YiP Committee at Dakota Collegiate Institute.
Dakota Collegiate Institute‘s Youth in Philanthropy committee has had a great year, with many new students joining our group.
This year, we went on a total of eight site visits, along with fundraising for the HIV/Aids problem in South Africa by selling “Little Travelers”, which are small beaded pins made by women affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
Arguably, the main highlight of this year was our site visits. Through our site visits we got to learn about organizations of our choice and gain insight to our community and its needs and how we as high school students can help.
One of the organizations we visited was Alpha House, which is an organization that helps women escape domestic violence with their children, and supports them through counselling, provides them a suite to live in, and offers educational programs that help them learn necessary skills needed in the workforce.
I can only imagine how much hope this must give the women, many of whom would not have had anywhere to live if it weren’t for Alpha House.
One thing I noticed about all the staff we met through our site visits was how passionate and satisfied they were with their jobs.
One woman we met at Alpha House explained to us how she had started out volunteering for the organization and felt such a feeling of fulfillment that she decided she would like to work for a nonprofit organization. She has been there for more than ten years now.
Overall, our YiP group has had an amazing year, in which we learned a lot about the nonprofit sector, our community and its needs, and how we can help.
Check out more Youth in Philanthropy stories on CNC at Young Winnipeggers Connect 2017.
