For VIU Social Services student Harold Chandra, financial support has put a career helping others who have gone through similar struggles within reach.
The VIU Foundation’s Ripples of Change campaign has raised more than $1 million to help students achieve their educational dreams.
Harold Chandra believes in second chances. Thanks to financial support from community members, he is accessing the education he needs to empower a new beginning, for himself and his family.
“It’s allowing me to focus on building a future for my family that once felt out of reach,” said Chandra. “People do not need perfection to change their lives. They need opportunity, support and someone to believe in them, sometimes before they can believe in themselves.”
At 19 years old and at the top of his class, Chandra was working towards becoming a Red Seal automotive technician when a workplace incident left him with a career-ending brain injury. His recovery process was long and his confidence and sense of self disappeared along the way. Over time, addiction took hold and Chandra became caught in a loop, cycling in and out of prison as he struggled to make sense of a life that no longer felt like his.
He became involved with Vancouver Island University (VIU) through the Inside-Out prison exchange program, where university students and students inside prisons take a course together. It was the start of the pattern change for Chandra. When he was released, he received two bursaries to help him pay for his Social Services diploma. His goal is to finish a Bachelor of Social Work and find work in community in peer support, harm reduction and family-focused services.
“My family is at the centre of everything I do,” said Chandra. “My son is the reason I chose to return to school and dedicate my life to helping others.”
Earlier this spring, the VIU Foundation launched the Ripples of Change campaign to address the main reason students pause their studies or decide not to pursue post-secondary at all – financial barriers. The goal is to raise $2 million by Spring 2027 to boost the number and amount of financial awards the university can give to students. Thanks to the incredible generosity of the local community, the campaign has already surpassed the halfway mark, raising more than $1 million so far.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from our community as we reach this important milestone,” said Lee Rowley, VIU Foundation Board Chair. “Every contribution is helping create meaningful opportunities for students, opening doors that can change the course of their lives. While we’re proud to be halfway there, continued donations are essential to reaching our goal and ensuring we can support as many students as possible on their educational journeys.”
For Tracy Gillis, a retired VIU Accounting Professor and longtime donor, the decision to donate is personal. When she completed her schooling at VIU (then Malaspina College), she received a bursary to help her achieve her Certified General Accountant designation.
“It was a wonderful surprise and validation that anything is possible,” she said, adding that it led to establishing her own bursaries for students after she started working at VIU. “More than ever before, in our lifetime, it is so important to find ways to encourage people to keep learning, keep opening their minds. And sometimes people need that hand up to help them keep going.”
To make your ripple today, visit viu.ca/ripples.
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Media Contact:
Jenn McGarrigle, External Communications Manager, Vancouver Island University
C: 250.619.6860 | E: Jenn.McGarrigle@viu.ca | W: news.viu.ca
The VIU community acknowledges and thanks the Snuneymuxw, Quw’utsun, Tla’amin, Snaw-naw-as and Qualicum First Nation on whose traditional lands we teach, learn, research, live and share knowledge.
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