At this time of year, Ben Edelstein takes time out of his busy schedule to smell the flowers. Daffodils in particular.
Edelstein, a 25-year-old Steveston resident, has been volunteering with the Canadian Cancer Society for more than a decade and has long been involved with the society’s annual Daffodil Month campaign, an April fundraiser for the fight against cancer.
“It’s a lot of fun for me,” he says over iced chai at a crowded but quiet No. 3 Road coffee house. “I feel a sense of accomplishment when I (volunteer).”
A day earlier, Edelstein spent five hours selling pins and fresh flowers in Steveston — over and above his current volunteer role with the cancer society as pin distribution leader. Edelstein is responsible for the daffodil pins sold by retailers around town. Money raised through pin sales helps fund cancer research and support services.
Edelstein is an Israeli-born Hugh Boyd grad, who spent much of his life here in Richmond, although family moves meant changing elementary schools several times.
“I think it really forced me to come out of my shell. After the second or third school, it forces you to connect real quick.”
He studied at Langara College for six years — spending the first two in the arts on mom’s advice before graduating with a bachelor of business administration in 2014.
“I loved every minute of it,” he says of his post-secondary path. “I don’t regret a single minute of (studying) arts. It has made me a much more well-rounded person — doing psychology, and philosophy and sociology...it brings that human element into business. A lot of business courses you take are numbers, and they’re not people.”
In his final year, he served as a student union council member. The experience didn’t exactly turn him into a career politician. More memorable was participating in business case competitions in which teams of students tackle a problem and try to produce an answer good enough to impress industry judges. Success in Langara business student battles led to external competitions, and ultimately a contest in which Edelstein served as CEO.
“It was the absolute time of my life — absolutely riveting,” he said. “A lot of times when you’re doing a degree you don’t get a chance to put what you learn in class into action. That was an opportunity for me to show and demonstrate and flex that academic muscle. Nothing validates the education you get more than when a third party who is in that industry turns to you and says, ‘That’s a good answer.’”
Today, Edelstein is a business and marketing co-ordinator by day. By night, he’s a participant in Urban Rec — a club that offers organized co-ed team play of various sports. Edelstein plays four. Somehow he finds time to volunteer — with Variety, the Vancouver Marathon, Operation Red Nose and the cancer society.
“I like making an impact, I like giving back. I think I’ve been exceedingly fortunate in life...because of that, if I have a weekend off, I like to keep busy.”
His first experience with the cancer society was in Grade 10. His English teacher knew a Daffodil Campaign volunteer leader who was in need of ground support, and Edelstein signed up. His first assignment was a blast. He began to take on more responsibility and grow with the organization. He said his path in volunteering has mirrored his own professional life as he’s moved up the ranks.
“Volunteering is not necessarily just giving back. It’s leadership experience,” he says. “The opportunity to grow in volunteer roles is great: it can benefit you professionally, it can teach you things about yourself, it can (help you) develop new skills.”
He’s quick to coach first-time volunteers with a simple message: the work will be fun.
“The nature of volunteering is you can have as much fun with it as you want. You can look at it and say: I’m here for three hours. Or you can say: We’re going to have a lot of fun in three hours. It’s all how you look at it.”
This month Edelstein is wearing a daffodil pin, a symbol of strength and courage in the fight against cancer. Pin peddlers will encourage others to do the same and show support for Canadians living with cancer. As the leading cause of death in Canada, it’s a disease that touches everyone, says Edelstein.
“I wish people could say to me, ‘This is a niche disease,’” he says. “Unfortunately, everyone knows someone (affected by cancer). If it wasn’t a direct relative, it’s a friend, it’s a family member or it’s someone that you knew growing up — you idolized. Unfortunately it’s that big C-word — you look in the obituaries, it’s always there.”
