A weekly trip to the hospital may not sound like the route to relaxation but, for high school student Matthew Casaca, his every-Monday volunteer stint at Trillium is a great way to unwind.

“Being a volunteer eliminates stress because you’re doing something productive,” he says.

A volunteer since 2006, Matthew Casaca is now in his last year at  Philip Pocock Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga.  “I started volunteering because I needed to put in volunteer hours for my high school diploma.  I found I liked it so much, I stayed long after I’d done my 40 hours.”

Matthew Casaca is a hospitality volunteer, showing people around the hospital.

“The time just flies by,” he says, “meeting new people and seeing new faces is interesting and it’s good to have some responsibility and to do something different.  Besides, we only have so much time here – you might as well do something good with it.”