Ayoola is one of our new youth summer volunteers. She is currently a grade 12 student. She is incredibly ambitious and is taking summer
school classes. One of her classes has a component called “Faith in Action” where the students are asked to go out into the community and use their talents and abilities to help others through volunteer work with a not-for-profit organization. Ayoola chose LSCO as her placement; she is very friendly and hard working and we couldn’t be more happy to have her here with us.
Ayoola said that the best part about her experience so far here at LSCO is the people. She emphasized, “I love how nice they are, and I like
hearing their stories about their lives and experiences. It just makes this place such a great environment”.
Ayoola has wonderful stories to share too. For example, Ayoola was born in Toronto, Ontario. She lived in Toronto until after preschool, then she moved with her family to Nigeria. In Nigeria she finished Grades 1 through 4; after which, they moved back to Toronto for grade
5 before settling in Lethbridge the following year. She will be graduating High School next year. In her free time, Ayoola said she likes to “play tennis, hang out with friends, go to the mall, watch movies, try new restaurants, and sometimes work out.” If Ayoola won a million
dollars, she would buy her dream house, and maybe a car too.
When asked about what motivates her to volunteer, Ayoola acknowledged that she has all the things she could wish for. She said, “It’s me wanting to… And even though I can do so little, I can still help by volunteering or helping people through stuff. It just makes me happier
because I’m not just doing it for myself, but I’m doing it for other people.” Ayoola has a great attitude to be around. Giving back truly does help the receiver and the giver.
Ayoola says it is her dad who inspires her. She explains, “He is always pushing me to be better, especially experience wise – he is always pushing me to try new things or do better in certain things. He motivates me and gives me advice.” Ayoola’s Dad must be so proud of
her. Ayoola has jumped both feet into multiple volunteer roles. She has volunteered in the kitchen washing dishes, and helping with Meals on Wheels food prep, as well as one of our first “Greeters” in our new volunteer opportunity.
We could all learn so much from Ayoola’s response to what she would say to someone who is considering volunteering, “Just do it, because
you never know what could really happen. For me, for instance, I didn’t know if I wanted to volunteer, but it was a mandatory thing, and
I did it. Just come with an open mindset because you definitely learn a lot of things, whether it’s experience or stories.” This was such a
heartwarming response. It was such a pleasure to get to learn more about Ayoola.
We have been enjoying getting to know our volunteers through our monthly spotlight. Please reach out to Bonnie at bjensen@lethseniors.
com or at the Support Services desk to nominate a volunteer for our future monthly spotlights.