LifeInBitesAndBytes

Serving, Learning, Belonging: My First Steps into Canadian Culture Through Volunteering

When I first arrived in Canada, the question on my mind was not just “Where do I live?” or “What job should I apply for?”, it was “How do I understand this place, truly, deeply and find my place in it?”

Many friends offered the same gentle advice. “Volunteer. That is how you will see the heart of Canada.” At first, I was not sure. Volunteering seemed like something you did after you had settled in not as a way in. But their words stayed with me. So I took the first step; police check, references, orientation, all part of ensuring safety and trust in spaces built on compassion. A small hurdle, but one that immediately signaled something important. Here, care is intentional. Responsibility is shared. Integrity matters.

And then, I stepped into the work. My first placement was at a community food market, not a store, but a lifeline. Families, students, seniors, newcomers, all arriving with gratitude and quiet dignity. My role is sorting donations, arranging shelves, and serving people face to face. All are simple tasks, but every can of beans, every loaf of bread, every smile exchanged carried weight. It was not charity. It was solidarity.

Then I volunteered in a breakfast and lunch program, a warm kitchen buzzing with purpose, where volunteers scrambled eggs, packed lunches, and shared stories. I handed a sandwich to someone who had just worked the night shift. I listened to a young parent talk about balancing school and childcare. I saw people, tired, hopeful, resilient and I saw myself in them.

Back home in Sri Lanka, I had taught my students about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “Grand Challenges,” I called them, global, complex, urgent. But somehow, I had still carried an illusion. That in a country like Canada, hunger and poverty were distant problems. That development meant resolution. Volunteering shattered that illusion, not with despair, but with clarity.

True that Canada is a developed nation and yes, food scarcity, isolation, and inequality still exist here. Not as exceptions, but as reminders, the SDGs are grand not because they only affect the Global South, but because they thread through every society in different forms. They are grand because they demand humility, collaboration, and sustained action from all of us.

What moved me most was not just the need, it was the response. The staff and fellow volunteers were not saints. They were teachers, retirees, students, professionals, people choosing to show up. I met full-time employees who used their vacation days to serve meals. I saw colleagues clock out of their 9 to 5s and walk straight into the kitchen to help prep dinner.

That is when I began to feel Canadian values, not as slogans on a website, but as lived practice:
✅ Kindness without condition — you are welcome, exactly as you are.
✅ Community as responsibility — we look out for each other, not because we must, but because we choose to.
✅ Dignity in giving and receiving — no shame, no judgment, just mutual respect.

One phrase I heard, and now carry with me, was simple, repeated often, and profoundly powerful:
“Thank you for being here.”
Not “Thank you for helping.”
Not “We appreciate your sacrifice.”
But “Thank you for being here.”
As if my presence mattered, not just my labour.

That is culture. That is belonging.

Today, my week is full, not with appointments or errands, but with volunteering slots. I have booked every free hour I can. Because this is not just about giving back. It is about growing roots. It is about learning how to listen, how to serve, how to stand beside others, not above them. And if you are new here, in Canada, or in any place that feels unfamiliar, I echo what my friends told me;
Start with service. Show up. Ask questions. Hold a door. Say “How can I help?” and mean it. You would not just learn about the culture. You will become part of it.