The infectious effect of volunteerism
Through the WE Schools program, retired teached Marg Graff gained as much as she gave
Marg Graff ’s volunteer legacy is evolving.
Where once she shaped young change-makers in the classroom as a champion of service-learning, these days, she’s more a connecting piece to community service. Marg regularly finds herself in conversation with would-be change-makers.
And so, unintentional though it may be, Marg has become something of an unofficial volunteer recruiter.
With over nine years of experience in service-learning through WE Schools, her guidance in this area is priceless. Similarly, as a veteran volunteer, she is privy to a treasure trove of open opportunities.
Helping others is a habit Marg picked up from her days at the front of the classroom— one she actively passes on. When she was an elementary school teacher, she nurtured groups of youth eager to make a difference in the local and global communities through curriculum from the WE Schools program.
What Marg didn’t foresee when she brought the WE Schools program to Huntley Centennial Public School was how it would energize her own vigour for social action.
“As I worked alongside these amazing young people—so determined to make a difference in the world—I became more and more interested in following in their footsteps,” she recalls.
From there, her list of extracurricular activities began to lengthen. Marg helped her husband and son with their fundraising efforts. She became a companion for the elderly. She started volunteering at a breakfast program in her neighbourhood. And, after being nominated by former students and fellow teachers as an inspirational force in the school, she even travelled to Ecuador on a Staples-sponsored ME to WE trip to lend a hand on a building project.
While retired from teaching, Marg’s passion for service-learning remains a central motivator in her life. She continues to spread the benefits of WE Schools by helping teachers within her community set up the program in their classrooms. “I want to encourage educators to help their students follow their passions,” she explains. “These kids are the people who are going to make the world a better place.”
Marg’s students are the foundation of her legacy as a change-maker. As she helped them find ways to change the lives of others at home and around the world, she changed theirs.
Take Addy Strickland for example, a self-proclaimed “shy kid” who didn’t think her quiet voice was worth sharing. “Marg convinced me that you didn’t have to be loud to be a leader,” Addy says. “[She] was the first person in my life to tell me that I could change the world.”
Addy points to the way Marg utilized campaigns like WE Create Change and WE Walk For Water not only as an opportunity for service-learning, but as a chance for artistic creation. For Addy, this seeded the inspiration that would lead her to found The Dream Catcher project. A creative collaboration with H’Art of Ottawa Studio, The Dream Catcher is an artistic platform for youth to share their dreams with others.
Like Addy, another former student of Marg’s, Kaitlyn Hemstreet, found her calling through WE Schools’ campaigns. While contributing to campaigns like WE Are Silent—a campaign to understand and support people who have been stripped of their voice and their rights— Kaitlyn realized she could dance to make a difference. She choreographed a dance called Unapologetic Beauty, which sparked the launch of the Unapologetic Beauty Project. Through Dandelion Dance Studio, the initiative provides free resources for schools, communities and individuals to help young women embrace their beauty and think critically about conventional beauty standards.
If the success of Marg’s legacy were to be graded by the weight of compassion and social contributions amassed by her former students, it’s safe to say Marg Graff would earn an A+. A guiding influence in the life of countless youth, this change-maker has helped shape a future led by caring and compassionate young Canadians.