The Life and Times
Harleen Athwal is a second year student who will (fingers crossed) begin the Social Work program at the start of the Winter 2016 semester. She is the co-president of UVIC’s Me to We club and when she isn’t at a meeting or a fundraiser for Me to We, she can be found volunteering, sleeping, or dining on vegetarian food. After all, we decided that if she had to pick two hashtags to describe herself, they would be #friesbeforeguys and #guacislife.
The Zealous Volunteer
As a co-president of the UVIC chapter of the Me to We club, a volunteer/support worker at Canucks Autism Network here in Victoria, and a full-time student, Harleen has a jam packed schedule. Out of all of her activities, Harleen is the most passionate about the Me to We club. Harleen admitted that “as cliché as it sounds, [she] want[s] to see the world become a better place” and she believes that Me to We helps her truly “have an impact on people’s lives.”
“You hear so often about ‘donate to this charity’ but you never get to know exactly where that money is going. With Me to We, you get to actually interact with the people that you’re helping- whether that be through a volunteer trip or connecting with the students in the villages that you’re supporting.” Free the Children gives out updates on who your chapter is impacting and what has been achieved in that region. Harleen loves the fact that you can actually track the process of funding the building of a well, say in Kenya, because it makes the work that you do so much more real. Harleen also loves how “[the club] empowers youth” and how “when you hear about all these bad things going on in the world” it can feel like you can’t make a difference, but “through this [club], you can actually make a difference in the world.” She also loves how “We Day lets you see firsthand so many other people around your own age who are working towards the same goals as you. It’s an awesome feeling of togetherness.”
The Importance of Me to We
The Me to We club strives to raise funds and awareness for developing countries. Each year, the club members select a country and a pillar of the Free the Children campaign, then spend the year fundraising through running various events such as bake sales. This year, the club is fundraising to support education in Sierra Leone.
According to Harleen, “a big thing is that a lot of the students that come from high school and into UVIC need a place to meet new people.” She points out how the club connects people with likeminded interests and that when she first joined, “that’s where [she] made so many friends and got to see people who actually care about the same things that [she does].” She includes that while the club is working towards fundraising, it also strengthens friendships. Meera Mathew, Harleen’s roommate and the Recruitment and Awareness Coordinator of Me to We, agrees that the club “creates a community.”
The Ways to Connect with Me to We
You can like Me to We on Facebook or drop in on the bimonthly meetings in the Welcome Center on Tuesdays at 3:30.
Harleen wants to make it clear that “we have so many people from so many different faculties and walks of life. Everybody is welcome and everyone comes with a different perspective and different experiences” which “[makes] us a diverse club,” and that that is exactly what the Me to We club strives to be.