VOLUNTEER FINDS HIS CALLING AS A MENTOR

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Raunald Sebastian. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Raunald Sebastian knows how much a role mentorship plays in volunteerism, because he gets to be one every day. A 17-year-old high school student, Raunald learned about Blood Cancer United, an organization with a mission to find a cure and improve the quality of life for everyone with blood cancer, for the first time from a friend on the school bus. Unfamiliar with the group’s work, he decided to go home and research it. He had never known anyone with blood cancer. But he decided to learn more, and that decision changed the trajectory of Raunald’s life.

Raunald got involved in BCU’s Student Visionaries of the Year Program, committing to join his team to raise money that would go toward creating a world without blood cancer. It was a long and arduous fundraising journey, and Raunald spearheaded fundraising events at local spots like Chipotle and Panera, while also managing outreach via email, calls and sponsorship meetings. He raised awareness on social media, getting the word out about the team’s mission and encouraging people to donate funds.

Ultimately, Raunald and his team raised $47,472, contributing to the $3.3 million raised in all of New Jersey. But Raunald proved to be so successful as a fundraiser that he was invited to the Junior Leadership Committee to help mentor different student visionary teams. He mentors two Student Visionary teams while leading and supporting 30 JLC members. He ensures recruitment and fundraising goals for the Student Visionaries of the Year program, bringing in new, vibrant minds to make sure the program is a success.

Throughout it all, Raunald hasn’t forgotten the reason behind why he’s so passionate about the cause. He’s had the opportunity to meet a little girl living with blood cancer that the funds his team raised will go toward. Seeing her smiling face on the stage as her crying parents watched from the crowd was a great reminder of why Raunald is just so dedicated to working toward eradicating blood cancer. Through serving as a mentor for others, Raunald’s passion could very well someday become a reality.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

It started with a question that my friend asked me on the bus, which was if I wanted to be a part of Blood Cancer United. At that time, I had no clue what that was. If I don’t know something, I really want to research it, so I went home and researched it and asked my parents, and realized I really wanted to do this because blood cancer is a global issue. What inspired me was that impacting your community teaches you so many lessons along the way. It really builds you as a person, builds your personality, and builds your network and your skills through the volunteering journey.

What inspires you to volunteer?

I do it because you never know when you will experience these hardships. I want to help provide for the people who are going through these hardships. Maybe I’ll never experience these hardships that people go through, but if I do, that’s good, because it also teaches me a lesson. Volunteering really stood out to me because it teaches me disciplinary skills and shows me that effort is needed to achieve something. If I achieve it, that really teaches me so many more lessons along the way, and it just builds me as a person overall.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Blood Cancer United.

When I first volunteered for Blood Cancer United in 2025, I was a lead candidate, which means I was one of the high schoolers across the world that was part of the Student Visionaries of the Year program, a seven-week fundraising and philanthropic leadership program that students take across the nation to lead a group of people to fundraise money for blood cancer. My job at that time was to get my co-candidates to plan out how to go about the fundraiser, so we could reach our goal. Our goal was $50,000 in those seven weeks. I spent that whole summer trying to find people who would want to be on my team and who really had that passion to fundraise just like me. And it was really a long journey, because it taught me that leadership comes with a lot of patience and team collaboration skills. We went on to raise close to $50,000, and I personally raised $7,000. I got invited to the Junior Leadership Committee to help mentor different student visionary teams to raise money.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

I really want to stick with the Junior Leadership Committee and help other student visionary teams succeed and excel beyond how far I went. That really brings joy to me and shows how I can help them improve their goals. I also want to keep advocating for blood cancer awareness, because you never know when you will experience that type of issue. It teaches you so many lessons along the way.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

Right now, on the Junior Leadership Committee, I would say the most rewarding part is seeing the team that I’m mentoring doing even better than I am right now. To see those 20 team members on their team light up and really have their joy to fundraise even more than my team and I really brings me so much joy, because it really shows me that I can steer them away from the problems that I had. It’s so rewarding to see me teaching other teams and other mentees how to fundraise and how to go about it, because it shows me I have played a role in their success, too.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

I’ve learned so much from my volunteer work. But specifically, I’ve learned so many team collaboration skills. I’ve learned so much about patience. I’ve learned so much about different people, and I learned a lot about networking and personalities. I feel like everyone I meet has a different personality, and I hear their stories and how their lives may be affected by different stuff. That goes to show how judging people based on how they appear, or what they’re going through, is just terrible. You don’t know what their day’s been like, and it just really shows you that you should never be able to judge so quickly without really knowing their story.

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering?

Just go for it. Obviously, do your research. If you want to do it, you should do it because the thing that you’re questioning is what you want to do. That means you have to do it, because it really pushes you and teaches you a lot about who you are as a person, and it teaches you so many new skills. If you’re hesitant, you should always do it because it really pushes you out of your comfort zone, and really involves you with that specific community.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

I would love people to learn that age does not matter. Maybe you are young, and you feel like you can’t have an impact. That’s how I thought about it. I thought I was only a sophomore in high school. How was I going to fundraise $50,000 for Blood Cancer United? Then I realized, after viewing so many more high school students across the nation, I can get used to this. That’s because age doesn’t matter. If you have that drive, if you have that passion, if you have that perseverance, you can accomplish anything. At the end of the day, the goals that you want to accomplish are really dictated by the effort that you want to put in. You can get started at whatever age you want, and you can finish that goal by whatever age, but what truly matters is the drive that you have behind all of that.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Raunald? Find local volunteer opportunities.