Bio: Bob Davisson is a retired businessman and former RCMP officer in Medicine Hat, Alta. In 2007, he and his wife Linda founded Lifeline Haiti, an organization that promotes access to education in the country. Davisson is a Top 10 finalist in CBC and Outpost magazine's Champions of Change competition. CBCNews.ca Your Voice asked him why he volunteers.

My story: Why do I volunteer? It gives me such a sense of fulfillment. It is a passion. It is a drive inside of me. It is a love for people. It gives me a chance to give back. I have had many second chances in my life and I want to help others to get a second chance.

I was born to a single mom under very difficult circumstances, and not expected to survive my first month of life because of my lungs being full of fluid. I was raised on a farm near Rutland, Sask., with mom and two of my uncles until she married when I was seven and then adopted by her husband Jim when I was 10.

That is just one of many second chances I have had -- to have a dad meant so much to me. I was the only guy that I knew growing up in those early years that didn't have a dad. I knew what it was like to be sick many times as a child and to live on the farm without electricity. Pushing a stick with a small wheel on it was one of my early memories of the only toy I remember having.

When I went to Haiti the first time in November 2005, it was something that reminded me of my childhood. One thing that was different from my experience was seeing the children, especially in the mountains, so hungry with bloated bellies and orange hair from malnutrition. It was heartbreaking. Then I saw a child pushing a stick that had a nail through it and a lid off a plastic pail as a wheel. That was it -- I knew I had to help.

It feels like this is what I was born to do. It brings [me] such joy to see the change in the children and their families. Many of the children were so close to death and so many of them don't have a daddy. I have been honored by them, as they call me "Pappy Bob." I was so touched by this I knew this was going to be a life work so I applied and got my Republique d'Haiti Permis De Sejour (residency permit) in 2006.

About 400 children die of starvation each day in Haiti, and hundreds of thousands want to go to school but don't have the means. I felt somehow I could help even if it was just one child at a time. In January 2006, we started our first school in Chabin, on the south coast, with 81 children. Today, we have 51 locations with approximately 13,000 children attending our schools. For most of them, the only meal they get is the one they get at school. Many of our children walk more than three hours to get to school, and some will pass other schools to get to ours because there is no charge to attend our schools. This is huge for them, as most of the families we are helping make $100 per year or less.

I felt the only way to see this vision to help and keep it going was to set it up to develop businesses in Haiti run by the parents of the students to raise the funds to keep the schools open. We also do a child sponsorship at $1 a day, which is a huge help, but as it keeps growing, it puts that much more stress on the finances. We have nearly completed our cinder block plant, which will employee about 15 staff members and we will be able to build 1500 cinder blocks per day. This will help keep 10 schools open. We have purchased land in the mountains to start our own coffee plantation and will then export to our coffee roasting company back home and distribute this throughout North America. This has the potential to support more than 50 schools, and we have other plans in the making to expand on this and other projects. We also have helped 76 families with micro loans, and this is another area we really see a chance for them to become independent through the businesses they set up.

Our goal is to have all of our present schools supported from the business side of our projects within the next five years, but also to have expanded the schools by at least twice our present level. We could double the number of our schools each year if we had the funds, as the need is everywhere you turn here in Haiti. We call this "beyond aid," empowering the people and not just giving them fish to eat but teaching them how to fish.

Many times, it has been two steps forward and three steps back, but we cannot give up on the children. They will be the future of this country, and this is who is going to change Haiti for the better -- for themselves and for their children.

We also want to share your stories of volunteerism. Tell us what volunteer work you do and answer this question: "Why do you volunteer?" We may feature you on our website as well. Let us know in the comments below, email us at yournews@cbc.ca, or leave a message on Facebook or Twitter. You can vote for your favourite Champion of Change here.