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Click the icons to check out our new dedicated application forms that are designed by project type. Each form will walk you through the specific details you need to submit for the type of project (care packages, community garden, etc) you are interested in doing.
160- this is an estimate. 20 weeks @ 8/hrs per week.
The end goal of my project was to donate supplies to those who have been affected by COVID-19. I do feel like I achieved what I set out to do.
It’s hard to estimate how many people exactly were impacted by this project. I had different versions of care packages to four different organizations that work with populations that have been strained by the pandemic. I would estimate that between 100-150 people were directly impacted by this.
I received positive feedback from every organization I interacted with. Many were incredibly grateful to be receiving donations during this time.
My entire project changed with the onset of COVID-19. The project I pitched at Passion to Purpose was not the project I ended up doing. I adapted to the changes as best as I could given the situation.
All donations were really successful and really well received by the organizations I worked with.
The first set of care packages I did were really difficult to store in the place I’m living in and also were a bit difficult to deliver. I adjusted this after that set, but if I were to do the project again it is something I would consider right away. The biggest learning experience for me was managing a $15,000 grant while also being in school and having a part time job. It was definitely a large undertaking.
Nothing is coming to mind at the moment, but if I think of something I will reach out! I would be more than happy to discuss my experience with youth applying for the grant program in the future!
Bailey Francis, Award Participant and Passion to Purpose Grantee
This is Bailey’s second project. Read about her first project here.
I had about 6 people working with me on this project including myself, our two speakers, and those who helped me advertise the program.
I spent at least 10 hours per month planning activities, scheduling and attending meetings, and delivering hot lunches to hospitals.
I was lucky to attend the Passion to Purpose Bootcamp in March. At this event I had the opportunity to hear about several successful projects, and this inspired me to lead my own. I came home planning to organize a day of self-esteem workshops for 40 youth. A few weeks after, everything locked down for COVID, and I decided to put my project on hold. During lockdown I began noticing that youth needed the topics that I wanted to focus on, such as resilience and setting boundaries, more than ever. I decided to contact an organization that I had worked with extensively before, ShEvalesco, and they were happy to organize workshops for the girls. Alison from ShEvalesco and I put together 4 weeks of workshops around topics such as resilience, assertive communication and mindfulness. The goal of my project was to help youth feel more comfortable around these topics, as well as create a community where they could connect with others during the pandemic. We divided the youth into two groups, a 12-15 age group and a 16-18 age group. These are all topics that I feel are so important for youth to learn, and that I wish I was able to learn when I was in high school. All youth who completed all four workshops were given a certificate of completion, a crest and a workbook to continue learning about the topics we had covered.
At the end of the workshop we sent out a feedback form and received so many wonderful comments that showed me that I really did achieve what I set out to do. Here are some examples:
“This program has helped me feel more confident and resilient in many ways. I think that through the learning of each workshop I learned things that can be used in multiple scenarios. I think that things like learning about failure, boundary setting and being assertive are great skills to have because they allow you to communicate clearly with others and allow you to not be so hard on yourself. The self care workshop is also really helpful going forward to remember to take time for yourself.”
“Using the skills I have learned, such as being told that it’s okay to fail and make mistakes, and that we will not be good at something the first time we try it, it made me confident to take my test next week.”
“These workshops have given me more confidence because I now feel as though I’m not the only one who struggles with these common problems. I also enjoyed learning new skills that I can use in my everyday life.”
There was a better response to this project than I could have ever imagined. I did not have to advertise the workshops very much before they filled up. I simply posted them in a few youth program Facebook groups, and we immediately received many sign-ups. We were aiming to have 40 youth take part in each group, and we ended up having over 90 youth participate. All of the participants were very engaged throughout the whole program. Many of them mentioned how they liked that they had the opportunity to talk with other youth each week. It helped to form a small community.
Here are some other quotes from the participants about what they enjoyed:
“I am more resilient as I have acquired valuable skills from the workshops. Going forward I intend on using this knowledge and skills to better improve myself as a human both mentally and emotionally.”
“I learned a lot from the assertive communication workshop. I didn’t know the benefits of being assertive, and when I tried some of the strategies discussed in the workshop with others, I felt a lot more confident. My opinion of how others see me has become a lot more positive. The setting boundaries workshop was helpful as well; learning that setting boundaries is a kind and beneficial thing to do for everyone really helped me to say no to people when I need to.”
“The program has helped with my confidence and it helps me with standing up and talking to people that I normally don’t like talking to.”
One of the coolest parts of offering the workshops virtually was that we were able to have youth from all over Canada engaged, including youth in very small towns. Some of the youth would not have had the opportunity to participate otherwise, so the fact that these workshops were virtual ended up being a very positive thing.
One of the best parts of the project was receiving the feedback and having the girls let me know how much the workshop impacted them. I also received several emails from parents that let me know how impressed they were with the content. I truly believe that these are topics that youth want and need to learn more about.
Here were some of the things that the youth mentioned they enjoyed:
“My favourite part of the workshops was the real life examples and scenarios. I thought that applying the skills we talked about to plausible situations that are similar to ones I will probably encounter really helped to increase my confidence, and helped me to remember what we learned.”
“I liked when we broke off into small groups and we talked to other girls. I liked it because I felt like other girls could relate to relate to what I was feeling and going through. It made me feel better.”
“I personally enjoyed the Self care workshop as I have recently observed that I need a little more compassion and love towards myself. The workshop really helped me acquire more knowledge on the steps towards ultimate self love and care.”
I learned so much about the topics that youth are interested in learning about. I am hoping to run more programs around similar topics, as well as different topics. Youth have indicated to me that they are very interested in learning about things such as money management and mental health, so I will be looking for more ways to offer similar programming. This experience has shown me how impactful virtual programming can truly be.
Once we began planning the program, we really did not need to make many changes. The program ran very smoothly.
I feel that most of this project went very well and ran very smoothly. The fact that we were able to engage so many youth from across Canada, and teach them different skills that were useful, made this a successful project. It was especially meaningful to be able to connect with youth in different parts of the country. Reading the feedback let me know that this was a project that was very successful. The fact that I was able to organize a program where youth were able to learn more assertive and communication skills, and where they were able to create a country-wide community during a global pandemic, was just awesome.
When I originally planned the workshops, I did not think that we would have interested youth from all over Canada. I thought that most of the participants would be from British Columbia, so we planned the sessions to be on Monday evenings. The 12-18 group was from 6:45 to 7:45. It ended up being quite late for many of our participants in more Eastern time zones. We still had a lot of participants from these time zones, but we could have had even more if we had picked a time that would work for participants across Canada. If I run these workshops again, I would most likely host them on a weekend so that we could find a time that works for everybody.
I am looking forward to organizing more engaging opportunities for youth. This opportunity has helped me learn how to make virtual events more engaging. Things such as break out rooms, asking questions in the chat and giving you scenarios to work on helped keep the youth engaged for the entire time. I will use these strategies going forward in the future. I also learned it’s important to give youth an incentive to keep them engaged. Having the certificate of completion, workbook and crests offered at the end to those who completed the program further encouraged them to attend each session.
Do not be afraid to take on new initiatives, even during the pandemic! There are so many cool virtual opportunities that can be done now. People want to be involved and engaged more now than ever. Do not be afraid to reach out to other organizations for help too! I had an amazing experience working with ShEvalesco and learned so much about hosting virtual events from Alison. There are many other organizations who are open to helping to offer similar experiences! It is such a good opportunity to learn new skills, develop your confidence and make a difference. Go for it!
Carissa Konesky, Award Participant and Passion to Purpose Grantee
Do not be afraid to take on new initiatives, even during the pandemic! There are so many cool virtual opportunities that can be done now. People want to be involved and engaged more now than ever. Do not be afraid to reach out to other organizations for help too!
We work primary with three organization (1justcity, Siloam Mission and Agape Table) making reusable cloth masks. The impact of the project was to provide protection to individuals in need during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The masks were also able to be used by staff at organizations to allow them to continue to provide services.
I was the only main person working one this project the only other help I had was from my mother Cassandra Loiselle-Walker. My mom also used her FaceBook and Instagram to make people aware that I was sewing masks with my mom and that for every mask my mom donated she was also donating a mask for my project. a. Because of COVID there was no one event. I egnaged people through my social media platform and the non-profit organizations. During the final push to complete the masks for my project, I did recruit my grandmother to help with the pinning and pressing, allowing me to work with the three generations of women in my family, even using my great-mothers sewing machine from the 1970s to help complete the project.
The target audience we had was low income people get access to reusable masks. We did what we set out to achieve we donate/worked with non-profit organization to help low income people have excuse to reusable masks that we made.
Knowing that I had the will power to make 180 masks and putting that in to prospective each mask can take up to 30-45 minutes per mask also, learning how to film videos and edit them.This will help me in future endeavours, including maybe looking at a bigger project through Passion to Purpose with my Cadet corps.
If I were to start my project today, I would put more emphasis on marketing. Due to the sudden switch to a remote competition, most of the marketing for the original event could no longer be used. With the change of plans and environment, we had limited time to do a wide variety of tasks. While it was difficult to attract a large number of participants in a small amount of time, our marketing team did a fantastic job of attracting a fair number of participants in the end. Through this event, I learned the importance of having a good communication system where the roles of members could be clearly defined. With better communication, not only would the sudden transition from in-person to remote work be much smoother and more efficient, but it would also make marketing the event much easier.
As I planned my project, I further developed my communication and organizational skills. I needed to coordinate with both my peers – many of whom I had not known beforehand – and other groups such as the staff at the heal care facility. One of the changes that I did not plan for was the busy schedule of hospitals. The initial hospital I contacted was not available on the set date, so I had to adapt to this situation by contacting other care centres and hospitals.
Cadence Loiselle-Shire, Award Participant and Passion to Purpose Grantee
We have approximately 5 to 6 team leaders from different schools across British Columbia. Each team consists of three or four members, and their duties include organizing events in each school. Together, we are able to support healthcare workers through monthly lunch deliveries.
I spent at least 10 hours per month planning activities, scheduling and attending meetings, and delivering hot lunches to hospitals.
This project was intended to provide a support service for local health care workers. The healthcare industry has been focused upon dealing with COVID-19, and they have continued to operate despite interruptions to other ancillary services. Inspired by their professionalism and dedication to their work, I feel that I have achieved my goal through delivering hot lunches, the healthcare workers have recognized that they are not fighting the virus alone.
The snacks and lunches were received by a care centre of almost 100 healthcare workers. Upon receiving our delivery, the healthcare workers were delighted, commenting to us that “we need more young people like this”. Across the lower mainland of British Columbia, high school students from Crofton House School, Collingwood School, Rockridge Secondary, Point Grey Secondary, and Moscrop Secondary directly worked with me and developed their leadership and communication skills through participating in the initiative. As our social media platform and official website (mercicharity.com) continue to grow, the number of people impacted by my project continues to increase.
The food drive was directly delivered to hospitals and healthcare centres. The health care workers were grateful for the hot lunches, and expressed the desire to see similar initiatives from local youth in the future.
As I planned my project, I further developed my communication and organizational skills. I needed to coordinate with both my peers – many of whom I had not known beforehand – and other groups such as the staff at the heal care facility. One of the changes that I did not plan for was the busy schedule of hospitals. The initial hospital I contacted was not available on the set date, so I had to adapt to this situation by contacting other care centres and hospitals.
I successfully achieved my goal of showing the healthcare workers our appreciation while providing a useful and valuable service, especially in light of similar services being restricted due to pandemic regulations. In addition, I was able to indirectly spread awareness in my community of the need to support local healthcare workers.
My project overall went very smoothly. If I were to improve my initiative, it would be further communicating with the hospitals to see if they have other needs such as medical equipment or supplies that we might acquire.
My project overall went very smoothly. If I were to improve my initiative, it would be further communicating with the hospitals to see if they have other needs such as medical equipment or supplies that we might conduct fundraisers to acquire. Good luck!
Michelle Liu, Passion to Purpose Grantee
#PassiontoPurpose gifts you
#PassiontoPurpose gifts you
Our 12 Days of Community Care initiative helps to map out project ideas to get you started. Did you know that just from the start of the pandemic, the Award has given out over $200,000 in grants to young people who are taking charge of community action and change? Young people just like you who saw the need to shake things up in their communities as we faced the hardships of COVID-19. Now it’s your turn.
This opportunity is open to all young people from 14 to 30 years old. We offer grants of up to $2000 to help you give the holidays a little more cheer in your communities.
Apply now to make your impact for the holidays!
Holidays under quarantine can be difficult for many families, especially for those who may not have homes or be in familiar surroundings. Give back this season by gathering your close friends to help put together care packages for those who are in vulnerable spaces. You can request up to $2000 from #PassionToPurpose to purchase items that can bring cheer to those families or community member.
Being in lockdown has the potential for many negatives – one of which are consequences on our mental health. A lot of people may not be aware of the resources available to them or where to access the right information for their needs. You and a team of your peers can organize an online workshop for targeted community members to help them learn more about coping in the winter while in lockdown. You can request up to $1000 from #PassionToPurpose to set up a virtual mental health workshop or create mental health resources.
With the second lockdown, and the wave of unease during this pandemic, many people are not able to afford warm meals or healthy options for food. Food poverty is a very real thing and unfortunately affects everyone from school aged children to seniors. You can request up to $2000 from #PassionToPurpose to purchase premade meals or meal kits that can bring fullness to families or community members. While supporting the less fortunate, you are also supporting your local businesses.
Waste and sustainability are always important to think about when going out to buy safety items. However, this might not be an option for those who do not have the funds to purchase reusable masks or other PPE. You can request up to $500 from #PassionToPurpose to purchase materials needed to handmake masks or face shields.
This winter may be our coldest yet but unfortunately some people will not be as equipped to handle the drop in temperatures. A great way to help is to put together winter care hampers that can be handed out to homeless individuals or low income who may not have the funds to keep themselves warm this winter. You can request up to $2000 from #PassionToPurpose to purchase items that can bring warmth to those families or community member.
Wet roads, fallen trees and broken branches are a sign that winter is coming. Cleans ups are just as important in the colder months as they are doing the summer. Gather a group of friends and do sidewalk clean ups or help elderly families in your community by shoveling their driveways, parks, community green spaces and walking trails could all use your help keeping clean this season. You can request up to $500 from #PassionToPurpose to do a community clean up.
Concerts are a big part of the holiday but during lockdown, in person gatherings won’t work. The alternative? Take it online! Collaborate with your peers to put together a holiday concert that community members can take part in virtually from the comfort of their homes. You can request up to $1000 from #PassionToPurpose to set up a virtual holiday concert.
Having to stay indoors during the winter can be hard for anyone and especially for young children who may not understand the importance of staying home. You and your friends can start an online buddy program where older youth can partner with younger school age children to do online activities together, read online, play games or just talk. Mentorship is important and you can be the guiding voice for young impressionable minds. You can request up to $1000 from #PassionToPurpose to run an online buddy program.
During the pandemic, community elders who live in care facilities may not be able to see their families or spend time with loved ones. Pen pal programs are a great way to get people connected and forge new friendships. To be safe during the pandemic – take it virtual! Set up virtual meetings between seniors who live in different parts of the city (or country) so they can talk to one another. They can play virtual games together, run a virtual reading club, have a coffee date or go online to watch a movie! You can request up to $1000 from #PassionToPurpose to set up a virtual pen pal program.
All our front-line staff are going to be working extra hard during the holidays. They deserve all the appreciation they can get from their community members to recognize them for the risks they take working to serve the public during the pandemic. You can request up to $2000 from #PassionToPurpose to purchase meals or items for thank you packages for health care workers or other frontline workers.
Concerts are a big part of the holiday but during lockdown, in person gatherings won’t work. The alternative? Take it online! Collaborate with your peers to put together a holiday concert that community members can take part in virtually from the comfort of their homes. You can request up to $1000 from #PassionToPurpose to set up a virtual holiday concert.
What to keep in mind during COVID-19? Talk to the community members who may be receiving the packages to understand their needs; work with shelters to identify what supplies may be short; maintain social distancing when delivering your project; always wear masks; arrange curb side pick-up or no contact delivery where possible; sanitize all your workstations before putting together the care packages.
Mentorship Call Are you thinking of applying for a grant but have questions? Do you have your grant but need a little guidance on next
Passion to PurposeProject Completion Report Have you completed your Passion to Purpose Project? If yes, this is great news! Please tell us about your project
Passion to Purpose Virtual
Take action in the new normal
Post-Event Resources
Download a digital copy of the workbook.
Feeling inspired?
Apply for your grant today!
Learn about eligibility, requirements, and read about project examples.
Review and take pointers from the from the Grant Talk presentation!
Schedule a mentorship call with the us!
Requirements how to turn your Passion to Purpose Project into your Gold Project
See complete list of Project Templates that you can easily follow to create a project and implement in your community!
You have questions, we have answers!
Need inspiration? Read about what other youth are doing in their communities!
Learn to plan your project effectively and efficiently!
Schedule a mentorship call with the us!
Requirements how to turn your Passion to Purpose Project into your Gold Project
Olympian and Founder of Believe Initiative
Obstacles don’t scare Sarah Wells. As a 400m hurdler, this Olympian’s reputation was forged through overcoming challenges and achieving the incredible. Take her debut at the London Olympics in 2012, which came despite an injury that had sidelined her for months just the year before. Outside of competitive sports, this athlete is coaching people to pursue their goals through the Believe Initiative, an organization founded on—fittingly—a message of resilience. Most recently you would have seen Sarah pushing her limits on the latest season of the Amazing Race Canada, where she got to push her boundaries in a whole new kind of way! Evidently someone who understands the importance of self-belief and the power of purpose, you’ll want to listen-up when this Olympic semi-finalist and Pan Am Games silver medallist takes the virtual stage.
Grant manager, Passion to purpose
Jeevana Rajkumar is the current Grants Manager for the Award’s Passion To Purpose Community Service Grant Program. Coming from a immigrant family that fled from civil unrest, she understands how lived experiences, socioeconomic privilege and access to platforms can heavily influence the way young people interact with their environment. Believing firmly that no single approach is right for every young person, she works with each application to support their application through the process. Her background in grants administration and youth support roles guide her relationship with each young person that she works with. Her goal is to support each young person through their change journeys, in ways that best fit their needs.
Jeevana earned degrees in psychology and human resources, focusing on social interaction and social justice.
mindyourmind.ca
Elora Watson is a recent Bachelor of Social Work graduate from King’s University College at Western University. She is currently the Be Safe Coordinator for mindyourmind, a youth mental health program situated in London, ON and online at mindyourmind.ca. Elora is passionate about mental health advocacy and her lived experience allows her to bring a unique perspective to the work mindyourmind does.
Canada Service Corps is a federal program that is being developed by youth, for youth. The program aims to support young Canadians to get involved in their community through service opportunities, while at the same time gaining valuable skills that will benefit them in life and work.
Thank you for taking your time to join us today! Hope everyone was inspired to go out in their communities and start the change!
Passion to Purpose Virtual
Take action in the new normal
Saturday, November 14, 2020, 12:00 PM EST
Virtual Handbook
Mentorship and guidance towards developing your Passion to Purpose Community Service Project.
Breakout sessions will let you meet and network with like-minded individuals from all over the country!
Make sure you have Zoom on your device, registration link and other downloadable files! See you online!
TIME
ACTIVITY
RESOURCES
11:30 AM
Registration begins
11:45 AM – 12:00 PM
Ice breaker / Meet group members
12:00 PM – 12:05 PM
Welcome
12:05 PM – 12:35 PM
Be Resilient
Sarah Wells, Olympian and Founder of Believe Initiative
1:00 PM – 1:08 PM
Shelan Emre
2:00 PM – 2:10 PM
Break
2:10 PM – 2:25 PM
Group Presentation
2:25 PM – 2:40 PM
Grant Q&A
3:27 PM – 3:30 PM
Wrap up
3:30 PM – 4:00 PM
P2P to Gold Briefing (For Gold Participants who confirmed participation)
Olympian and Founder of Believe Initiative
Obstacles don’t scare Sarah Wells. As a 400m hurdler, this Olympian’s reputation was forged through overcoming challenges and achieving the incredible. Take her debut at the London Olympics in 2012, which came despite an injury that had sidelined her for months just the year before. Outside of competitive sports, this athlete is coaching people to pursue their goals through the Believe Initiative, an organization founded on—fittingly—a message of resilience. Most recently you would have seen Sarah pushing her limits on the latest season of the Amazing Race Canada, where she got to push her boundaries in a whole new kind of way! Evidently someone who understands the importance of self-belief and the power of purpose, you’ll want to listen-up when this Olympic semi-finalist and Pan Am Games silver medallist takes the virtual stage.
Grant manager, Passion to purpose
Jeevana Rajkumar is the current Grants Manager for the Award’s Passion To Purpose Community Service Grant Program. Coming from a immigrant family that fled from civil unrest, she understands how lived experiences, socioeconomic privilege and access to platforms can heavily influence the way young people interact with their environment. Believing firmly that no single approach is right for every young person, she works with each application to support their application through the process. Her background in grants administration and youth support roles guide her relationship with each young person that she works with. Her goal is to support each young person through their change journeys, in ways that best fit their needs.
Jeevana earned degrees in psychology and human resources, focusing on social interaction and social justice.
MINDYOURMIND.CA
Elora Watson is a recent Bachelor of Social Work graduate from King’s University College at Western University. She is currently the Be Safe Coordinator for mindyourmind, a youth mental health program situated in London, ON and online at mindyourmind.ca. Elora is passionate about mental health advocacy and her lived experience allows her to bring a unique perspective to the work mindyourmind does.
Download a digital copy of the workbook.
Feeling inspired?
Apply for your grant today!
Learn about eligibility, requirements, and read about project examples.
Schedule a mentorship call with the us!
Learn to plan your project effectively and efficiently!
Requirements how to turn your Passion to Purpose Project into your Gold Project
Canada Service Corps is a federal program that is being developed by youth, for youth. The program aims to support young Canadians to get involved in their community through service opportunities, while at the same time gaining valuable skills that will benefit them in life and work.
Thank you for taking your time to join us today! Hope everyone was inspired to go out in their communities and start the change!
After my project was adapted the goal was to provide summer essentials for 50 newcomer families in Winnipeg. I wanted to provide toys, games, snacks, toiletries, school supplies, and information about the city for newcomer families. I have accomplished my goal and I think by providing the families these baskets of goodies, they were able to explore the city and ease the financial stress that comes with having fun in the summer especially during this pandemic.
The response from my project has been overwhelmingly positive, not only from the families directly impacted but by my team and my families and friends. I made 50 baskets and provided them to 50 families. Those 50 families consisted of 98 adults and 205 youth.
All the families were gracious of the packages, but some showed it more than others. Roza was a 4-year-old girl and she was so excited to see the ABC Canada Book and couldn’t wait to learn how to read it! There was another family who received a rainbow loom kit and the 11-year old girl said, “thank you so much, I have always wanted a rainbow loom!”. Ali was a 6-year-old boy who was over the moon excited when he saw the giant colouring book and the plethora of Crayola supplies, he couldn’t wait to colour! Zachary was a 4-year-old boy who received a golf set and when he saw it he couldn’t help but immediately open it up and start playing! Seeing the excitement from the kids was so amazing and unlike anything, I had ever seen. Seeing the excitement the families showed was so rewarding, I could visually see myself making a difference in the community. These families have gone through so many struggles since being in a new country I was so glad I was able to provide them with these care packages.
My community has provided positive feedback and has shared my project on their website and there will be an article in the next newsletter, this is very exciting. I posted the project on my personal FaceBook and Instagram accounts and only got positive comments and messages about the impact I am making and encouragement to keep going on my path of making change.
I learned so much from this project. My original project was a full day event with newcomer youth and that was adapted due to the Coronavirus and the social distancing percasuions. Once I made my new plan of care packages for newcomer families, I had only minor hiccups. One of the hardest challenges I faced was regarding the shopping. Once I had my shopping lists ready with quantities and price-matches noted it and I went to the store most times I wasn’t able to purchase all the quantities I needed. I was able to get around this by ordering online, visiting multiple stores for the same items and returning to the same stores once they had more stock. Another challenge I faced was the language barrier, but I was able to overcome that by working with volunteers who spoke multiple languages as well as talking slowly. For safety reasons I didn’t want to delivery, the packages to the families by myself so I had to rely on others to come with me, coordinating times was a challenge that was easily overcome by first coordinating with the families followed by the volunteers.
I am so proud to say I learned so much about myself, my community and non-profit work from this project. I had so many successes and they have only motivated me more to continue making community impacts. My most successful accomplishment and moment from the project was delivering the baskets to the families and seeing the kids so excited and the parents so gracious!
Overall, I think my project was very successful and was executed smoothly. If I was to do this project again, I would have like to allow for more time to get to know the families on a personal level. I learned about the struggles specific families faced and the reasons they came to Canada, this was extremely sad in some cases and only makes me proud to be Canadian. I would have liked to hear from more families about their journey, and how they came to Canada. This was the biggest project I have been the lead for, and I continued to develop my skills as a delegator, leader and team member. I was able to use my problem solving skills during times of challenge.
I am so proud of all the success and support the Award has provided and I am so grateful for the opportunity. My advice for anyone who is considering the grant would be to just go for it, although it can seem daunting and scary it is important to remember this is your passion and the impact that is made from the use of the grant is incredible. I would remind those who are accessing the grant program there is so much support all around you. For me, I had all my friends from the award as well as the staff who had amazing recommendations and were always there to help when I had questions.
A struggle I faced during this project was finding myself comparing my project and my abilities to others. While I was happy and proud of the change my friends were making in their communities, sometimes I felt like I wasn’t doing enough. My recommendation to others starting projects would be to remember comparison is the thief of joy, we don’t need to compare ourselves to be happy for others or encourage others but rather be motivated by the success we are surrounded with. No change is too small, and our impacts are only going to get greater!
Shelan Emre, Award Participant, Passion to Purpose Scaleup Participant
Our goal was to provide an opportunity for disadvantaged children to learn to skate for free. The program was very successful! All of the participants exhibited incredible growth in their skating skills and confidence on the ice.
We had 6 participants this session, and all of the children were very excited about the program and the opportunity to try skating. Most of them had never been on ice before, and although they were nervous at first, they improved over the weeks and became more confident and independent on the ice.
Most of these families did not have the resources or financial support to provide their kids with skating lessons. Because we received sponsorship to cover the cost of skating equipment and ice, each family was really grateful for this free program. Parents were amazed at how much their kids learned, and the participants were eager to come to each session.
I found it difficult to find ice and book a venue. In the planning stage I had to call all the ice rinks in Calgary, only to be left with one that had availability. Due to COVID and the new social distancing restrictions, it was a challenge to find appropriate ice times and ensure that all participants followed the regulations. I persisted in checking the ice times and directly calling the rink to secure ice time. The skating rink also did not allow spectators, so we had to adjust and have parents watch the sessions online. We made sure to communicate effectively with parents so they felt reassured that their children were safe.
We successfully equipped all participants with skates, helmets and gloves from our partner, Professional Skate. By the end of the sessions, all of the participants were able to move on skates by themselves, including skating forward, backwards, turning, stopping and jumping on the spot. It was so rewarding to see how each child improved! They are eager to continue skating, and I aim to run another session in the Fall to offer previous participants to return and build on their skills while expanding our reach to new participants.
I would have recruited more participants. I think I could have taken on more participants and it would have been fun to do group activities with more people to allow the children to benefit more socially. I learned how to manage the administrative aspects of the program, including coordinating the budget, communicating with sponsors and families, and securing ice. I also became more comfortable working with children and taking leadership on the ice to help them develop skating skills.
I would advise others to take advantage of resources and connections they have. It can be very helpful to have support or alternate opinions as you go through your project, and you can learn from others.
Lauren Wong, Passion to Purpose Participant
Additionally, I wanted to show you a few of the student projects we have featured. Each student takes a passion they have and a problem they want to solve, and they find a way to connect that passion to a problem and therefore fulfill our mission to help others build self belief through action.