If you are looking for opportunities to connect with nature and work on meaningful projects, we’d like to welcome you to volunteer on Fresh Roots’ schoolyard farms in Vancouver and Coquitlam. Being close to the soil, working with plants and connecting with your community can have a tremendously positive impact. Not to mention your help has a big impact on our farm sites!
Group Volunteering
We’d love to host your large group for a Team Build (for adult groups) or a Student Team Build (for classes and youth groups) in Vancouver or Coquitlam.
Regular Volunteer Positions
Looking for a weekly volunteering opportunity? Join us as a Peak Season Harvest Helper or a Field Trip Volunteer! Or scroll down for casual volunteer opportunities.
Vancouver Peak Season Harvest Helpers – Application Open!
Our Peak Season is an exciting time to support growing and sharing food on our schoolyear farms. From June through September, we harvest thousands of pounds of produce, flowers, and herbs to supply 60 households with veggies for up to 20 weeks, 10 households with flowers, two market stands, and lunches for our youth camps and intern programs (serving hundreds of youth).
This is a fantastic opportunity to get hands-on farming experience, especially in harvesting and processing fresh veggies for distribution. Peak Season Volunteers can have any level of experience, but should be motivated to learn how to harvest on a high-production farm, willing and able to perform physical labor, and work collaboratively in a team setting with people of all backgrounds, including youth. Volunteers must also pass a (free) Criminal Record Scheck for working with vulnerable populations.
What do Harvest Helpers do? What is the schedule?
Harvest Helpers work 8 hour shifts, on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays, from June through September. Shift are 8:00 am – 4:00 pm.
Your day will look like:
- 8:00 am Meet at David Thompson Secondary
- Harvest salad greens & bunched roots
- 11:30 am lunch
- 12:30 pm Harvest Team moves to Vancouver Technical Schoolyard Farm
- Harvest fruiting vegetables & bunched greens
- Some members of the team will stay at David Thompson to do field work
- 4:00 Shift ends
What kind of training do Peak Season Harvest Helpers get?
Harvest Helpers will work closely with the Farm Team and receive hands-on training in all relevant skills, including safety procedures, appropriate tool usage, and how to harvest and/or process each type of crop.
Are there incentives for volunteering?
Beyond the joy of helping grow and share amazing food, volunteers gain valuable experience in farming. After you volunteer for three shifts, you’ll get a 10% off card for our markets; volunteer 30 hours in a year and you’ll also get a snazzy Fresh Roots tee! And volunteers occasionally get bonus veggies from the farm. We’re also happy to provide volunteer hours letters upon request.
To apply, please send a brief resume or summary of related experience and a short letter of interest sharing what excites your about this volunteer opportunity to our Director of Farming Operations.
Field Trip Volunteering – Applications Closed
Field Trip Volunteer applications are accepted in late winter each year with training in early April. Our 2025 intake is now closed, but if you are an experienced facilitator and are interested and available during our spring or fall field trip periods, you’re welcome to reach out by email to education@freshroots.ca.
Inspire students with the wonders of our ecosystem and urban food systems with our Experiential Learning team. If you love to help kids dig into learning (literally), join the field trip volunteer team! This is a great opportunity for folks looking to gain experience working with kids outdoors, or for experienced gardeners and educators to share their wisdom. Click the arrows below to learn more.
What do Field Trip Volunteers do?
Volunteers support our Experiential Learning staff to set up, facilitate, and clean up from field trips! This includes:
- Setting up activity stations and tents
- Leading a group of 6-10 kids in an art, farming, or tasting activity
- Helping students during whole-class activities
- Chaperoning students to bathrooms inside the school
- Cleaning up materials, tent, etc.
What kind of training do Field Trip Volunteers get?
In late March, Field Trip Volunteers first attend a 1-hour virtual orientation to learn about the program, Fresh Roots, and Experiential Learning.
In the first week of April, Field Trip Volunteers join us on one of the farm sites for a 3 hour in-person training, to get familiar with the farm, rules and safety policies, and the activities they will do during field trips. For at least one field trip, they will also shadow an experienced volunteer or staff member during the small group rotations. Volunteers can keep shadowing, or working in pairs, until they are comfortable working on their own! After the field trip, we take some time as a team to reflect on how the field trip went and what we can learn as facilitators.
When, where, and how much will I be volunteering?
Field trips happen during school days ins spring (April-June) and fall (late September -October) with shifts typically 9:00-12:00 or 12:00-3:00, Tuesday-Friday. Rarely, a field trip will be at a different time or on a Monday. Volunteers can choose the shifts that work for them from an online calendar.
Field trips happen at Van Tech and David Thompson Secondaries in Vancouver, and at Millside Centre in Coquitlam. All sites are accessible via transit.
We ask Field Trip Volunteers to commit to at least 6 three-hour volunteer shifts during the 12 weeks of spring field trips (or once every two weeks). We strongly encourage folks to come for at least 10 field trips!
Are there incentives for volunteering?
Beyond the joy of helping kids learn and grow on the farm, volunteers gain valuable experience in education and group facilitation. After you volunteer for three shifts, you’ll get a 10% off card for our markets; volunteer 30 hours in a year and you’ll also get a snazzy Fresh Roots tee! And volunteers occasionally get bonus veggies from the farm. We’re also happy to provide volunteer hours letters upon request.
Want to find out when new volunteer opportunities are added? Join our Newsletter mailing list below to be the first to know, and be sure to follow us on social media.
Casual Volunteering
Can’t commit to a long term volunteer position? No problem! Join us for a Trowel Tuesday, Big Help and other Fresh Roots events!