On my Youth Uplift website

In February 2026, I created Youth Uplift, a website intended to promote charity initiatives to make students aware of the many opportunities available to them to make a difference and to give back to communities in need.

The charities I selected to promote on my website are Horizons for Youth, CAMH Sunrise Challenge and Sick Kids Hospital.

CAMH Sunrise Challenge was introduced to me last year by my mom and she inspired me to continue to expand my involvement with other organizations. When I came across Horizons for Youth on my Instagram page, I did not hesitate to reach out and ask how I can help. I knew about Sick Kids from a trip to their emergency department when I was little.

I created a very special and personal connection with each of these organizations.  Horizons for Youth stole my heart when I visited their location while delivering Christmas donations. CAMH inspired me through their dedication to mental health, in a world where anxiety and stress touch so many of us. And lastly, there is no organization that takes better care of kids of all ages than the Sick Kids Hospital.

Like these charities, there are many others and Youth Uplift invites the students to do their own research and find the cause that speaks to them the most and to spread the word.

Working on these initiatives I realized that, while my main goal was to give back to the community, in introspect, I have received a lot more in return.

Surpassing my fundraising goal for CAMH Sunrise Challenge gave me a great sense of accomplishment. I envisioned that my support changed the life of a struggling teenager.

The donations to Horizon for Youth right before Christmas consisted of gifts for youths in shelters. While delivering these donations, seeing the smile on their faces was the greatest Christmas gift that I could have received.

This summer, my friends and I will elevate the joy of playing our favourite sport (volleyball) by adding a fundraising component, for the Sick Kids Hospital.

Youth Uplift was a journey consisting of multiple steps, from developing the plan, to designing the website, to executing the fundraising, to name just the main ones. The planning phase involved taking a step back and thinking about the goal and the best strategies to achieve it. I have spent time researching other similar projects, communication techniques and their effectiveness depending on the target audience

The design phase, where the web page was created, required me to apply my creativity. I was able to explore my passion for art and design through the creation of posters, website and logo. I used my lessons learned from the planning phase, which led me to using a design with a lot of visuals, personal and casual language, promoted through social media.

The execution phase required reaching out to my audience, which emphasised for me the importance of communication skills. My thought was “There are hundreds of thousands of charities around the world - why would someone choose my charity?”. By using simple, clear communication and persuasive language, I was able to generate interest and, ultimately, engagement.

I have also learned time management and deliver on my commitments. It was the busiest time of the year, around Christmas time when I had to collect donations for Horizons for Youth. School was busy with assignments due and exams and a lot of people whom I asked for donations were also busy with their own Christmas preparation. Nevertheless, I committed to Horizon for Youth to deliver my Christmas Wish List items before Dec 17 and failure was not an option.

I learned to stay focused, organized and I learned to manage my time between finishing the exams and collecting items from donors for the Christmas wish list. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone when I knocked at neighbours' doors to ask for some items that I was still missing from the Wish List.

In the process I learned a lot about myself. I discovered that helping people and making a difference in someone's world is a great gift, even better than getting Christmas gifts myself.

Overall, this project showed me that with dedication, creativity and support, youth have the potential to do so much in our community and to make a meaningful difference in the world.

Youth Uplift can contribute to building a generation that is more socially aware and motivated to create positive change in their communities.

Link to my website:  https://sites.google.com/view/youth-uplift-by-michelle/my-initiatives-and-their-impact

Link to my website:  https://sites.google.com/view/youth-uplift-by-michelle/my-initiatives-and-their-impact