Those of you who know me, know that I’m a big believer in volunteerism and giving back to your community. I grew up relatively poor and I know first hand what it's like to humble yourself and ask for help. I remember all the people who donated time and money so that I could dream big, and I feel a responsiblity to pay that forward. I want my life to be dedicated to service of some kind. I know I may not be changing the world, but at least I’m leaving my little corner a little better than I found it.
Sooner
than you think, you will be graduating from college and entering what I like to
call the real world. As an educated,
creative member of society you have a responsibility to leave your mark
somehow. So my question to you this week
is, “If money were no object (meaning that you didn’t have to worry about how
much money your project would cost) what is one thing you would do for your
school, or your community, or your planet?” Really think about it. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest
ideas. Answers are due no later than
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012.
Sunday, November 11th is Veteran’s Day. To all those who serve in the armed forces –
thank you for your service. You are true
American heroes!
I currently intern for a non-profit organization called Big Car, their basic goal is to enrich the community with the arts, in order to create more diverse culture and a more beautiful city. If I had unlimited funds, I think I would definitely work with Big Car in order for them to tackle some of the bigger projects that they haven't had the funds to attempt. Doing so would also give me the ability to meet and help smaller organizations in Indianapolis as well as around the state, to make Indiana as a whole a better place to live.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little my mother always told me "there is always someone who is less fortunate than you" or "Do the right thing" or "What kind of world would we live in if we didnt help others" Then, she was diganosed with a form of Parkinsons Dieases and passed away four years ago. My mother donated her lungs, heart, and kidneys. She literally saved three lives the day she died. She also donated her brain and spine to research to help find a cure. All my life my mother donated, whether it was change, or an organ. When she passed and we heard the news and stories about the lives she had saved, that sad dark day got a little brighter. She saved LIVES. I always donate every chance i get, even if its my last dollar. you never know how far that dollar can go. Once i graduate and become a successful fashion designer I plan on carrying out her lesson and let people know her story. Not just about donating organs but just simply donating in general. This country has become extremely greedy. But if we can step back for one minute and realize, "I am only one person. But at least SOMEONE is willing to help" We could become better people and a stonger country. Our future and our children and grandchildren and so on will have a better life. THAT is all I want. To create a better tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteOver the summer I participated in a week long event at my church called SERVE. My church devotes an entire week to serving our community. They do various projects and put on a lot of events throughout the week. They also have their entire youth group stay at the church for a whole week and treat it as sort of a summer camp but instead of just hanging out and playing games and doing stuff for yourself they spend the day breaking up into groups and going out into the community and doing things such as yard work, renovating houses, spending time with people in nursing homes, serving food to the homeless, putting on block parties in less fortunate neighborhoods, and many more awesome things. I was fortunate enough to be able to help as a youth leader during the week and take part of all the things the youth were doing. It was a really great experience to be able to spend an entire week doing nothing but helping others. It helped build relationships with the individuals I was working with, it made me feel good to not be selfish and put others needs first, and it was also worth it to see how much the people we were helping appreciated it and it really opened my eyes to how much they needed it. SERVE is such an amazing week but the only bad thing about it is that it can only be a week. So if money weren't an object I would want to form a SERVE team in my community that could do work for free to simply help and make life for others easier all year round.
ReplyDeleteWell since our country has been involved militarily in the Middle East (primarily Iraq and Afghanistan), we have seen a spike in the number of public breakdowns and/or criminal acts from veterans returning from war. There have even been shootings among other things. We will be seeing even more of these incidents in the coming years, and there isn't much of an emotional debriefing for some of our loved ones returning home. My plan would be to invest money into programs that help provide mental assistance to troops returning home. Many vets feel uncomfortable with this, so I think awareness as well as promoting a you-aren't-alone attitude is important with an undertaking such as this.
ReplyDeleteIf money were not an issue I would devote my life to traveling around the world to spread the love of God. I would go spend several years with a tribe in Africa that call themselves the Fulanke tribe. I am one of the youth leaders at my church, and we have all of the students split up into four different tribes that are all named after an unreached people group in Africa so that as we are bonding together as a tribe here we can also be lifting the actual people who are apart of these tribes in Africa up in prayer. I am one of the leaders of the Fulanke tribe, and through seeing what God has done in my tribe’s lives I would love to be able to witness what God is going to do all the way in Africa. Along with going to Africa, I would also spend several years in Estonia. Estonia is a country where drugs and prostitution is very heavy. My desire would be to show them that there is something greater to live for, they do have a purpose in life, and they are worth more than they could ever fathom.
ReplyDeleteI am what I am because of others too. Scott my husband has the biggest influence on my life. I am what I am because of him. He is a veteran and he is a great man. We donate every month for the Wounded Warrior Program which is program that supports wounded service member returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. These warriors left their families and went to the war to protect our nation. Today they are back and they need our support and care. Also, because we do not have children, I like to support St. Joseph's Children's Hospital for treating cancer. There is nothing more painful than the pain that a helpless mother feels for her sick child. Children are the hope of tomorrow and the future. Last thing, I saw some of my talented colleagues stopping or quitting school because they could not continue paying for their education. Knowing that they are more talented than me I feel bad they could not continue coming to school when I can. Education changes lives and can make people successful. I would like to donate money for talented students who need to graduate, but cannot because of the lack of funding. So these are the three things that matter for me.
DeleteRight now, the schools in my community are running out of money. They've been laying off teachers and class sizes are growing to over 40 in some cases. They've cut some sports as well that cost money instead of bring money into the school. They've cut music and art classes altogether in elementary schools. I would like to support the educational system and make sure that we have a smarter youth. I honestly think that getting a good education and being knowledgeable about the world around you really can improve your quality of life. Smaller class sizes and after school activities are a big part of that, and I do not want to see them cut!
ReplyDeleteMy initial plan for a career is to work with human rights campaigns. So, if I had unlimited funds, I would put on swanky art shows once a month consisting of local artist's and my own artwork. Each show's funds would then go to a different organization. I would also love to have artist workshops for children who need a safe place to go.
ReplyDeleteIf i didnt have to worry out cost, one thing i would do for the school is to get them a 24 hour lab. there are so many students who work outside of school, and dont have the resources at home to do their work. So they struggle with the homework assigned. So i think it would be nice to have one for all the students who are up late trying to do their homework. It would take more than just setting up a lab. we would have to pay a security guard to be there, teachers, the heating and cooling and electricity for that time. But i dont have to worry about cost.
ReplyDeleteI think I would try to plant more trees and plants around here. I come from a small town that was surrounded by woods and fields. The air was much cleaner and the atmosphere gave off a more wholesome feel. Now that I live here where there is little greenery, I find it a little depressing... I think that having more foliage around would benefit people in many ways. Plants help to produce fresh air and trees create shade that I think would be beneficial for people waiting at things like bus stops in the summer. Not only that, but plants are very aesthetically pleasing and I think some people might appreciate having more plants. They give off a very peaceful feel. Also this could benefit animal life as well as people. I just think it would be great for everyone to have more nature around here.
ReplyDeleteI probably wouldnt do anything for this school considering I am transferring at the end of the quarter but, for my hometown if money was no concern. I would certainly put in more batting cages. Every summer I bale hay for a local farmer and he set up a ton of batting and infield hitting and pitching areas in one of his run down fields. Every summer I see that field and think to myself one day i'm going to build a baseball field where everyone is welcome to play. Where you don't have to be on a team or have to be associated with a league. I want to be just like that farmer he is such a wonderful individual and has been a father figure all of my life, and would be honered to follow in his footsteps. Sports has always been a big part of my life and i'm sure if I gave back it would be in the sports aspect.
ReplyDeleteI think I would donate and volunteer at Riley Hospital for Children. Just because, when I was born, my respiratory system would not communicate with the rest of my body, so for the first 2 years of my life Riley's was my second home. I was in that place more than I was at home. For what they did for my family and I, I would like to give back to them. I donate any time that I can, and I would really enjoy volunteering there some time. Just to help out Rileys and the family's that are there.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely donate to an organization that supports inner city children. Growing up in IPS schools on the south side and then graduating from franklin community, I know first hand that we didnt have access to certian things and programs that help kids. I would like to see my money be used to support the creative fields in schools. I think if kids would get into something creative instead of sports ( im not saying sports are bad) they could learn something that they have a shot of making some real money when they get older instead of striving to be the next micheal jordan or something.
ReplyDeleteI think that I would create an organization that would help improve the quality of life in less fortunate countries and work to merge us into one nation. There is a lot of people suffering in countries like, Africa or the middle east. I think if there was a way to bring everyone up to speed in the world, technology and life style wise, then I think we could grow as a race much more efficiently. If all the people on this earth had clean water and food everyday then that would be a better start to a future where we all move forward together, as a species. It actually wouldn't be too hard to help fight world hunger. The United Nations estimates that it would take at least $30 billion per year to solve the food crisis, mainly by boosting agricultural productivity in the developing world. $30 billion may seem like a lot but yet congress approves $162 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for fiscal 2009. The U.S. spent $340 billion in 2006 alone on public and private research and development. Directing just one tenth of that money to the developing world could trigger a second Green Revolution.
ReplyDeleteI would create a program to help mentor and guide middle school aged girls in the community. The girl scouts is a great program to help young girls but by the time the girls get to middle school age they have mostly out grown the girl scouts and are looking for something "cooler". I think that the middle school aged years are the ones where girls get off track but it is not until the high school years that the consequences are noticed. I think between the ages of 11-14 girls really need a lot of guidence from someone with real world experience but is still young enough for the girls to feel about to relate to. If money were no pbject, I would create a program where girls could hang out at book stores or coffee stores, somewhere that they could be themselves, and talk to a mentor about what is going on in their lives, about the hard decisions they are facing and ask for guidence without fear of getting in trouble.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I would do if I had this power, would be to help the environment and the animals that are apart of it. Helping this first could lead to other things and people benefiting from this. Recycling and cleaning our planet (environment) will cause for a healthier life for animals and people. The animals would be safer, and even on an economic level since I did so much to help on this, our government and the people in our world would focus on other things. It is just a simple step that can lead to greater things.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up I was always taught to be afraid of certain dogs number one being pit bulls. My mother was always telling me that they were very dangerous breads and to never get to close to one. My outlook of this breed was that they were monsters. My senior year I took a class that involved volunteering at different places in my community. A couple of which were a few veterinary offices and the local animal control. While working at these places I saw a completely different side to not only pit bulls but all dogs. At the veterinary offices you rarely met a dog that was abused because they all were brought in by their owners who loved them, but at the animal control is when I truly learned what to fear and it wasn't pit bulls or dogs it was the people who abused them, and bred them, and abandoned them. The number one dog that was brought into the animal control was pit bulls and they were also the number one bread to be put down. Some were abandoned and some were rescued from owners who abused them, fought them, and even tried to kill them. Seeing all these helpless animals being treated this way broke my heart and my fear for this bread was completely erased and replaced with love. About a year and a half ago I was notified by a friend that there was a pit bull rescued out of Gary, Indiana and she was expected to have puppies. I adopted my first dog Roxy from the litter. My friends and I sent out emails to everyone we knew and eventually got all of the puppies and mother adopted out. It made me feel amazing knowing that I helped save those dogs from going into a shelter and instead into a loving home. So if I had the power to give back to my community with money not a problem. I would work with as many shelters as I could to get not only pit bulls but all dogs a better home. I would also like to educate people on pit bulls and show them that they are not as scary as they seem and that they can be the most loyal friend you could ever ask for!
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what I would do. I do like the idea of getting people together. So I would do something that would try to get people together.
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