Jananee has always understood the importance of helping others.
A recent grad from the University of Toronto, she works full time at Amazon Canada. Throughout all her years studying, Jananee worked with charity groups, volunteering what free time she had and organizing fundraising events. Now, Jananee has been made the president of an Oakville based Rotary club at the age of 24.
“It’s really important, I think, to help out your community because you begin to really feel you’re a part of it,” she says. “I feel like there is a sense of self-accomplishment there, when you are doing good and you are helping it to become a better place.”
It’s really important, I think, to help out your community because you begin to really feel you’re a part of it.
Jananee has been volunteering since she was 14. She joined a Rotary Interact club in high school and worked in another during university. After graduation, she joined the newly founded Rotary Passport Club South, a chapter organized around flexible meeting times (usually once a month) with the aim of encouraging a wide range of volunteers.
Passport South
Passport South meets only once a month. This allows younger people to take part, 18-30 year olds who are just starting their careers but still feel a need to help out their community.
“Flexibility is something that I think younger folks really look for. Also when we were looking at seniors, some of our older members were not being able to attend weekly meetings because it was just too much for them,” she explains.
“Our diversity is really neat. We have some of the most experienced Rotarians in our club, that have been part of it for 30, 40 years. Longer than I’ve been alive!”
Through Passport South, Jananee has created a mentorship program where older, more experienced Rotarians take younger members under their wings for professional and personal development.
Rotary Passport Club South
“I think that’s a very big youth investment that we’ve been able to make with the younger generation as well,” she says.
Pandemic Response Cluster
Passport South is one of four Rotary groups in Oakville. It includes members from Mississauga and Burlington.
In 2020, it joined forces with the other three clubs to form what they called a “cluster” for pandemic fundraising (Oakville Rotary Relief Fund). The programs they established focused on raising money for food security and education, while also helping to organize donations of PPE to public health units. Donations doubled and by the new year, they'd raised close to $50,000.
Rotary Passport Club South
The Rotary Passport Club South
Paying it forward
Thinking back on her years as a volunteer, Jananee says it’s all about passing along help, all about positivity. She refers to this as "paying it forward."
“Just looking at my life growing up, I have experience with community help,” she says.
“My parents are immigrants, so as they were trying to settle into Canada, the community is what really helped us. It helped us when we really needed it most and I want to be there for others when they need it the most.”
I know the impact of giving something like that to someone.
The holiday season is particularly significant to her. “The one thing that I’ve always remembered is Christmas. I know my family couldn’t afford presents but we were able to get them from the Peel Regional Police’s Salvation Army toy drive,” she says. “So that’s one of my favourite events. Because I know; I know the impact of giving something like that to someone.”
Jananee Savuntharanathan
To find out how you can help Passport South, visit their website or check out their Facebook page to see some events and fundraising initiatives.
