BONNYVILLE – When it comes to organizations that operate with large contributions from volunteers, it may surprise residents to know that the Bonnyville Victim Services (BVS) team is heavily outweighed by their volunteer members.
“We are a small and mighty team,” said Connie Chileen, the assistant program manager for BVS.
The team is made up of five volunteer advocates, seven community board members, and two paid staff members – Debbie Winstone, the program manager, and Chileen.
“We have two service dogs. Romeo is a three-year-old black lab, and Odie, he is a yellow lab and he’s 10 years old and semi-retired. I’m not sure if you consider the dogs volunteers or not, but they don’t get paid,” Chileen laughs.
BVS’s small group of volunteers need to be dedicated in order to provide rapid response in emergency situations 24 hours a day, including weekends and holidays.
With only two staff members, BVS volunteers are relied on during weekday evenings, as well as 24-hours a day on weekends and holidays.
Typically, a volunteer BVS advocate will be on-call one week out of the month and will also participate in community events and monthly meetings, she explains.
“Our volunteers are really important to us, and they are very valued. We know that they are giving a lot. There is a huge expectation and there's also a huge appreciation for them,” says Chileen. "We love our volunteers.”
Because of the serious nature of work that BVS advocates do, there are also extra layers involved with volunteering. This includes in-depth security checks and highly specific training to handle the wide range of calls that advocates can be dispatched too.
While Victim Services always welcomes new volunteers of all backgrounds, she notes that it is a role that comes with a very heavy and emotional commitment.
"It takes a lot of time to do, and there's a lot of investment in it. So, it’s not for everyone that’s for sure,” says Chileen. “You can get called at two o'clock in the morning. If you're working and you get called at two o'clock in the morning, and then you have to get up at six for work. It's a big ask.”
In 2021, the BVS team of just seven advocates – and two dogs – provided assistance on 978 files.
Broken down, advocates supported 42 victims of sexual assault, 351 victims of family violence, 94 victims of assault, 45 victims of threat and harassment, 27 other ‘violent’ files without a designated category, 72 thefts or fraud, 34 break and enters, as well as 53 trespassing, mischief and vandalism.
They also responded to eight other nonviolent files, 55 suicides or attempted suicides, 32 traffic deaths or serious injury claims, 13 minor injury or damage traffic, and 152 cases where no offenses were filed.
"That's a lot of people impacted in our community, and that's only counting the victims themselves,” she says.
“Sometimes the victim comes with family members because if something happened to you, it may also have vicariously happened to your spouse or your children, your parents or those close to you. So, we support those people as well.”
Often, victims are referred to the organization through the Bonnyville RCMP detachment, the Crown Prosecutors’ office, or RCMP members will contact a BVS advocate from the scene of an incident.
Chileen explains that when an advocate is called to an emergency, they are required to arrive within half an hour to provide support, “because when people need you, they need you now.”
When people are in crisis, they just need some calm and they need someone to talk to, someone to be there and that's what the advocates can provide, she says.
Advocates are trained to provide stability, answer questions, they can liaise between the RCMP and the victims, and then can further help victims through the court system.
“We couldn't run without our volunteers. Our volunteers are a huge value to our community,” she says. “I can't even tell you how important they are – they are invaluable.”
When it comes to individuals who want to volunteer with Bonnyville Victims Services, Chileen says the number one characteristic they look for is the desire to help people and the ability to commit the hours needed.
“Someone who wants to give back to the community, someone who is able to suspend any judgment and just to support the person as they are,” she adds.
“Confidentiality is a really big issue for us as well, because whoever comes in, they need to have their privacy. Being a small community, it's really important for people to feel that they can experience what they need to experience, and know it's not going to go anywhere.”
