Hanan Chebib is today's interview for I know smart people. She is definitely smart and has chosen to work in the non-profit industry. I won't lie, I got a little teary-eyed over her job and what she does all day. Get a tissue ready :)

Sarah: What do you do?
Hanan: I'm the Manager of Development at the Missing Children Society of Canada. I create relationships to get people engaged in our cause so that our investigators can continue the search for our families.

Sarah: What was the career path that led you to this?
Hanan: It's not so much a path but more of a leaping from one rock to another. I have a Bachelor's in Physical Anthropology, as I was going to be a Forensic Anthropologist when I grew up, made the leap into becoming a pharmacy technician for 5 years, then another leap into photography for 11 years, then another as an event producer for 3 and half years.... then my most exhilarating and challenging leap was into the non-profit world this past April. Each time I jumped into a field it had a huge learning curve and its own special challenges, but what they have in common is the fantastic mix of the technical and the creative.

Sarah: Is it motivating or disheartening to learn about Missing Children?
Hanan: It's a stark reality that children in Canada go missing at the rate they do.... the number shocked me when I first heard the stat. The RCMP released that over 50,000 cases of missing children were reported in 2009 alone! In the first 48 hours, 50% are recovered, but what happens to the rest? What was motivating was to hear that an organization like MCSC was actively doing something about it. And I mean, really doing something about it! The investigators at MCSC are all retired cops with over 25 years of experience each in detective work and they are actively looking. How amazing is that!

Sarah: What’s the best part about working for a non-profit?
Hanan: I know it's cliche, but knowing that whatever effort you make in your job, it has a direct positive result in making a difference in someone's life. A couple of weeks ago, MCSC assisted in a reunification between a father and his daughter. He had been looking for her for two years. He stopped by the office with his little girl and his mother to thank us for helping him out. It was amazing! Nothing compared to that in my corporate job.

Sarah: What are some of the things you do at your job day-to-day that people would be surprised to find out about?
Hanan: Well, how creative it is. We have an environment of openess where people from every walk of life can sit down with us for a brainstorming session. I get to converse with people everyday and listen to their ideas on how to do something better, or how to use something that exists in a new way. We have partners from all over Canada that have developed one of a kind initiatives to help us with our cause. How exciting is that! I, too, know smart people!
Oh, and we laugh a lot here at MCSC. We all love coming to work and we get charged by each others successes. We're never short of smiles here. I think that would surprise people the most.  

Sarah: Where do you see a non-profit like Missing Children going in the next few years?
Hanan: One of our volunteers, Jason Long summed it up beautifully, we're one of the best kept secrets in Canada. I'd like that to change. We're moving in a direction where each and every Canadian will be empowered to prevent child abduction simply by recognizing their own strengths  and it'll be our job to celebrate and share that story. Every day we receive emails, letters or phone calls from Canadians who made a decision to take an small step to help and each and every single contribution will ripple into a societal change.

We have a farmer in Milton who grows a crop of pumpkins every year. It's an honor system, he places a table and a box at the end of his lane and neighbors drive by, pick a pumpkin or two and drop a couple of dollars into the box. This year he made a decision to donate the dolars to MCSC and he made a sign to share it. He noticed that more than not, people put an extra couple of bucks into the box. He raised $521.00 dollars! When we talked to him, he said it wasn't a big deal. It's what he does. He grows crops. He sold over 200 pumpkins this past fall. What he really did was engage an entire community to make a small action in helping us, just by being good at what he does. That's a big deal to us!

In the next few years, I'd like to see all Canadians become part of the movement to stop child abduction, in the way that speaks to them personally.

Sarah: Does the Internet make it easier to solve cases?
Hanan: Oh, yes! Google alone is a key tool. Our investigators can use Google Search on the names of our missing children and monitor the information. Or if there is an address that comes up in the course of their search, they can sit at their desks with Google Earth and do a preliminary look. Not to mention that nowadays our search has become global and it's much easier to source contact information and to build relationships critical to a case when you have it right at your finger tips.

We have also partnered with Marketwire this past year and they push out through their channels on the web all our child search alerts with helps us get realtime information out to a greater audience. Their reach is over 300,000 people, not to mention the secondary ripple of information sharing that occurs. Which is critical to our success in a case.

Sarah: What can other people do to help?
Hanan: Sometimes, it something you're already doing, but you may need a bit of help to tie it in to what we're doing. We can help with that. We all do something in our lives that can be a source of charity. You just don't know it yet! Send us an email to start a dialogue, or join our Facebook page, or go to our website and become a monthly donor.

Hanan, thank you so much for sharing what you do with us. You can follow Hanan on twitter if you want to know what she's up to next.