By the time Rohit entered high school, he already had a keen understanding and appreciation of community service – and he put it to good use at school.

“When I was 10 years old in elementary school, I started fundraising, mostly for the Heart and Stroke Foundation”, the 19-year-old recalls. “As you do this, you learn a little bit more about the organization and that makes the work more meaningful.” He adds, “I’m a runner and for big running events [in Mississauga] I saw how important volunteering is.”

As it turned out, his high school, John Fraser Secondary School in Mississauga, did not have an infrastructure for volunteering, other than a few notices that would appear on the bulletin board. So, he put his experience to work, and helped lay the foundation for a school committee geared to volunteering. From that sprung Volunteering Peel, of which Rohit is the co-ordinator, and helps to organize group volunteer activities and mentorship for students across the Region of Peel.

“We try to make volunteering easy for the students,” he says. “It’s about breaking down the barriers.” Rohit, who is majoring in environmental studies at the Mississauga campus of the University of Toronto, believes volunteering in school is an effective way to engage newcomers to the community, helping them to forge new friendships and integrate socially. And Volunteering Peel helps to bring on board young people who normally might shun volunteering. “It shows students what organizations are out there.”

For more information on Volunteering Peel, visit: www.volunteeringpeel.org.

Volunteering MBC is pleased to have Volunteering Peel as a partner. Click here to read our media release announcement.