{"id":20537,"date":"2018-05-02T15:43:40","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T19:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=20537"},"modified":"2018-05-02T15:43:40","modified_gmt":"2018-05-02T19:43:40","slug":"give-back-students-tap-into-the-well-of-human-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/give-back-students-tap-into-the-well-of-human-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"Give Back Students \u201ctap into the well of human compassion\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kids in York Region have plenty of opportunities to get outside and have fun.
\nParks abound, forests are not too far away, and, here in Aurora, lakes are just a short drive in any direction. But this is but a dream for many underprivileged youngsters in Toronto, and Robert Lee has dedicated his young life to making a difference.
\nLee, a Grade 12 student at Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School was among the nine Aurora residents \u2013 among 20 York Region residents overall \u2013 who received a 2018 Give Back Award from Magna International and Neighbourhood Network.
\nEstablished by Belinda Stronach as a way to provide scholarships to students not based on academic merit, but rather how much they contribute to the community around them, the awards program has grown and expanded along with Neighbourhood Network into Aurora, King, Newmarket, East Gwillimbury, and Georgina.
\nRobert\u2019s work with Urban Promise, and a number of other community organizations, takes him to many of these areas, as well as to Whitchurch-Stouffville where he is dedicated to York Regional Police\u2019s Community Safety Village.
\n\u201cIt is part of my personality that I really enjoy giving back and just helping out others, especially those who can\u2019t necessarily help themselves,\u201d he says. \u201cI have worked with Urban Promise now for three years. We help run summer camps with Toronto Community Housing. It is giving back to people who don\u2019t have as much; helping the kids, helping them run around, helping them burn off steam.\u201d
\nLast month, the 20 Give Back Award recipients, along with their families, were welcomed to Magna International\u2019s headquarters by philanthropist Joan Kelley Walker.
\nMs. Walker told the teens she was left inspired by the thousands of volunteer hours the students, as a whole, have invested in their community.
\n\u201cThe power in volunteerism has the potential to make incredible changes in our society and it has a ripple effect,\u201d she said. \u201cYou guys are doing this now, but it is also a message to future generations and it is a responsibility we have.\u201d
\nMs. Walker asked the students to consider why they volunteer. In her case, she said it boiled down to the view of volunteerism as \u201chuman compassion at its absolute finest.\u201d
\n\u201cSome people write a cheque, some people are in the trenches doing a lot of hard work, some people do planning and strategy, the business of it; whatever gift you have, whatever gift you share, big or small, it all comes down to the same well in your heart of compassion,\u201d she said.
\nLast week, The Auroran highlighted the citations of Aurora recipients Maya Bertola (Sacred Heart Catholic High School), Tristan Hicks (St. Andrew\u2019s College), Rachel In (Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School), Josie Kearney (Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School), and Madisyn Lamoure (St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Secondary School).
\nWe conclude this week with Robert Lee (Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School), Amy Robidoux (ESC Renaissance), Alex Saeedi (Cardinal Carter Catholic High School) and Lauren Wilson (Aurora High School).<\/p>\n

ROBERT LEE
\nTo Robert, giving back means taking the abilities you excel at and, in turn, using those gifts to help others. Robert sits on the Student and Arts Council at his high school. He is an active member of the Best Buddies program, working with his peers who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as the Youth Alive program, running fundraisers for local charities. Outside of school, Robert volunteers for the York Regional Police, Yellow Brick House, the Terry Fox Run, Neighbourhood Watch, the Canadian Cancer Society, Urban Promise, and the Community Safety Village, just to name a few.<\/p>\n

AMY ROBIDOUX
\nIn Amy\u2019s words, \u201cThere is no better feeling than giving back and being able to see the faces and expressions of those you have helped.\u201d Amy is an avid volunteer. She is a youth soccer coach for the Aurora Youth Soccer Club, where she helps young girls learn the sport. Amy participates in the annual Curl for Cancer and Relay for Life fundraisers for the Canadian Cancer Society. She has been a member of her school\u2019s Student Pastoral Council and was a Grade 7 camp leader. Recently, Amy travelled to El Salvador to build a home for a family in need with Habitat for Humanity. <\/p>\n

ALEX SAEEDI
\nIn Alex\u2019s words, \u201cAlthough this might sound clich\u00e9, volunteering has changed my life forever.\u201d As a volunteer, Alex has found his passions and made life-long friends, while also making the community a better place. In his role as volunteer coordinator for the Canadian Cancer Society, Alex promoted volunteerism for the organization\u2019s peers, collected donations and is currently leading a group of students to plan and execute this year\u2019s Relay for Life event. Alex volunteers in the cardiology and emergency departments at Southlake Regional Health Centre. He is the director of volunteer affairs for the Youth Nation Alliance and has also given back at We Day, Canadian Blood Services and as a math tutor.<\/p>\n

LAUREN WILSON
\nTo Lauren, giving back means making someone smile and helping to make someone\u2019s day better. Lauren has been an active volunteer within her high school. She has represented her peers by annually serving as an executive member of the Student Council. Lauren leads her classmates as president of the Drama Council. She is a York Region District School Board mentor, and she works with local elementary schools to help them develop their own theatre productions. Outside of Aurora High, Lauren gives back by volunteering for Highview and Holland Landing public schools, the Canadian Cancer Society, and the Aurora Public Library\u2019s Reading Buddy program. <\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir Kids in York Region have plenty of opportunities to get outside and have fun. Parks abound, forests are not too far away, and, here in Aurora, lakes are just a short drive in any direction. But this is but a dream for many underprivileged youngsters in Toronto, and Robert Lee has dedicated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/2018-05-03-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5lf","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 17:15:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}