Fredericton council wants more seniors volunteering

Fredericton council is looking to get more seniors involved in the community and are hoping the city can tap into some federal funds to get more seniors active in local groups.

Coun. Eric Megarity, the chair of the Age-Friendly Community Advisory Committee, said seniors are the group of citizens that is most likely to be able to help out non-profit organizations. 

"They've got some time on their hands and they want to give back to the city and give back to the non-profits and it sort of keeps them involved in the civic end of it, which is great," he said.

The federal grant could provide up to $25,000, which would go into a program called "Prime Time Volunteers."

"Prime Time is seniors that have prime time now that want to give back," said Megarity. 

"We're going to try to get them to come back and volunteer for non-profit organizations and try to match them up to organizations that could use their skills." 

Detailed budget coming

The Fredericton councillor said this federal money would help seniors get involved in more non-profit organizations.

Though Megarity is still working on a detailed budget, he said he knows how he wants the money to be used.

He said the plan is to set up a workshop and a volunteer fair to help match people up with a non-profit organizations. 

Megarity would also like to see a website create that would help seniors find a good volunteer match.

The application needed council's backing in order to be sent off. That support was given, so the application will be finished and sent off in the next few days.

Megarity said the committee will know if the grant is approved late in 2016 or early in 2017.