Community Living Mississauga volunteer, Rachel Stubits, was recently presented with the Volunteer Mississauga Brampton Caledon (Volunteer MBC) Leader of Tomorrow Award.

A University of Toronto Mississauga student, Rachel was up against 10 strong nominees for the award, which recognizes a youth who exemplifies volunteer engagement and leadership. At a time when the trend in volunteerism is short-term engagement, it is beyond amazing that Rachel has spent the last five years volunteering with Community Living Mississauga.

Rachel started her volunteer role at Community on Campus and graciously pivoted to a virtual volunteer during the pandemic. In early 2020, Rachel was part of a small group of volunteers that spearheaded a virtual volunteering pilot project for Community on Campus participants. The pilot project started within a few months of the first COVID-19 lockdown.

However, even before the pandemic, Rachel was a leader amongst Community Living Mississauga volunteers. Rachel did an excellent job as a volunteer and received the organization’s internal Award of Excellence, which is presented to volunteers who go above and beyond improving the quality of life of the people supported by Community Living Mississauga. Rachel has been a true ambassador for inclusion at the University of Toronto Mississauga, where she has represented Community Living Mississauga and the volunteer program through public speaking roles and by encouraging other students to volunteer.

For the past few years, Volunteer MBC has hosted Peel’s premier volunteer recognition event – the V-Oscars. Believing that volunteer recognition is a pillar of good volunteer engagement, the V-Oscars is a unique opportunity for Volunteer MBC member organizations to show how much they appreciate their outstanding volunteers.

Community Living Mississauga nominates volunteers that have gone above and beyond in their volunteer role with the organization for V-Oscar Awards and has also nominated Rachel for an Ontario Volunteer Youth Leadership Award based on her outstanding performance and time served.

Congratulations Rachel on this well-deserved honour!