This year, the St. John’s-Ravenscourt Youth in Philanthropy (YiP) committee had two major areas of focus: we wanted to supply funds to charities that either improved our healthcare system or improved the lives of Canadians living in poverty.
By going on site visits, we witnessed both the personal and technical sides of these areas of interest.
For example, at CancerCare Manitoba, we observed professionals using a state of the art microscope-like instrument (only two of which exist in the entire world!) to develop new, innovative treatments.
Whether they are working on cutting edge drugs or giving free tours at local art galleries, countless employees and volunteers in our very own city have dedicated their lives to serving others. Our YiP committee was deeply inspired by this.
As a result, we went even beyond our primary mandate of just allocating money to local organizations; we decided to organize multiple school-wide events to raise money for underprivileged children who do not have the opportunity to participate in sports.
We organized a “colour day” at our school and started an extremely popular FIFA video game tournament.
Our committee has raised more that $500, which we plan on using to buy new sporting equipment for Winnipeg youth who cannot afford it themselves.
YiP is a wonderful program that not only donates thousands of dollars each year to local Winnipeg charities, but also provides high school students with the unique opportunity to research local non-profits and to give back to their communities. We are glad to have been a part of this awesome club.