Violet Richardson Award 2021 – Riea Singh: the 3rd Place Recipient

My name is Riea Singh, and I am incredibly grateful for being awarded Third Place for the Violet Richardson Award from Soroptimist International of Vancouver. I am pleased to be one of four diligent young women to have the honor of representing this award for empowering girls and helping our communities.

I am the President and Founder of ‘Because the Youth Cares’ – an awareness organization aimed to educate youth about social injustices by offering free academic resources. With one of the 40 global organizations we network with, we are able to offer books and clothing to around 100 young girls in India. I also spend my time creating mental health workshops alongside 15 VSB youth by being a member of the Here4Peers Youth Steering Committee. Through Here4Peers, we provide elementary youth in the Lower Mainland knowledge of mental health and stigma that our many facilitators teach.

I wanted to give a special thanks to the Violet Richardson Award committee for recognizing and honoring me to be a part of this amazing mission of girls supporting girls. Thank you for supporting me in my activism and volunteerism journey and encouraging me to continue in being able to pursue in paying forward my capabilities.