Thank you, and thanks very much for all the calisthenics that you had to do to get me here today.
I think that for the whole volunteer idea and for increasing the number of people in Canada who want to volunteer, you have to start with the young people. One of the things that I see has happened over my tenure in this particular area is when intergenerational activities are introduced to the schools. It's an optional thing; people participate if they want. They come together with senior people. They get to know them, and that relationship creates a feeling within them that says, “I want to do this more. It's really fun, and I really like to do it.” I think that the whole intergenerational activity is really excellent.
How do we find out about that? If you type “intergenerational” into Google.... Most people don't know about some of these wonderful programs that you've already been interviewing and that I am aware of on the side of my desk. If we had a hub that was all things intergenerational—things like the presenters this morning—their activities and their websites could be launched through there as well, so that any new ideas are there if somebody from another centre in Canada comes to that site.
It has to be supported by government. Generations United in the States is a particularly good example. It is funded and secure, and it's a national entity for intergenerational activity. It does webinars, but it allows awareness and access to all people within the country. If you want to find out about something intergenerational in the States, you type in “intergenerational” and up comes Generations United. It's been around for a really long time, and you can go there and get assistance and help and ideas for all sorts of things that you can do in various fields.
What I've seen is that the involvement of kids and young people—especially young people, because that's an investment in your future—with older adults is so rich. A lot of the things that the two presenters this morning talked about—sharing of knowledge, feeling purposeful, having that unity in community and that kind of thing—come from that.
If our young people can come out of high school saying, “Wow, I really enjoyed being part of the community in that way,” then I think you've really trained people to become volunteers, rather than having to go out to try to get them to participate.