Giving back to my community has always been placed at high value in my life. Starting when I was a young girl I was asked to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis, I remember being told I had raised the second highest in the town of Campbell River, BC and I was only in grade 4.
When I moved to Vancouver, BC in 2003 I joined my family in raising money for the Canadian Cancer Foundation, which now has been a yearly tradition ever since. Every year my family participates in the Relay for Life to raise money for cancer. In addition, in high school I was a member of grad committee, within this committee I helped raise money for our grad year so we could have a dry grad, prom and special grad events. I knew if we raised enough money it would minimize students from having to pay a lot from their own pockets. Including me who was being raised by a single mom trying to make ends meet and making sure I could participate in everything the rest of my peers were participating in. She did her best to make sure that I could have the best grad year possible!
Nevertheless, last year I wanted to pursue my own personal goal in contributing and giving back to the community. In November 2012, I was elected as the Educator Coordinator for the Counselling and Education student club, at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. At this time I was volunteering in a local elementary school in Surrey, BC. During my volunteer experience I would go out at recess where I would have the best interactions with different members of the school. Furthermore, a particular recess in November 2013 was an “Ah ha” moment for me when I realized that not everyone in this school was bringing a snack or even had a lunch in their bag for lunch time. These moments inspired me to collaborate with the school I was volunteering with and the club that I was involved in. I knew Christmas was around the corner so I thought if I was able to fundraise enough money and collaborate with the Vice Principal I could donate money through grocery gift cards to families in need. The week leading up to the fundraiser we had hardly raised $100 and I was very disappointed in myself and felt that $100 could hardly help enough students, I wanted to get to at least $200. Within this week I tried my best to contact as much individuals in my social network. I had texted my family, friends and co-workers to try to promote the fundraiser event. The day of the event we decided to incorporate a coin toss. At the end of the night I had calculated how much we had made and it was $917.25. I was in tears to know that 3 days before the event we were hardly at $100. The quote that sticks with me to this day is “you can’t help everyone, but you can help someone.” I was happy that my goal for our fundraiser went from $100 to $917.25. However, I was even happier to learn that I was able to contribute to families to have food on their plates for Christmas dinner. The Vice Principal at this school met with me after making all the phone calls home, to let certain parents know they would receive a grocery gift card this Christmas, donated to the school. She had told me that a few parents were in tears when they found out. One parent mentioned “sometimes I have to decide if I am going to buy gifts for the kids or dinner on their plates; this year I can do both.” This comment made me and the Vice Principal in tears especially because both of us came from single family homes. I was overwhelmed with joy to make an impact in the community I was involved with.
This year I have been a little busy with school. However, busy is not an excuse. Everyone claims they are busy. Busy is the new norm. As David Truss stated “busy is not a badge of honor.” I have a passion to want to make a much greater impact in my community and to do this on a yearly basis if possible. I have decided to spend Christmas morning of 2014 to deliver hot coffee to the downtown eastside. I am hoping to reach out to my network in receiving donations of $2 to donate towards a coffee that will go to individuals in the downtown eastside, on Christmas Morning. Although I have yet to promote this fundraiser I hope to reach out to my networks through word of mouth and be able to donate at least 50 cups of coffee. I will continue to know that “I can’t help everyone, but I can help someone.”
My mission in creating this blog was to reach out to YOU and hope you too can strive for what you are passionate in doing and what you believe in; my passion is making impacts in the communities I am involved in.
I would love to hear what inspires you? What are you currently doing to impact your own community? Please leave a comment so I can be inspired by your ideas.
When I moved to Vancouver, BC in 2003 I joined my family in raising money for the Canadian Cancer Foundation, which now has been a yearly tradition ever since. Every year my family participates in the Relay for Life to raise money for cancer. In addition, in high school I was a member of grad committee, within this committee I helped raise money for our grad year so we could have a dry grad, prom and special grad events. I knew if we raised enough money it would minimize students from having to pay a lot from their own pockets. Including me who was being raised by a single mom trying to make ends meet and making sure I could participate in everything the rest of my peers were participating in. She did her best to make sure that I could have the best grad year possible!
Nevertheless, last year I wanted to pursue my own personal goal in contributing and giving back to the community. In November 2012, I was elected as the Educator Coordinator for the Counselling and Education student club, at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. At this time I was volunteering in a local elementary school in Surrey, BC. During my volunteer experience I would go out at recess where I would have the best interactions with different members of the school. Furthermore, a particular recess in November 2013 was an “Ah ha” moment for me when I realized that not everyone in this school was bringing a snack or even had a lunch in their bag for lunch time. These moments inspired me to collaborate with the school I was volunteering with and the club that I was involved in. I knew Christmas was around the corner so I thought if I was able to fundraise enough money and collaborate with the Vice Principal I could donate money through grocery gift cards to families in need. The week leading up to the fundraiser we had hardly raised $100 and I was very disappointed in myself and felt that $100 could hardly help enough students, I wanted to get to at least $200. Within this week I tried my best to contact as much individuals in my social network. I had texted my family, friends and co-workers to try to promote the fundraiser event. The day of the event we decided to incorporate a coin toss. At the end of the night I had calculated how much we had made and it was $917.25. I was in tears to know that 3 days before the event we were hardly at $100. The quote that sticks with me to this day is “you can’t help everyone, but you can help someone.” I was happy that my goal for our fundraiser went from $100 to $917.25. However, I was even happier to learn that I was able to contribute to families to have food on their plates for Christmas dinner. The Vice Principal at this school met with me after making all the phone calls home, to let certain parents know they would receive a grocery gift card this Christmas, donated to the school. She had told me that a few parents were in tears when they found out. One parent mentioned “sometimes I have to decide if I am going to buy gifts for the kids or dinner on their plates; this year I can do both.” This comment made me and the Vice Principal in tears especially because both of us came from single family homes. I was overwhelmed with joy to make an impact in the community I was involved with.
This year I have been a little busy with school. However, busy is not an excuse. Everyone claims they are busy. Busy is the new norm. As David Truss stated “busy is not a badge of honor.” I have a passion to want to make a much greater impact in my community and to do this on a yearly basis if possible. I have decided to spend Christmas morning of 2014 to deliver hot coffee to the downtown eastside. I am hoping to reach out to my network in receiving donations of $2 to donate towards a coffee that will go to individuals in the downtown eastside, on Christmas Morning. Although I have yet to promote this fundraiser I hope to reach out to my networks through word of mouth and be able to donate at least 50 cups of coffee. I will continue to know that “I can’t help everyone, but I can help someone.”
My mission in creating this blog was to reach out to YOU and hope you too can strive for what you are passionate in doing and what you believe in; my passion is making impacts in the communities I am involved in.
I would love to hear what inspires you? What are you currently doing to impact your own community? Please leave a comment so I can be inspired by your ideas.