Back in Grade 7 when school mandated that we do at least 40 hours of volunteering before we graduate, I didn’t know it’d unlock a culture of giving with me I didn’t even know was there. Hazel McCallion’s Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee. The Square One Youth Centre. The Trillium Health Centre (formerly known as The Mississauga Hospital.) Between these and other high school activities, I’d graduate with more than 2,500 hours volunteering to my name, firmly cementing volunteerism as a driving force in my life.
Even now I see its effects. Spending time helping my church perfect its messaging and raise its kids. Thinking of what we can do to help each other first before thinking about what I can get from others. Giving back to the world is important, and it’s up to me—and adults like me—to teach this to the youth of tomorrow so they can shape a better future.
See, youth get it. They’re not so bogged down with the harsh lessons of adulthood that they’ve lost hope that the world can be a better place. They’re creative. Optimistic. They have the potential to become great people, and it’s up to us to nurture that and give them the tools they need to make it there.
This sentiment in mind, RBC’s celebrating Canada’s 150th with the #Make150Count campaign, a national movement where they’re empowering youth across the nation to do acts of good with their resources at hand!
#Make150Count—What Did RBC Do?
For #Make150Count, RBC sent out 3000 kits with $150, asking youth nationwide to use it to make a difference. That’s meant many different things to different people, from the direct and tangible like buying ice cream for kids and meals for the homeless to things a little more off-beat like building robots that clean up garbage and performing concerts for the elderly! There is no one “right answer” for making the world a better place, and campaigns like #Make150Count have the right idea in mind—empower others with the belief they can do good, and with luck, they’ll astound us with the things they accomplish!
And what’s awesome is that #Make150Count is just one of the many things RBC’s doing to make a positive impact on Canadian communities! They support a broad range of community initiatives, putting their name behind causes and supporting events they believe in… they even have their employees lead by example, volunteering in various activities!
They’re community-minded corporate citizens celebrating what makes Canada great—and when we help our communities prosper, everybody wins!
Why RBC’s #Make150Count Strikes Home for My Family and Me.
When we invest in youth, great things can happen. RBC and I both take a similar stance on the importance of developing today’s youth for a better tomorrow. And though my boys are still quite young, I hope they can at least learn from my actions and give back to the world themselves, for how can we expect to see a better world if we’re unwilling to change it?
Thanks for reading and I hope you too do your bit to make your corner of the Earth a better one!
Until the next,
Disclaimer: RBC compensated me for this post, but as always, all thoughts and opinions remain my own.
