Angels and Ambassadors

The Help Our Students Program has been blessed with volunteers who have made an incredible impact on our operations.

Angels

Since the beginning of the Help Our Students Program in 2010, we have relied on a few RBC staff members to help us. Initially, it was primarily to help selected students open their bank accounts where there may have been some issue with their ID documents. As we progressed, the agents helped with problem-solving for me: why is an account not receiving funds, what is wrong with the names I am using to set up the account in our payment system?

It's because of their never-ending dedication to solving our problems that I started calling them our “angels”. The title still applies today, especially as problems seem to be more complex and difficult to solve.

I can say with all honesty that the HOST Program would not have grown as much as it has without our angels.

Ambassadors

The HOST Ambassadors Program was introduced in 2024. For schools in their sector, HOST Ambassadors:

a. act as the primary contact point between HOST and the schools,

b. collect, prepare and disseminate information to the schools, in coordination with the President,

c. make enquiries with respect to missing selections or missing bank account information,

d. provide feedback on how the Program operates.

HOST Ambassadors are volunteers and are appointed by the President after completing an application and undergoing one or more interviews. Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the President.

Every participating school is assigned to a sector, based on its geographic location and its language of operation. Each sector contains four to eight schools. Generally, a HOST Ambassador is assigned responsibility for one sector although schools from another sector may also be included. Ideally, there would be 8 - 13 volunteer HOST Ambassadors, depending on the geographical layout of the participating schools.

The Program has been very well received by both schools and Ambassadors:

“I definitely enjoyed my first year as an Ambassador for HOST. In terms of time spent, the Ambassador commitment was very reasonable and compressed in a short time period from September to December. The awards presentations typically required only an hour for each school plus of course a few emails to find a mutually convenient time to visit the schools. I found the best part of the experience seeing the young people genuinely express their happiness and gratitude for the awards. I also enjoyed learning about their plans for the money and their next steps after high school graduation.”

The following schools are available:

John McRae
Longfield-Davidson Heights
St. Mother Teresa
Osgoode Township

If you are interested in this wonderful and satisfying volunteer opportunity, contact the President at hostprogram@rogers.com.