Meet Our Volunteers

Thanks to volunteers like Gary, a whole new generation of kids will grow up asking how they can help make a more accessible Canada!

Brittany Farrell, from St. John’s, Newfoundland, has been involved with the CNIB Foundation for longer than she can remember. From volunteering at events to helping around her local office, Brittany is passionate about staying involved with her community.

Wendy Schilka volunteers at the CNIB Foundation in Abbotsford as a facilitator for the Peer Support Group twice a month. This experience has inspired her – at the age of 64 – to go back to university to get her degree in counseling.

Darlene MacMillan volunteers as a vision mate for the CNIB Foundation with Stacie, a Moncton resident who has sight loss. The pair go on walks two to three times a week – even walking an indoor track during the winter months. They set fitness goals and work toward them together.

Cindy Antle drove past CNIB on The Boulevard every evening on her way home from work for 13 years, before retiring as a registered nurse. She knew about the CNIB but never gave the charity much thought after passing it on her daily commute. This changed after she lost her sight.

Genevieve began volunteering with CNIB in April 2011, starting as a vision mate and event volunteer. Three years later she was asked to begin teaching a person with sight loss who wanted to improve their braille. She accepted and has been volunteering as a braille teacher ever since.

Michael Warren provides administrative support at the Toronto Community Hub. Always with a smile on his face, he's often the first point of contact for visitors. He says he felt like he was part of something from the beginning.

Ales Janosik had never known someone who is blind, but now he can’t imagine life without his good friend, Roger. Since 2014, Ales has been a Vision Mate volunteer to Roger – a Charlottetown man who is blind.

Because of the help he received from peer group, Bob no longer puts limits on what he can or can’t do and he hopes the group is doing the same for others with vision loss. “Thanks to them I have more confidence when I leave my home and the world is not such a scary place anymore. I want others that are struggling with vision loss to know it gets better.”

“My primary job was to train volunteers on how to interact with, and what to expect from their blind and partially sighted “mates”. Through sharing my own story and experiences I was able to help put them at ease with regards to their vision mate role.”