February 16, 2010

By: Sheldon Chow - AYV!

    My name is Sheldon Chow and I am a board director with the Alberta's YouthVOLUNTEER! Society. In this short article, I hope to share with you my experiences as a YMCA volunteer and how volunteering has become my passion.

    I am currently a preschool, child and youth assistant for the Saturday Morning Mania program at the Don Wheaton Family YMCA. Before the Don Wheaton Family YMCA opened the doors to the public in November 2007, I was already a volunteer with the Downtown YMCA. My past volunteer roles with the YMCA include a member’s services assistant, work-out centre monitor and YMCA Strong Kids Campaigner. In total, I have been with the YMCA for five years. The YMCA’s motto, “building strong kids, strong families, and strong communities” epitomizes the reasons why I continue to volunteer at the YMCA. I believe that the pillars for a strong and functioning society are youth with a strong commitment to fostering the mind, body and spirit. With this belief, I decided to take on a personal project in Grade 9 to spread awareness about the YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign through PowerPoint presentations. With all the campaigners, more than 1100 donors contributed $454000, to help more than 12000 people in Edmonton. It was an amazing accomplishment for the fundraising effort! Every Saturday, I donate 3 hours of my time to aid in the development of program participants in the Mania program. I organize games and crafts for children to play and reinforce the YMCA’s values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. I truly enjoy my role as I help to encourage healthy activity in a world with increasing rates of obesity and foster an atmosphere where children develop good moral values.

    Serving the community through the YMCA is an integral part of my lifestyle, which I enjoy to the fullest. Even though volunteering takes time out of my busy schedule, the feelings I gain from the experiences are wonderful. There is always a sense of happiness knowing that I am making a difference in people’s lives and bringing them happiness. Volunteering has given me a purpose in life to contribute my talents and skills to improving the well-being of our world. This is why I have joined the Alberta’s YouthVOLUNTEER! Society as a board of director in hopes of spreading volunteerism in Alberta.

John Ruskin, renowned Victorian poet said it best, “The highest reward for a person’s work is not what they get for it, but what they become because of it”.