The We Cancerve Movement, Inc.
Bringing swift solutions to children in sad situations because happiness shouldn't have to wait!
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Apply for our 2023-2024
Board of Advisors
Are you a young person between ages 8 and 18 who has a passion for bringing happiness to children in sad situations? We're teaming with area school teachers, service-learning advisors and youth advocates to help us identify reliable, dedicated and mature young people to join our leadership team.
We're ready for you to join our leadership team!
The application period closed April 24, 2023.
Deetya Chhatwal, and her younger brother Gurnek, both elementary school students at the time, led We Cancerve's Dental Care Kits project during Children's Dental Month in October 2019.
What Makes Us Different: Every We Cancerve project is created by a young person. Our youth not only deserve the credit for project success, they deserve credit for project leadership. They hold meetings, and make planning, staffing, budget and project execution decisions. Our all-youth Board of Advisors work together as a team to bring different perspectives from their own backgrounds and experiences to help enrich our activities. These outlooks help us consider multiple ways to service children whose experiences may be different from our childhood experiences. Rarely will third graders have an opportunity to work in partnership with a high school senior on a project and have equal authority in shaping its direction. As key decision makers for We Cancerve, age and education do not restrict input. That's foundational to our Founder Grace Callwood's personal motto:
There's no age limit on service!
Our team of mentors and supporters - including parents and our board of directors - help us shape our service with We Cancerve. Youth who show initiative, catch on quickly to We Cancerve's philosophies and routine, and who show great passion and respect for the people we serve can grow their leadership circles tremendously. Please take a few moments to see what we've accomplished by clicking here.
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What You Gain: There's opportunity for every advisor to operate in leadership roles as project leads, in programming as event designers and logisticians, and in networking and coalition building by helping us form partnerships with other youth organizations or organizations and companies that support youth-led projects and initiatives. By joining our Board of Advisors, you will learn and grow leadership skills such as collaboration and teamwork especially among diverse groups (age, gender, religion, social background, etc.); networking; public speaking for keynote addresses, acceptance speeches and elevator pitches; and you will learn how to engage with the news media. Through hard work and superior service, We Cancerve board of advisor members have received awards from local, regional and national organizations. Most of all, by being part of our leadership team, you will be able to help other youth - immediately - in ways they will appreciate and remember for years and years to come.​ Take a quick look at some of the awards our past members have won:
Katelyn O'Connor was named the Harford County Representative for the Distinguished Young Women of Maryland Award in 2019 while serving on our all-youth Board of Advisors
Mario Nandalal, Elizabeth Wesdock and Colin McAtee's creation of "Goals for Grace" won the Schaeffer Prize for We Cancerve in 2018 while each served as members of the all-youth Board of Advisors
Ashlee Brockwell won Hershey's Heartwarming Project microgrant from WE in 2022 while serving on our all-youth Board of Advisors
Mario Nandalal, second from right, won the Association of Fundraising Professionals' Youth Philanthropist of the Year Award from the Maryland Chapter in November 2018 while serving on our all-youth Board of Advisors
Gurnek Chhatwal was named a Carson Scholar at age 11 while serving on our all-youth Board of Advisors
Theo Rose won the Association of Fundraising Professionals' Youth Philanthropist of the Year Award from the Maryland Chapter in November 2022 while serving on our all-youth Board of Advisors
Grace Callwood, Founder of We Cancerve, was named a Nickelodeon HALO Award Honoree in 2016, just five years after starting We Cancerve
Quick Look
DETAILS
Students must be nominated by one of our Service Supporters. Each Nominator may recommend only one applicant for the 2023-2024 service year; a letter of recommendation is required to complete the nominee's application packet. Letters may be emailed to peoplewhocare@wecancerve.org. Subject line should state the student's name-school/institution.
Application Period: April 3 - April 24, 2023
Available Seats: 6
Minimum Qualifications: Ages 8 to 18, completion of application.
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Time Commitment:
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Board meetings are mandatory and are held quarterly, typically on the first Friday of the month from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Check upcoming events for dates.
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Board members are required to support/attend at least two events per quarter.
Ideal Youth Board Members are:
Cooperative, flexible, easy to work with, reliable, dependable, passionate about our work, knowledgeable about our work, loyal, committed, smart, have a teachable spirit, a lifestyle for this type of work, available, show sacrifice, attentive, ready to work hard, responsible, respectful, fair, be inclusive, show equality, give their best in all they do or say, able to lead a project, willing to ask questions, provide feedback and ask for help, and able to attend projects, events and meetings.
Interested in becoming a Service Supporter?
We're looking to develop sustainable partnerships with organizations that can adopt at least one We Cancerve initiative, ideally on an annual basis. Some of our partners also invite We Cancerve's youth leadership to discuss teen activism, community service and youth advocacy as part of their service-learning or social/civic studies curriculum.