Regina man creates volunteer opportunities and community support through new website

Samuel Epiphany created a website to connect people with volunteer activities. (Brittany Poitras / CTV News)

A Regina man created a website to make a change in his community, by offering people a way to connect and volunteer.

Samuel Epiphany, who created www.hikana.org one month ago, said the intention behind the site was to help bridge the gap between isolated and lonely people and some of the social services that are present in the North Central neighbourhood and the broader city.

“Our approach to this issue is to actually connect people with volunteer programs, because volunteer programs are one of the best ways for someone that’s dealing with isolation, and that is not really comfortable getting to meet new people, to be around people in a really relaxed, low pressure kind of environment,” he explained.

Epiphany said he came up with the idea while meeting with a counsellor at the Regina Public Library, choosing the word ‘s website, which means ‘library’ in Cree.

According to Epiphany, he worked 15 to 16 hours a day for a week straight to have the website built and connections secured before welcoming his newborn child. The idea to help the community was created out of urgency when his home in North Central was nearly broken into, leading him down the path of community wellness.

Epiphany said he wanted to pair his background in building websites and his desire to help his community, to create a space for community members of all ages to engage with one another.

“We have seniors who get lonely when their children move out of the home and they’re no longer in the workforce. So, with a group like that, we want to help seniors meet other seniors and generally more like people in their community that they can relate with and have an actual, like, local relationship with,” he explained.

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“My hope is to live in a community in which people actually form relationships and bonds with the people in the community that they live with,” he added.

As an immigrant from Uganda, he also pointed out that Hikana could be a great way for other immigrants who are suffering from loneliness and isolation.

“It turns out that immigrants are actually one of the groups that need to meet people and form these relationships the most because a lot of them literally have no one. They’re new to Regina, they’re new to Saskatchewan, they have no family, they have no friends,” he said.

“I’m just hoping that we do not see a rise in people staying at home and having no one to speak with,” he added.

Currently, the Hikana website is only covering volunteer opportunities, but Epiphany plans on expanding to provide volunteers and a supportive community outlet across all of Saskatchewan.