunteered a total of 41,683 hours.

Role of Volunteer Centres

Local volunteer mobilize youth volunteers for the campaign. They do this primarily by outreach to local high schools and to community organizations needing volunteers. Local volunteer centres plan and coordinate youth for and verify each student’s participation so their volunteer hours can count toward their community service.

Campaign Growth

The ChangeTheWorld – Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge has grown every year since its inception. Approximately 900 youth from seven communities participated in 2008. In 2009, approximately 8,500 youth from 19 communities took part. The 2010 goal was 10,000 youth in 21 communities to participate.

Types of Activities

Students participate in many different types of volunteer activities including tree planting, entertaining seniors, trail clean-up, fund-raising, food and clothing drives, fun-runs, community clean-ups, serving at homeless shelters, sewing sleepwear, leading fitness classes for seniors and artifact drives for local museums.

Celebrity Support

Degrassi: The Next Generation

Degrassi: The Next Generation

Degrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979. Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, and follows The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and...

, David Suzuki

David Suzuki

David Suzuki, CC, OBC is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department of the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001...

, Rob Dyer (Skate4Cancer), Fefe Dobson

Fefe Dobson

Felicia Lily "Fefe" Dobson is a Canadian singer-songwriter. Her self-titled debut album earned her two Juno Award nominations. Her second album, Sunday Love, was not released and she was terminated from her recording company...

, Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber

Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer, songwriter and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager...

, Rick Mercer

Rick Mercer

Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist, and blogger.Mercer first came to national attention in 1990, when he premiered his one man show Show Me the Button, I'll Push It, or Charles Lynch Must Die at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in...

, Craig Kielburger

Craig Kielburger

Craig Kielburger, CM, MSM, OMC is a Canadian activist for the rights of children. He is the founder of Free The Children and co-founder of Me to We. On February 20, 2007, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada by the Governor General of Canada.-Early life:Kielburger was born in Thornhill,...

, John Mitchell

John Mitchell (ice hockey)

John Mitchell is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre currently playing for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League...

 (Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...

), Jarrett Jack

Jarrett Jack

Jarrett Matthew Jack is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA. At 6' 3" tall and weighing 197 lbs , he primarily plays at the guard position...

 (Toronto Raptors

Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's re-expansion...

), Colin Doyle

Colin Doyle (lacrosse)

Colin "Popeye" Doyle is a lacrosse player an captain for the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League and the Toronto Nationals of Major League Lacrosse.-NLL career:...

 (Toronto Rock

Toronto Rock

The Toronto Rock is a lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse League . They play at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The Rock of the late 1990s / early 2000s has been called a dynasty, having won five NLL championships in seven years. From 1999 to 2003, the Rock appeared in an NLL-record...

), Kevin Weekes

Kevin Weekes

Kevin Weekes is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who most recently played for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League . He is now a color commentator on Hockey Night in Canada, and a studio analyst for NHL on the Fly.- Player :Weekes' career began with the Owen...

, Don Cherry and Ron MacLean

Ron MacLean

Ronald Harold "Ron" MacLean is a Canadian sportscaster for the CBC who is best known as the host of Hockey Night in Canada.-Early life and career:...

.

Participating Communities

2010 Campaign

Alliston, Belleville, Brockville, Burlington, Cambridge, Chatham – Kent, Fort Frances, Guelph, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Markham, Midland, Mississauga - Brampton – Caledon, Ottawa, Richmond Hill, Sault Ste. Marie, St Catharines, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Toronto

2009 Campaign

Belleville, Burlington, Cambridge, Guelph/Wellington, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener/Waterloo, Larnark-Frontenac-Lennox-Addington, Leeds-Grenville, London, Mississauga-Brampton-Caledon, Ottawa, Richmond Hill, North Simcoe, South Simcoe, St. Catharines, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Windsor West.

2008 Campaign

Timmins, Kingston, Ottawa, Markham, Hamilton, Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo.

External links

• Ontario 2010 Youth Volunteer Challenge Webpage http://ontario.ca/changetheworld
• National Volunteer Week http://volunteer.ca/nvw
• Ontario Volunteer Centre Network http://ovcn.ca
• Volunteer Toronto Youth Portal http://youth.volunteertoronto.ca