Harnoor Gill is a 17-year-old (just about to be 18 🙂 ) from Georgetown, Canada, with a passion for volunteering.
In fact this month alone, he will participate as a Jailbird in Crime Stoppers of Halton’s Jail-A-Thon to raise donations to support a local crime stopping group in his area. Making a difference is clearly his passion.
Harnoor was born in Hong Kong to Indian parents, but has lived in Canada most of his life. Currently in secondary school, he has been volunteering since he was three. At that tender age, he started going door-to-door to sell cookies to raise money for the Hong Kong Red Cross. It was not until the first time that he visited India with his parents and had his “first brush with poverty in the form of a freezing child in the streets during a cold winter that I realized what a difference I could make.”
(Photo courtesy of Steve Di Monte of Change Your Life Photography)
He stresses that he couldn’t be where he is now without his parents, who have always supported and encouraged his desire to make a difference in the world, especially after he started having problems with bullying in elementary school.
He has donated over 3,000 volunteer hours with over 20 organizations. For him, volunteering proved to be an excellent way to deal with bullying, because it allowed him to develop his skills and interests, while also making friends with similar concerns. Harnoor is especially passionate about environmental issues. He became interested in when he first volunteered at a local distressed park in his community.
WATCH: Harnoor Gill Speaks About World Peace At WE Day In Waterloo
While volunteering more than most people his age could ever imagine, Harnoor has continuously wanted to do more. So, in 2012, he founded the Peace Welcome Club to promote volunteer opportunities for newcomer immigrant youths, such as himself. He says he wanted to convince young people that age is not a barrier to volunteer.
“The Peace Welcome Club (PWC) has been my success in encouraging other youth to get out and volunteer as well as implement immigrant services designed for youth. As I grew up being an immigrant wasn’t too difficult as my parents looked after most of the things I needed, but when I started to volunteer, it was definitely really hard to find opportunities. I grew up in a time where resources for immigrant youth were extremely minimal and this inspired me to foster a youth group designed to encourage youth to volunteer.”
To continue reading this story from our partner, Taking on the Giant, click here.
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