There are lots of reasons to volunteer - and many excuses not to. So as Canada faces a critical volunteer shortage, what is motivating those who do?

Ify takes to the streets of Toronto to find out where and why people are volunteering (or not).

Seven days a week, Ashley Van Aggelen is coaching kids in hockey, basketball, soccer, and badminton. She gives up all her evenings, barely sees her friends, and bounces between multiple practices and games in a week. So what keeps this super-volunteer going?

After getting fed up with the lack of emergency services in his community, Ian Hicks decided to buy a fire truck from the set of Rambo: First Blood. And just like that, a small town B.C. fire department was born. How a rag-tag collection of volunteers transformed into critical first-responders.

Michele Botel grew up afraid of felines. So why did she volunteer to feed a colony of feral cats?

Lyall Davis has one mission: to keep the community radio station in Killaloe, Ontario from going off the air. But without volunteers, the station will have to sign off for good - something he's worked too hard to let happen.

Vanessa Genier (Missanabie Cree First Nation) shares what she gets out of volunteering her time making quilts for residential school survivors.

Angela McBride volunteers to sit with people at the end of their lives - listening to music, playing games, and talking about whatever people want to talk about. What these end-of-life conversations have taught Angela about living.

Correction: An introduction to Now or Never originally broadcast on December 21, 2021 and rebroadcast on December 5, 2024 reported that the remains of 215 children were found at the site of a former Indian Residential School near Kamloops, B.C. in 2021. The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation reported in May, 2021 that ground-penetrating radar had located remains. Community leaders later clarified that ground-penetrating radar had identified about 200 potential burial sites.