We have all heard about the United Way, whether we were looking at an event poster and saw the little red symbol at the end, or we were hearing it in someone’s speech at an event, “…funded by the United Way” or we were just riding the TTC on a Wednesday afternoon and stopped to buy a pizza slice to support the United Way. We are all familiar with United Way in one-way or another. We all know that it’s a charity organization that is working throughout our city to advance the common good and create opportunities for a better life.

This charity organization that is supporting thousands also needs support, support from the young and strong. And for such an endeavor they have a group of volunteers in 20’s and 30’s who are helping them out to advance in their charitable goals. The GenNext.

Comprised of a cabinet of volunteers, GenNext encourages people in 20’s and 30’s to become involved in United Way through giving and volunteering. GenNext creates fun opportunities for individuals to support United Way Toronto and its partner agencies. The GenNext Cabinet organizes fundraising events, promotes volunteer activities, encourages people to contribute to our city, and provides a forum for people to connect and get involved.

We are inspired when we look at the GenNext cabinet as spectators, but we were eager to know what it is like for these young professionals to devote their valuable time and energy to United Way to help out. What is that factor that is motivating them to show their support and give back to their community at such a young age?

Talking to one of their Community & Agency Engagement Officers, Chrishyami Sivaraj and one of their Leadership Program Officers, Sophia Javed, we went through their journey of devotion with them.

Sophia Javed, graduate of University of Toronto and a lawyer by profession, heard about GenNext through her workplace, “United Way raises money through many different ways, one of which is workplace campaigns. Companies support United Way by organizing events at their workplaces. We had a lot of student events at the law firm that I was working at. People were biding on people to play karaoke. It was a greatway to have fun and raise money.”

They motivated her enough to apply for the position and compete with hundreds for this voluntary post,. Her GenNext colleague, Chrishyami Sivaraj, got involved through United Way volunteer program. She graduated from Wilfred Laurier University with an honors Business Administration and is now a Human Resource specialist, “ I thought it was a great way to get to know about more services that the United Way is involved with.”

These two empowered young professional women already have their hands full because of their demanding careers but still they are handling this voluntary position with great enthusiasm and big smiles. Chrishyami smiles at us and says, “It can be difficult at times, but when you are really passionate about something, you can take out time to do it.”

Well, I could understand her commitment as I was sitting at a Tim Horton’s at 8 at night to know more about their programs. All the offices nearby were closed; the sun was going down, yet there were four ladies sitting in a secluded corner paying utmost attention to the conversation going on. They were all eager about the work they do.

Chrishyami continued, “I find United Way a great organization as it supports local initiatives and communities; helping newcomers, building better lives, getting youth involved, taking care of seniors. They support a variety of local agencies.”

Everywhere we go we hear about people talking about newcomers and the dire need to help them. This continuous rampant makes it sound overrated and we were not polite enough to say it otherwise. Chrishyami did not take that comment easily and replied with a little concern, “I don’t think that it’s overrated. With such a large population, there are many who are benefited from the services that United Way agencies provide. And a lot of people don’t know what is out there and United Way is committed to making that awareness.”

We could see the little crease on her forehead while she took a moment to think and continue, “We are all working and making more money but where is the balance in our lives? So we are trying to get more young people involved. Part of my role is to create events and encourage volunteers within our generation.”

Talk about volunteering among four South Asian women might seem a bit odd to someone from this community, as our parents do not talk about working for free, so we brought up the issue. Chrishyami gave a little laugh and replied, “Absolutely. South Asians are very much interested in volunteering especially in our generation, we want to try new things, get involved, and give back to the community. It’s really helped us thrive. In some of the events we organize a lot of people want to give back.”

Chrishyami had some more insight on the issue, “ I agree that the concept of volunteering was a little bit alien to our parents but a lot of our generation has benefited from a lot of services that some of the community agencies provides. We are children of immigrants and we saw our parents thrive. Now that we are successful professionals, now our generation will be able to help and give back to the community.

We had been talking about events and volunteering from last half hour, so we asked about the nature of events that these young ladies spoke so highly about. Chrishyami was the first to reply, “ We organize Days of Caring. A couple of hours a day, we organize an event at one of our member agencies so that our generation can get out there and get involved with specific agencies.”

Sophia added to that by saying, “There are over 250 agencies that United Way funds support. So our role is to organize events and create awareness about where the funding goes to.”

As a part of GenNext cabinet, these young women are acting as leaders in various situations, so we asked them about the experience they have had so far and the valuable lessons they have learnt. Chrishyami said that giving back to the community was the most important thing that she had learnt while Sophia agreed that a few hours from our time has power enough to put a smile on a child’s face or a healthy meal on someone’s table.

The GenNexters are spending more than 20 hours a week from their lives to turn their efforts into success but one is inclined to wonder if we need organizations like United Way in a welfare country like Canada. Sophia replied with a question of her own and a smile on her face, “If there wasn’t a need then would United Way be as big as it is?”

Well, she did make a point and she was also proud of the transparency of United Way, “A lot of people give money but don’t know how it is spent. So getting involved is a good idea to understand how it is spent. United Way is pretty transparent in this aspect.”

Author: Saniya Zahid