Frontier College: An Important Part of My Life
Many people in Toronto are unfamiliar with Frontier College, and often mistake it for community college. But in fact it is Canada's original literacy organization, dating back to 1899, supporting children, youth, and adults as they learn how to read and write.
Over 7 years ago I began working at Frontier College as the Manager of Individual Giving, and over time, I also volunteered with the Virtual Learning Portal, and today still remain a monthly major gift donor. It has been a remarkable experience and life-changing opportunity for me and my young family.
Frontier College wasn’t just a great place to work, it became a great place to learn, a great place to share, and, most importantly, a great place to help make a difference in the lives of so many wonderful people across Canada.
As part of my job, every day I would reach out to many likeminded individuals and share stories of our learners, both the struggles they faced and the successes they each experienced when they received the support and encouragement from the dedicated volunteers and staff.
For me, more important than increasing financial resources necessary to ensure sustainability of program delivery right across Canada, was the deep sense of satisfaction knowing that one more child would receive their very own book to keep and read; that one more youth would have access to a personal tutor to help them complete their GED ; and that one more adult would get the literacy training they need to secure and maintain employment.
As volunteer tutor I was humbled and blessed to meet my learner who lived in Sudbury, Ontario. He taught me to appreciate the little things in life while I helped him learn how to count to 100 and identify the alphabet in both English and French. I was enriched by this opportunity.
After a long day at Frontier College, it was common practice for me and my 2 ½ year old son to read often 4 or 5 children’s books at bedtime. Over the years, reading has become an important party of my son’s life, such that every year he has been asking his friends to support Frontier College with a financial donation instead of receiving birthday presents.
Frontier College will always be an important part of my life, not only because of the people and the lasting friendships I have made, but for the impact it has had on my life. Frontier College is a solid charity that truly cares about the people it supports. I encourage everyone to donate to Frontier College and help others learn to read and write eventually giving them the opportunity to succeed in life.