By the time Sabrina Ferreira de Paula-Morier joined the Immigrant Centre (IC) as a volunteer, she already had first had knowledge about the Centre having used our services almost 10 years ago when she was new to Canada.

Sabrina began volunteering as a One-to-One English Tutor in January 2018. In July of that same year, she started a new position as an English Conversation Group Facilitator and has been teaching classes at the IC once a week ever since.

Sabrina always had the desire to volunteer; however, when she first arrived in Canada she just never had the time. Volunteering she observed, is part of Canadian culture but in the beginning she never had the time. Once things settled down, she finally had time to volunteer, and offer something to the community that she now called home.

Sabrina had no previous teaching experience and was working in social services; however as an immigrant, she was well aware of the important of learning the language and becoming proficient.  She also knew that the Immigrant Centre offered tutoring and decide to apply. “I wanted to do something different: volunteer with something meaningful.”

Volunteering at the Immigrant Centre has been a positive experience for Sabrina.  “People are super welcoming, and the staff at the AEC (Access English Centre) are really great. The clients are keen to learn and people are very friendly and kind.”