MYS Demonstrates Online Volunteers Can be Retained for Years

Winnipeg, Canada, February 03, 2008 --(PR.com)-- After nearly seven years of online volunteering for a charitable organization 1200 miles away, Toronto area resident, Tu Loan St-Cyr, is taking a leave of absence from a charitable organization she has never seen. St-Cyr, who began Internet-based volunteering with Winnipeg-based charitable organization Macdonald Youth Services (MYS) in 2001, clearly demonstrates that an online volunteer can be retained for years if appropriately screened, assigned and recognized, even though the non-profit has never met their volunteer face-to-face.

"Never one to shy away from a challenge, Tu Loan is a dedicated, creative and reliable virtual volunteer, stated MYS Online Volunteer Program Developer," Randy Tyler. "For any non-profit organization, retaining Internet-based volunteers, like St-Cyr, is much more efficient and effective than frequently attempting to recruit new volunteers," added Tyler.

"I would like to share with you some great news and in turn inform you that I will be taking a leave of absence from MYS for a year commencing December of this year [2007]", stated St-Cyr in an e-mail to Tyler. "I will be taking a year off my regular job and would like to also take a leave of absence from MYS to concentrate on our newborn," continued St-Cyr.

To learn more about how this dedicated online volunteer was recruited, listen to MYS South Dakota-based online volunteer audio producer John Small's podcast interview with St-Cyr. The five minute interview can be downloaded or listened to online from MYS's "About Online Volunteering" Web-based Resource and Podcast site:

http://www.mys.ca/aov

Macdonald Youth Services (MYS), a 78 year-old trusted and respected registered charitable healing and support agency based in Winnipeg, Canada, provides a variety of innovative and leading programming for thousands of Manitoba’s young people on a yearly basis. MYS has been successfully utilizing highly-skilled online volunteers from around the globe to enhance their programs and services since 1998.

For further information:

Randy Tyler
Online Volunteer Program Developer
Macdonald Youth Services
Winnipeg, MB Canada
T: 1-204-949-4292
W: http://www.mys.ca/aov
E: http://www.mys.ca/cgi-bin/randy_email.cgi
Skype: randytyler_canada
Video Mail: http://www.mys.ca/vm
PGP Key: http://www.mys.ca/pgp

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