Reflection: 2022, Our First Year in Review

2022 was the founding year of JS Charity. Early in the year, I had discussions with my family about the issues many youth across Toronto have regarding accessing all the education opportunities they deserve. I was fortunate to have an excellent education due to my family's support. I find it unfair that some students cannot achieve their full potential due to circumstances out of their control. Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, I understood that action was needed to solve the problems I identified. I was eager to help as many students as possible, and I wanted to do something to better the quality of education for the youth in my hometown.

I decided to found a non-profit, JS Charity, in 2022 with the support of my family. The goal was to bridge the education gap in the Greater Toronto Area by ensuring as many students as possible have all the school supplies needed to maximize their learning in the classroom. I decided to leverage myself as a student at the Ivey Business School, my sister an undergraduate at Guelph University and my cousin a student at the University of Toronto by hosting a fundraiser. University students, friends and family collectively donated over $1500 in our first fundraising event in 2022. I was astonished to see how many people cared deeply about supporting the next generation of students. Overall, we donated around 100 backpacks to the Mason Road Public School, Eastview Public School, St Lawrence Catholic School, St Malachy Catholic School, North York Women's Shelter and Smithfield Public School. Overall, 2022 was an inspiring year for me; it showed how putting in the effort to achieve my goal of helping others is attainable. We plan to continue making meaningful changes to students' lives yearly. Many ideas, events and positive impacts on the Greater Toronto Area are yet to come.

I thank everyone who helped take JS Charity from an idea to an organization. To all those who have and will donate, thank you for sharing a passion for supporting the next generation. To those in the community and other stakeholders involved, I appreciate your efforts in helping JS Charity. To the friends who told me not to make excuses and to make changes as I saw necessary, thank you for motivating me to pursue JS Charity. Lastly, thank you to my family for your continued support and work towards this organization; without you, there is no JS Charity. 

I am looking forward to what the future has in store!

Aaron Johal