Eric Huang in downtown Toronto. ‘Working with the community, it makes you grateful for things that you have.’Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
Volunteering is a big part of Eric Huang’s life. At 31, Mr. Huang has been volunteering since high school, in and around the Greater Toronto Area. He has a thriving career in analytics and is the founder and CEO of the Advanced Analytics and Research Lab, but he makes time to volunteer once a week. “That’s my goal,” he says.
For the past seven years, Mr. Huang has been a volunteer tutor at The Redwood, an emergency shelter for women and children who have experienced gender-based, domestic or intimate partner violence. He received a 2021 Volunteer Toronto Legacy Award for his work with The Redwood, with the awarding organization calling him “an exceptional male role model” who “promotes positive, healthy and compassionate learning.”
In this series, Reimagining Wealth, we explore the evolving definition of wealth in today’s world. Here, we talk to Mr. Huang about finding fulfilment through service.
How did you first get into volunteering?
My mother did volunteer work and I learned from that. In high school, I tutored kids with disabilities at the local library as well as a few sports camps. I really got into it at Western University. I ended up working as the co-ordinator of the volunteer program, matching students interested in volunteering with around 30 different non-profits in the local community.
I’ve volunteered at probably 40 or 50 organizations since high school. I started off with the social issues I care about, like poverty, justice for children and gender-based violence. Right now, I’m involved with four or five different organizations.
Why have you chosen to dedicate your time to The Redwood?
I have been volunteering there for the past seven or eight years and have really built a connection with the staff and the community.
Selfishly, it’s a bit of a fun thing. I work in analytics and day-to-day it’s all numbers and analysis. [Volunteering at The Redwood] is fun because I mostly work with the children’s program, which basically means I organize activities and play with kids, which is a bit of a stress reliever as well.
With the children’s program, we do everything from story time for the very little kids to tutoring for the elementary- and middle-school-aged kids. If I’m tutoring them, I’m answering questions they have on anything. The only subject I can’t help a lot with is French.
What does volunteering mean to you?
When you work in corporate, you’re focused on your job and your own problems, which sometimes seem very insignificant compared to the challenges that people in these situations will face. Volunteering helps put that into perspective. It helps me focus on what’s important in life.
As young people, I think a lot of us want to do good, to make a social impact. Volunteering and working with people face-to-face help remind me why I’m doing the things I’m doing.
I think one of the main ways to have a fulfilling life is to have gratitude. Working with the community, it makes you grateful for things that you have, the life that you have and the career that you have.
Is volunteering something you would recommend to others?
My view is that if everybody volunteered – I want it to be a government mandated thing that everyone should have to volunteer 10 hours a year, or something like that – I think that would solve 90 per cent of [society’s] problems.
One of the biggest issues I think right now in our society is polarization. People have opposing views and they just yell at each other over the internet. But when you meet people in real life, [you see that] people are nice, no matter where they are on the spectrum of different issues.
For those who may be considering volunteering, what advice would you give them?
The two main complaints I hear are: ‘I don’t know how to get started,’ and ‘I’m too busy.’ Figure out what you’re passionate about, reach out to an organization and tell them you’re interested. Organizations are always looking for volunteers.
One of the benefits of volunteering is that you’re giving back. You’re not just thinking about yourself. You’re probably going to make some good friends, and I think that’s a big plus. You give back and you just feel good about yourself.
