This out from city:

We are recruiting volunteers for the 2016 City of Vancouver Homeless Count. The count will take place throughout the city inside shelters during the evening of Wednesday, March 9, 2016 and on the streets during the day on Thursday, March 10, 2016.

By volunteering for the count, you will be helping to gather valuable information that governments, service providers, community groups, and funders use to plan appropriate programs to address homelessness and measure our progress in reducing homelessness.

We hope you will participate as a volunteer by completing the online application form (http://vancouver.fluidsurveys.com/s/2016volunteerhomelesscount/ ) by Friday, January 29, 2016. We also welcome you to recruit amongst your friends and colleagues whom you know would be good at this. Please feel free to forward this email on to them.

Ideal volunteers

· Are compassionate, accepting, and comfortable with one-on-one conversation

· Have a “customer service” orientation to life

· Have a non-judgmental attitude and a good sense of humour

· Are outgoing, curious, persistent and not afraid to make mistakes

· May have worked with or befriended people who are homeless or in deep poverty

What’s involved?
The Homeless Count involves identifying and conducting a brief anonymous survey with people who are homeless. The shelter survey on March 9 will be conducted in emergency shelters. The street survey on March 10 may involve walking around a neighbourhood. Shifts will be 2 to 3 hours and volunteers will be required to attend a 2-hour training session in late February or early March 2016. Volunteers must be 19 years of age or older.

Background
Homeless Counts have taken place in the City of Vancouver in 2002, 2005, 2008 and annually since 2010. The counts provide critical information on the number and characteristics of our city’s homeless population and how this population has changed over time. To read the Homeless Count 2015 report, please visit http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/vancouver-homeless-count-2015.pdf.

Thank you for your willingness to participate as a volunteer and your help to recruit others!

If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Hales at [email protected] or 604-873-7004.

Please complete the online application form (http://vancouver.fluidsurveys.com/s/2016volunteerhomelesscount/ ) by Friday, January 29, 2016.

Thank you.