KIRAN TOOR: LEADING THE BRIGHT PATH OF YOUTH
Kiran is an undergraduate student at Simon Fraser University who is a determined, hardworking, and passionate individual. She is a Top 25 Under 25 award winning recipient for her community involvement and representing as one of the top leaders in the City of Surrey. She was recently acknowledged in the House of Commons by Member of Parliament, Sukh Dhaliwal, for her work in the community through Kids Play. Kiran is honored to be recognized at that platform with Kal Dosanjh and Arjan Bhullar. She has an ambition for volunteering and helping organizations that work towards the betterment of society. She is the Executive Director for Kids Play Youth Foundation, a nonprofit organization working towards the improvement of society by preventing youth from getting involved with drugs and gangs, and by keeping a positive trend of motivation through sports.
Her aspirations to serve the community led her to Kids Play with over 18,000 youth go through their programs in the past two years. She aims to increase the number in the upcoming year with the help of all the members, sponsors, and the community. Kids Play has established many programs and done numerous events to engage the youth and keep them on the right track. Kiran plays a key role in executing these events. She oversees events each month – sports and educational.
Kiran runs an after-school program at an elementary school in Surrey. This opportunity was facilitated by the partnership between Kids Play and Surrey School Board. She has a great time working with the students helping them overcome personal conflicts and building self-esteem and confidence. Kids Play aims to work with children as they are young so they can differentiate between the good and bad when faced with in later life. They want to combat the ongoing violence by gearing young kids towards sports and other recreational resources.
She enjoys working with special needs children and has spent the last two years of her high-school education volunteering in her high-school special needs department. This experience was exceptional and very eye – opening. She shared a great bond with the students and staff. She wants to continue supporting the children by running programs for them. She is currently creating a program with her team at Kids Play. This program is to promote ‘assisted learning’ at a farm “Magic Horse Garden,” owned by Carolyn Mamchur, an SFU professor. This program is targeted towards children and adults with disabilities and mental illnesses. Ms. Mamchur has assisted many individuals through her farm and now wishes to devote the farm to those who need it the most.
She also helps run programs with Soar Philanthropic Society. Soar collects and awards scholarships to high school students. This year, 11,000 was raised and awarded to 11 recipients.
Kiran is an Executive for South Asian Alliance Vancouver, a nonprofit organization created to help overcome poverty. SAAV conducts sandwich drives, clothing/food drives, and educational forums to facilitate the transition between high school and university.
Kiran was a key volunteer in helping organize the annual fundraiser held by Akal Society to raise funds for educational projects. This fundraiser took place by the volunteers residing in Canada to construct Guru Ki Kashi University to promote education in Punjab, India. The goal of this project is to educate students from all over the world. This institution will have relations with recognized post-secondary institutions in North America, thereby increasing the scale of opportunities for deserving students.
