Abdi knows that the opportunities he received as a child – opportunities created by donors who gave to United Way – changed the trajectory of his life. Without the community programs that kept him and his friends engaged, Abdi says, “Some of us would have been in jail or even long gone.”

Now, Abdi has a clear goal. ‘When I get older, I want to be a police officer … to give back to the community.” With that goal in mind, Abdi devotes every hour he can to volunteering. “One of my coaches, he helped me quite a lot. He told me what it means to give back to a community, and to aim for the younger kids because they’re the new generation. They’re the future. Everything that happens depends on them.”

By engaging young kids in the kinds of camps and activities that were so important to Abdi growing up, he knows that “it gets them off the streets and gives them a better opportunity in life and in the future.” When he looks at the programs that changed his life and at the volunteer opportunities he has today to build his connections, skills and contributions to his community, he recognizes exactly how important all of these initiatives are to creating a vibrant and healthy hometown. “Agencies like United Way that come together and help raise money for other agencies,” he says, “if they didn’t exist, Hamilton wouldn’t be Hamilton.”