What’s your position with Aptum?
Global Sales Operations and Enablement Manager
What got you started in volunteering?
The only thing invaluable is time. Giving your time to less fortunate is priceless. I volunteer with my husband and 18 year old daughter, who we have taught to give back from an early age.
What motivates you to volunteer?
As a newcomer to Canada I feel blessed by the opportunities and I am always looking for ways to give back and help the less fortunate. Also, it helps me to keep things in perspective especially through tough times. There is always
somebody who is going through worse patches.
Is there a cause (or causes) that you’re passionate about?
Hunger – support food banks, shelters, or cook a meal for a neighbor. Donate groceries at church or at the market. I volunteer for Meals on Wheels, bringing food to elders’ homes.
Loneliness – visit seniors to talk to them, read a book, or hold a hand. Work with animal shelters to clean the cages or walk a dog or pet a cat. I volunteer with the Ontario SPCA
Health – there are many different activities with local hospitals. I volunteer with Sunnybrook Hospital, the largest veterans care facility in the country and with St. Michael’s Hospital. I also volunteer in different ways with
organizations such as Ronald McDonald House, Junior Achievement, Second Harvest, The Scott Mission, and JVS Toronto where I am an integration volunteer for newcomers to Canada.
What benefits do you get personally from volunteering?
It inspires me as a person and makes me a better human being. I am more considerate, compassionate, caring, and respectful as a result.
What recommendations would you have for anyone considering volunteering themselves?
You are blessed already for being able to read this, reading from your computer at work. You belong to a community. Most likely you have been able to make it to the months end without making large sacrifices.
Look around in your neighborhood, at the supermarket, in your daily commute to work – there are lots of people dealing with illness, loneliness, hunger, worries. HELP THEM! Every small contribution, every minute can make a
difference in somebody else’s life. Pay it forward, it always comes back doubled!