ARRIVAL LOUNGE

YOUNG SISTERS SHOW OTHERS THE WAY

Raveena, Diya, and Amisha.

Both Parveen and Rishi Duggal’s parents are originally from New Delhi, India, and better job opportunities led both families to Canada in 1971.

The families were also excited to explore a new country and had heard many great things about Canada. They settled in Toronto and Vancouver.

Fast forward a few decades and currently based in Sarnia, Ontario, Parveen writes for an online magazine, Daily Mom, and Rishi is a physician. They have three daughters, Raveena, Diya, and Amisha. Diya, 12, is in middle school and Amisha, 8, is in elementary school, at Cathcart Boulevard Public School. Raveena, 15, attends high school at Northern Collegiate Institute and Vocational School.

They enjoy helping others and their message is that you can make a difference in the world at any age. Raveena was nine, and Diya and Amisha six and five, respectively, when they first started their charity work. They have done charity work for the Women’s Interval Home, the Cancer Society, and Plan International, to name a few. The girls have also worked with Bare Necessities Little Lunches to provide non-perishable lunches for children. They have donated non-perishable food, colouring books, and stickers to the not-for-profit organization working with and receiving support from Children’s Aid Society. Raveena has also directed a commercial for the organization and Bare Necessities Little Lunches has featured the sisters on their Instagram and Face-book pages.

In 2021, Raveena and Diya received the Governor General’s Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers for their ongoing contributions. They are recipients of the UK 2019 Princess Diana Award which honours “young people who work to improve the lives of others” and also won the 2018 Mayor’s Award, and have received recognition for their work by local Canadian politicians.

They have also donated handmade all-natural bath bombs, chapsticks, specialty soaps, and scrunchies to the Better At Home program (a United Way support program for seniors) and worked with Letters & Love, an award-winning non-profit organization that sends handmade letters to healthcare workers around the world. Amisha recently organized an event with friends to host a charity garage sale and donated $4200 to the Inn of the Good Shepard (homeless shelter in Sarnia, Ontario). In July 2022, the three girls took their charity events across the border and donated over $2000 of toys and books that they purchased to the Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Florida. The sisters’ ultimate wish was to cheer up the kids in the hospital with their donation, and hopefully make their stay happier. Their inspiring story has been featured on local media.

Raveena continues her charity work, despite being busy with high school academics and activities. Diya and Amisha are also working hard on new charity events and projects. Raveena’s interest in environmental awareness led her to write Electrification with Tesla, which was published in Refusion magazine. She wrote about life during the pandemic and returning to school in her poems featured in the Uproar Literary Blog. Through her articles published in the Front Page Initiative, an online student newspaper, she has raised awareness about child labour, workplace discrimination, and space travel. Raveena and Diya both write for Daily Kid.

The sisters also wrote a children’s book, Three Bunny Sisters. The book is about three bunnies who are sisters and who learn about the importance of helping others and giving back to those in need. The three bunnies then work together to host a charity bake sale to get carrots for bunnies who are less fortunate. The story mirrors the girls’ own experiences with volunteer work and how they learned about hard work, helping others, and working together as a team. Three Bunny Sisters won a Mom’s Choice Gold Award, the National Parenting Product Award for Positivity for Kids, and the Canada Book Award. It also won first place in the 2021 Purple Dragonfly Award in the category of Charity/Making a Difference. The girls donated copies of their book to the local Canadian Women’s Interval Home and also to the Nemours Children’s hospital. 

They absorbed the value of helping by watching their parents volunteer.

“The girls saw us donating to various charities and then started to ask questions about how they could get involved,” says Parveen. “Since then, they have worked with each other and their friends to set up their own charity events. They enjoy teamwork and the good feeling that comes from helping others.”

The three sisters are currently working together on their second children’s book. The sequel to Three Bunny Sister incorporates a similar theme and lessons about the importance of helping others, regardless of your age. They hope that others will follow them on their journey and even start their own charity events to help those in need and bring cheer to the world. 

Parveen’s tips for other parents looking to motivate their children to be the best they can in their chosen fields include ensuring that their chosen field is something the children are truly passionate about.

“Then their motivation will follow! Also, encourage them to do volunteer work or internships at a young age to find out all they can about the fields they are interested in.” 

Raveena, Diya, and Amisha have a website chronicling their journey and their literary work at threebunnysisters.com. They also have an Instagram account @threebunnysisters.