In June 2018, PLASP volunteer, Preetkaran Ubhi, went to Fernforest Public School for the last time. A volunteer since 2012, Preetkaran first began volunteering at PLASP to complete his community hours for secondary school graduation. Over the next six years, he went on to complete 129.5 hours of service with PLASP. In March 2018, he received the Ontario Volunteer Service Award.

After six years of volunteering with PLASP, Preetkaran will 
continue to give back to his community as a police officer.

“At first I  didn’t really know how to behave around children, but by the end of my first year, I began having so much fun in the program, that I had to come back for another year,” Preetkaran commented, on his last day as a PLASP volunteer.  “I ended up volunteering with PLASP for all four years of my university career.”

Preetkaran went on to study at Ryerson University and is currently pursuing his dream of becoming a police officer. He credits his experience with PLASP and his interaction with children for the lifelong skills he has developed over the years – experience that he is utilizing now as he works towards achieving his goals.

Preetkaran is sad to leave the children at Fernforest, the school he himself attended as a child. “As I continued to move forward in my career, I was finding it more difficult to volunteer at PLASP. By not attending the program regularly, I felt I was doing more of a disservice to the organization, and to the children, who often got sad when I didn’t attend for long periods of time.”

Preetkaran will continue to look for opportunities to give back to his community as a volunteer and is looking forward to a rewarding career of community service as a police officer.

“We are very proud of the outstanding member of our community that Preetkaran has grown into,” says Sharon Flood, Manager of Volunteer Services at PLASP. “He has dedicated so much of his time over the years to the children in our programs and has become a role model to them. We wish him a safe and fulfilling career in law enforcement and believe that he will be a valuable asset to the communities that he will serve and protect.”

Preetkaran would like to thank all the PLASP staff in the program that made his volunteer experience at PLASP an amazing one. “They work so hard and made the program that much more fun. They always made me feel included and were so supportive.”

Volunteering with PLASP

Volunteers and students on placement work alongside staff in the PLASP head office and in programs to augment the high quality care PLASP provides to the children in our programs.  These volunteers and students on placement gain valuable life skills while they increase the learning and engagement of the children.

All of us at PLASP would like to congratulate Preetkaran on receiving the Ontario Volunteer Service Award in recognition of his dedication and contribution to PLASP and the children at Fernforest Public School. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors and hope that we will see him again in the future.

For more information about volunteering at PLASP, please contact our Volunteer Department at 905-890-1711, ext 160 or visit the volunteer section of the website here.