Jason Wagar
What YAC were you involved with and for what period of time were you a member?
I joined The Community Foundation of Greater Kingston’s Youth Advisory Committee in September of 1999 and remained with the Committee until June 2003, serving three years as Chair and ex-officio member of the Board of Directors.
How old were you then and how old are you now?
When I first joined YAC, I was 14. I’m now 21. It feels like just yesterday I was at my first YAC meeting.
What is your favourite YAC memory?
In 2003, our YAC spearheaded and organized a Youth Action Summit, a full-day conference bringing together young people in the community and local leaders to discuss concerns and issues. Not only was it beneficial for the leaders to understand where the priorities lay according to the youth, but the young people had input themselves.
My favourite memory is reading some of the comments from the delegates. One from an adult representative read, "The youth are so strong in Kingston, they just need opportunities such as this one to show it. I am so amazed by their concern for others", while another from a youth attendee read "I didn't know that there were so many groups out there doing so many different things. This needs to happen every year to bring them all together and work towards the same goal." That was a true measure of success.
What was your favourite grant?
One of the projects that received a YAC Investors Group Kickstart! mini-grant was that initiated by a kindergarten to grade 8 classroom for children with behavioural issues in a very rural public school. They asked for $200 to buy paint and other various supplies to fix up the much-loved but under-funded local community rink, which was in sore need of some attention.
The project was thought up by the students themselves and each wrote a part of the application form. The community was so impressed with their initiative that they rallied behind the students and came up with more money and more volunteers. Now the rink has never looked better and the students truly understand the ideas of philanthropy and community. And to think, it all started with an idea and $200.
What are you doing now? School, work, travel, volunteering…?
I am in my final year completing my Bachelor of Fine Arts at Ryerson University in Toronto, having just returned from a half-year study abroad program in Perth, Australia (which has a new but thriving community foundation!).
For this and the past three summers, I have worked at The Community Foundation of Greater Kingston as Projects Assistant, managing many different kinds of initiatives of the Foundation, and occasionally serving as a consultant for the YAC program. I suppose I just can’t let the organization go!
How has your involvement in youth philanthropy influenced your life today?
In many, many ways – the people I’ve met, the work we’ve done, the knowledge I’ve gained and the skills I’ve learned continue to benefit me in unsuspecting ways.
There is so much to the non-profit sector and to the community foundation movement that can change your life. You learn about the amazing work that’s being done, the work that’s desperately needed and this fosters in you a real sense of what your community is actually like – the successes and the opportunities.
What do you think of the YIP Canada website? Any suggestions?
yipcanada.org is an amazing resource for Youth Philanthropy programs across Canada, and it will just get even better as more and more YACers submit their stories and share their resources! Networking is so beneficial for YIPs.
What else would you like to tell people who are reading this?
A quote that is often used among community foundations but one which I find particularly memorable is from Andy Warhol: "They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
July 2006
