How to Give Back in Toronto

I have a passion to volunteer in the community in my free time, here are my most enriching occasions.

There are opportunities as an alumni, such as Career Conversations Panelist where I was invited back to York University due to my area of study in my undergrad to provide mentorship to students. It was a stellar experience that only took a few hours of my time and I got to network with the other speakers as well.

Some of the student clubs open up spots for alumni to come help out, such as the Regenesis and Sustainability Club hosting tree planting and campus clean-up.

I did Slack support at Creative Destruction Lab, which is part of Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto.

Lunch is provided, there's wifi and it's a chill atmosphere, but really the best part was to be able to sit in conferences where it's like a Shark Tank environment.

Getting lunch ready for a soup kitchen known as CRC Regent Park.

It's only a few hours and you can sit down to eat with those you prepped the meal for after you are done.

Organizing kids' play area at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.

I've volunteered for them twice and the tour of the facilities before the volunteering was super cool.

Sorting non-perishable groceries for a food bank called Scott Mission.

If you have a group, you can make an assembly line type of thing and it's quite a bonding activity.

Selling 50/50 tickets for MLSE Foundation during hockey games at Scotiabank Arena.

It was a bit tiring to keep yelling "50 50" for hours, but maybe pizza plus watching the hockey game at the end balanced it out.

Doing testing for a text messaging service as a Digital Citizen Advisor for the City of Toronto.

Very safe way to volunteer during a global pandemic.