Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute (DMCI) Leadership Program encourages student volunteerism and has selected Harvest as a community service partner of choice.

“I started the program, I believe, nine years ago”, said Nick Malandrakis, teacher and Leadership Program coordinator at the school. “We have quite an incredible student population. They’re just every year a new batch of kind, hardworking, kids just seem to roll in. They want to give their time, to be a part of something. They want to volunteer and a lot of it is they’re not sure where to volunteer, where to go, who to speak to. So, that was the initial motivation to start this program.”

The DMCI Leadership Program has 170 students who in just over a month have put in 1,500 hours. Throughout December, the students volunteered in groups of 10 every week up to and including the holidays.

“I’ll post (the call for volunteers) and (the shifts) fill up as if the kids were buying concert tickets! It’s absolutely insane. It’s still baing to me there are so many kids that want to volunteer and want to do it so badly. And it’s now competitive,” said Malandrakis.

One student who enjoyed her time at Harvest was 17-year-old Arian Nguyen, whose first shift at Harvest was in October. “Putting things like cereal in the hampers, I really enjoyed because I know that the cereal will go to someone in need,” she said.

According to Malandrakis, the students learn valuable skills form their time at Harvest including leadership, teamwork, organization, the value of what they’re doing, and what it means to Mantioba’s most vulnerable including hungry peers.

“While working at Harvest I learned to be more responsible with my time…Helping people who need help makes my life more meaningful,” said Arian.