Our Programs
 

NSVS offers in-house and outreach programs:


The One-on-One Visiting Program


This is our major outreach activity on the North Shore. Now in its fifth year, it has grown considerably since its beginnings. We currently average 40 to 50 one-on-one clients and volunteers per year. Volunteers are carefully screened and matched to the needs of the clients. About 75% of client referrals come from the Geriatric Outreach
Program of Vancouver Coastal Health. The program is designed to provide social interaction to isolated seniors and/or a brief respite for care givers. Our volunteers do not provide medical or house-cleaning services for these clients.


If you are, or know, a senior who would like to participate in this program and be paired with a volunteer, please download the “Clients” application form below. If you would like to apply to become a volunteer for the One-on-One program, please download the volunteer application form:


  





Our in-house programs are:


Mondays: Nordic Walking For Seniors


Join our Nordic Walking group and get a bit of fresh air. This program is offered every Monday, beginning at 1:30pm throughout the winter. Walking poles provided. Refreshments provided after. Call us at 604 922 1575 to register.

(pre-registration required). Please dress for the weather. (Sponsored by our community partner HomeCare West)


Tuesdays: Lunch and Bridge


Seniors meet at the Centre at noon, getting there on “their own steam”, i.e. transportation is not provided. A regular group attends and a staff member phones the clients in the morning to remind them and to check whether or not they will attend that day. Clients are served a soup lunch, they socialize for about 40 minutes and then split up to play Bridge at one of our three Bridge tables. Play is purely for fun and the game (as the entire program) is geared towards seniors in their eighties and nineties. Near the end of the program they are provided with tea and cookies and the program ends at 3 pm.


Wednesdays: Lunch & Activities


As with our Tuesday program, we meet at noon at the Centre for a light lunch. This is followed with a variety of games and activities, including Nintendo Wii. Learn to play while getting physical and mental exercise, practice your memory skills, and make new Wii friends. Tea and goodies are served later on.


Thursdays: Nordic Walking II


See the Monday listing above for  information about this program.


Fridays: Chair Yoga


Join us for a bit of exercise as a professional yoga instructor guides seniors through a seated yoga program designed with their fitness needs in mind. (Sponsored by HomeCare West)


Fridays: Iranian Program


Seniors meet to discuss areas of interest and participate in various ways such as singing, playing games and discussions with guest speakers.

3:00 pm Fridays.


Monthly Bus Trip


Every fourth Wednesday of the month, NSVS offers a bus trip for its clients. It usually takes place between 12:30 and 4:30 pm. Clients are encouraged to have lunch before they leave home. The outings always end with tea and treats at a select location.
In the past, we have taken seniors to visit an art gallery in Lions Bay, the Solart Glass Studio in North Vancouver, the Ferry Building Gallery and the Silk Purse in West Vancouver. We have taken them up Grouse Mountain and through Stanley Park, visited the Port Moody Station Museum and the Sun Yat-Sen Gardens in Vancouver’s China Town as well as many others destinations. As the vast majority of our clients no longer drive, this is a very popular program.



Special Events


Throughout the year, the Board of Directors generally hosts four seasonal dinners for the clients, i.e. for Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas as well as a Summer Salmon BBQ. North Shore Volunteers for Seniors also organizes a picnic for the clients in June and a fundraiser in August.








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