Among all of the hours John Maisey has put into programs for children and youth at the local chapter of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, it’s his work with the music program that strikes the biggest chord with him.

“There’s something about it that rings with me,” says Maisey, an advisor with Sun Life Financial (Canada) Inc. in Moncton who has been volunteering with the B&GC for more than 10 years.

Maisey, who admits to playing guitar “only a little,” says the fundraising that he has led has helped amass $45,000 for musical instruments for the chapter, which serves about 1,000 kids a month — 70% of whom live in homes with income levels at or below $25,000.

The Moncton chapter is now home to six acoustic and five electric guitars, a few drum kits and two pianos. This past December, a handful of youth from the program assembled to play a gig at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Moncton, about five minutes from the chapter’s centre.

“It’s rewarding. It goes from a bunch of noise to sounding half-decent in some short lessons,” says Maisey, who hails from Campbellton, N.B.

Although the music program is close to Maisey’s heart, that’s just one note to consider. In 2008, Maisey, as president of the chapter, led a $2.4-million capital-raising program to modernize and add about 2,500 square feet to the centre, which has since reopened.

Maisey finishes his two-year term as chapter president this month, but will carry on in 2011 as chairman of the sustainable fundraising committee. That move will see his volunteer hours, estimated to be between 300 and 500 hours a year, slip slightly.

Maisey says the next fundraising project will aim for $500,000 to fill two needs at the centre. One is transportation. Youth from outside the city now ride to the centre in a 12-year-old bus, relying on volunteers as drivers. “We love our volunteers,” Maisey says, “but they’re not as accountable as staff.”

The chapter’s computer lab is also in need. It’s the only place that some of the club members have access to technology, but it needs a teacher to maintain it.

The B&GC of Moncton is one of 102 such chapters across Canada. The most popular programs, Maisey says, are after-school programs such as the music workshops. The B&GC also funds and organizes leadership programs, summer camps and computer training and education. About 43% of the Moncton chapter’s members are from single-parent families, and 57% are from low-income families.

“In truth, our door is open to everybody,” Maisey says. “The child might have access to a fair amount of cash and they can get themselves into a lot more trouble than a child with none.”

In fact, he says, the membership drive around Moncton is focused on middle- and upper-income neighbourhoods. Municipal budgetary challenges affect every community, he says, stripping them of locally maintained baseball diamonds, for example. That’s where the B&GC can fill the void.

Maisey took on the position of chapter president when a former colleague at Sun Life was leaving but, he says, there’s not normally a lot of overlap between his role as a financial advisor and his volunteer life.

However, his efforts have been rewarded by Sun Life, the firm at which he has worked for almost 13 years. Sun Life named Maisey its Volunteer of the Year in 2004 and donated $10,000 to the B&GC. He has also been a finalist since.

Volunteerism runs in Maisey’s family: his grandparents had worked with church groups and with the elderly who are confined to hospitals.

“I like getting my hands dirty,” he says. “Plus, it’s a chance to meet like-minded people. You don’t meet too many [volunteers] who are ‘me’-focused.” IE