Connecting Willing Hands With Meaningful Opportunity

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Maitry Shah. Read her story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Maitry Shah grew up with a family tradition of helping people, so when she had kids of her own, she made sure to pass it down. She became heavily involved in the community after leaving pharmacy to raise her kids full-time and often added volunteer elements to family vacations.

Over time, Maitry realized that people often needed help and encouragement to find meaningful volunteer opportunities and founded Charities2Love in April 2023, at the age of 54, to provide it. After building her own website, she picked six causes to support—hunger, homelessness, the environment, seniors, women and children, health and wellness—and now dedicates over 200 hours each month to creating and curating volunteer opportunities.

Two years later, she has organized over 40 community, corporate and virtual events and has collaborated with 80+ organizations. More than 1,300 volunteers have logged 2,400+ hours, inspiring many to find their cause. Though Maitry is sometimes questioned about why she started an organization at this time in her life, she is proud of her journey and the impact she is having on a grateful community.

What inspires you to volunteer?

I’m from an immigrant family and was raised in a household where that’s what we did. My parents didn’t call it volunteering; it was just helping others in whatever way they could. I wanted to be sure my kids also understood that, that you find ways to be useful.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

A decade ago, my daughter was in high school and came across a local nonprofit that provides support to families who have lost a child called Camp Sol. She was starting to get into running and thought it would be fun to host a 5k for them. We didn’t know what we were doing at the time, but we decided to just go for it. It ended up being so much fun, and it was amazing to be able to see the impact we could make when everybody came together.

Since then, I’ve continued volunteering, doing many different things. People would ask me when I was going to an event and if they could join me. I realized that people want to get involved but don’t know how to get connected. The culmination of what comes to me naturally and what I love to do is not that easy for others. And so, I started this initiative.

The other important part is awareness. People love to learn about the nonprofit they’re working with, the cause and how their efforts are helping. We started by making sandwiches for those experiencing homelessness and had a small nonprofit come out to talk about what they did. You could see volunteers putting all of the pieces together.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Charities2Love.

We’re still small. As the founder, I do it all, but my main job is to engage nonprofits to source, create and curate the volunteer opportunities we do. It involves understanding their needs, figuring out if we’re collaborating with other nonprofits for the event, organizing those opportunities and publicizing them.

How do you choose specific organizations and initiatives?

I try to make sure that we are doing things for all of our causes and am attuned to their needs. For example, nonprofits that serve the unhoused need the most in the winter and summer. During those times, we make sure that we’re doing things to help. They are now familiar with me too, so they will also reach out when there’s a high need for something.

The second way is that awareness piece. For example, April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and that’s a great way for us to offer a volunteer opportunity for children in crisis, which did recently in collaboration with a nonprofit whose mission aligns with ours.

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

I’m encouraged by meeting so many like-minded, inspiring people doing incredible work. The smaller nonprofits are amazing, with volunteers who show up behind the scenes doing whatever they can to help. It’s motivating to see how much people want to do when you just give them an opportunity, even young kids.

Also, as a south Asian woman, I’ve also been really inspired to see how many other female founders there are out there and how supportive the community is. It’s good for young people to see leaders who look like them or who are doing things they never imagined.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

There’s always more to learn. I learn something new every day in this realm, even though I’ve been doing it for so long.

Tell us about future partnerships, programs or events that you are excited about.

We’re getting ready for our first collaboration for the environment, a park cleanup. This summer, we’ll be doing a backpack school supply drive that we’ve done in the past, though it feels new every year.

The other one I’m excited about supports women in shelters. October is Domestic Violence Awareness, and ahead of that, we’ll have a volunteer opportunity that is always impactful and eye-opening. It’s not a topic anybody likes to discuss, but it’s important to shed light on it.

Any advice for people who want to start volunteering?

Keep an open mind. I’ve had many people who are unsure if they’re able to volunteer at a certain place or if they can even make a difference. One person absolutely can make a difference. We’ve seen that over and over again. You can bring hope to another person and transform a life.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

I hope it inspires others to keep serving, to keep giving and to keep dreaming of what they can do. Don’t let your fear hold you back, because you can do it. From what I’ve seen, when you have a dream and give all of your effort with a pure heart, doors open and people show up. Keep pushing forward, and don’t give up.

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