January 21, 2014
Startup makes volunteering easier for high school students
University of Waterloo tech company connects with community to help high school students give back and keep track of their volunteer hours
Local students who need to find volunteer jobs and keep track of their hours to graduate from high school will be getting help from a University of Waterloo startup.
Charity Republic has announced that an online tool, Hour Republic, will be rolled out to new high school students in the Waterloo Catholic District School Board this summer.
“I’m ecstatic to be a local technology company working with local schools and volunteer centres,” says Popy Dimoulas-Graham, founder and CEO of Charity Republic.
Say good-bye to paper forms
High school students typically use a paper form to keep track of their volunteer hours, which means by Grade 12 the document is often illegible or lost. Students in Ontario must serve 40 volunteer hours to graduate from high school.
Charity Republic is a startup based out of Velocity, the University of Waterloo’s incubator program. Dimoulas-Graham said Hour Republic not only makes it easier for students to track their volunteer hours it’s a greener solution.
More than 200 local charities share opportunities
Dimoulas-Graham says the new tool, which also helps students find meaningful volunteer jobs, will “support a commitment to 21st century teaching which promotes the strategic and thoughtful use of technology as a learning tool for staff and students.”
More than 200 local charities and non-profit groups will share volunteer opportunities on Hour Republic with the help of the Volunteer Action Centre of Kitchener-Waterloo and Area and the United Way of Cambridge and North Dumfries Volunteer Centre.
Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran pointed out that online collaboration by volunteer groups will enrich the community. “By creating a tool for students that makes the act of volunteerism easier and more accessible, this region and its citizens will reap the rewards,” she said.
Provincially, Charity Republic is partnering with the Ontario Volunteer Centre Network (OVCN), a network of 24 volunteer centres across the province that work with thousands of charities and nonprofits. Hour Republic will be the primary online tool to track volunteer activities as part of the OVCN’s annual ‘ChangeTheWorld - Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge,’ supported by the Government of Ontario.
“Youth engagement is essential to the future of our sector. Hour Republic is making access and tracking of volunteer involvement easier for students and encouraging them to get involved,” says Jane Hennig, executive director, Volunteer Action Centre of Kitchener-Waterloo and Area.
