Just Donut

Oh my soul is happy today!

Today was the 1st Annual Kappa Kappa Gamma Donut Dash. I have the privilege to serve as my sorority's philanthropy chair for 2014.

My sisters established faith in me to completely revamp our philanthropy this year. And revamp I did! I decided to play the guinea pig and create a whole new event from the ground up, as opposed to continuing the traditional events we have each year. 

Now this post is by no means a chance to ruffle my own feathers and proclaim how successful the event was today. 

No, this is a post of gratitude. Never have I felt more supported than during this experience and especially today. The trust my sisters put in me to go against the norm, and us Kappas tend to be creatures of habit, means the world to me. 

But not only that, the work ethic, enthusiasm and positivity that was expressed today by my sisters was incredible. I am in awe with their ability to take initiative and complete tasks that I had not even thought about. 

                                        I will forever be grateful.

I must't leave out all the participants and supporters that chose to wake up early, run a 5k and eat 9 donut holes (possibly throwing up) when they could have spent their lovely weekend doing numerous other activities. Oh, I don't know, For example, 

                    sleeping. 

YOU are my heros. I am reminded why I chose to be part of the Greek system at my wonderful University. I felt so loved and supported by those who I have had the privilege to call my friends as well as those who I had only heard of or seen briefly whilst on the row. 

THANK YOU

From the bottom of my heart. I don't think I will every truly be able to express just how thankful I am I wish I could come up with a synonym for "thank you" because it just does not do it justice. I feel like I have gained new friends and it feels amazing.

This blog is about gratitude. I feel as if the Universe was reading my mind and listening to the messages that my heart was subconsciously sending out. I was starving for connection in every way possible, and received that and so much more. 

After cleaning up the last of the streamers and orange peels from today's event. I had the unique opportunity to take the left over bagels (bagels for dayyzzzz) and donate them. Myself as well as 3 of my lovely sisters opted to stop at a well known area for homeless people to gather. The three of us walked up and down the street offering water bottles, bagels and muffins from the race.

This was the highlight of my day and the best reward I could have received. An important concept that I strive to live by regarding my service work, is to always create "human experiences". Human experiences are getting out into the community and making it known that there are individuals who care. The people receiving the bagels and water were some of the most gracious, kind and thankful that I have ever met. Smiling and chatting with them, reaching out, breaking down the stigma, is crucial for any act of service.

 Realizing that they are just people, who have fallen on hard times, and it could easily been any of us. Bridging that gap between "us" and "them", loving our neighbor and fellow man/ woman. These are human experiences that I hope everyone can have someday. 

Yes my soul is smiling from ear to ear today. I am reminded once again, why I am here, why I surround my self with the people I surround myself with, why the position of Philanthropy chair landed so nicely into my lap and why I love what I do and believe about this world; why

"those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Namaste and Peace&Blessings.

These are a few of my Passions

I recently applied for a Young Humanitarian Scholarship.

I'm going to ruffle my feathers for a second and say I am extremely proud of my essay responses. It flowed out of me, once I read the question, I took to my laptop and typed, typed, typed away.

The result goes something like this:

The most influential and impacting service experience I’ve had was my summer in Tanzania, Africa with Support for International Change summer 2013. Our mission was to educate locals about Public Health and mainly HIV/AIDs transmission, testing and prevention. 

As a very young girl, I always dreamed of going to Africa. For whatever reason, there was this connection and pull. I knew I had to go. Leading up to my departure date I would explain to anyone who was interested that

 I wanted to be shoved out of my comfort zone, on every level. 

I wanted to be challenged physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. It being 6 months upon my arrival home, the expression “be careful what you wish for" comes to mind.

 The challenging experience I’m referring to was my mental breakdown that almost compelled me to leave my trip two weeks early. I had seen emaciated and dirty children. I saw the affects of a patriarchal society and the oppression of women. I was done. I will forever be grateful for the conversation I had with my mom discussing the decision I was attempting to make. I’m a strong believer in energy, vibes and the universe. My mom said something to me that will forever be special in my life. 
The universe gave me everything I had asked for. I wanted a raw, reality of giving back. I did not want someone to hold my hand and let me have a warm shower. I wanted to experience everything whole heartedly and in the most authentic way. And I did. This experience taught me that the intention behind any act of kindness or service is everything. 
I wish that everyone could experience one selfless act and completely commit their whole hearts, souls and efforts. Giving yourself completely to the benefit of someone else is the most genuine definition of service.  That is something that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life and the rest of my humanitarian endeavors.

A volunteer to me is a person who is giving of their time to help out a worthy cause. A humanitarian is cut from a different cloth. A humanitarian is passionate about changing this world we live in with every fiber of their being. Someone who is positive and hopeful for the future but also not naive of the atrocities and injustices that have and continue to take place. A humanitarian is someone who accepted at a young age that their purpose for their time on Earth is to leave it better than when they got here. A humanitarian believes in the power of one,

"Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the one's who do."

 I am a humanitarian. I have plans of dedicating my life to helping those who are voiceless and in need; Starting with my education and majors in Sociology and Gender Studies. But also they way I live. By striving to not leave a negative environmental impact, by speaking up when I believe it is necessary, by going against the grain and being proud of that. By recycling. And loving as much as I can with my whole heart. By fighting for the polar bears, feeding the hungry, hugging the distraught.

In Africa, I noticed that the smallest act of kindness made the biggest impact. I had 5 "siblings" at my homestay. Before I left I gathered as much items as I could to give to my family to thank them for housing me and feeding me and to show them that there are people out there that care. On the night before I was scheduled to fly home, I handed out the last of my gifts. One of my brothers, Hodgi, was on the shy side and never made his presence a big deal, he would stand in the shadows and never make eye contact with me. Many of the children in my village had flimsy, thin, sandal-type shoes made of a foam material. Hodgi was an active fellow and loved running around with his friends. I had brought a pair of tennis shoes. 

My final gift was for Hodgi. 

I handed him my shoes, he was hesitant at first but then carefully took them from my hands, sat right down and put them on his feet. They fit perfectly. He spent the next 10 minutes staring down at his feet, admiring his new shoes in awe. He then, for the first time, looked me straight in the eyes, deep into my soul, and smiled.

Humanitarian has the word "human" in it. It is these human experiences that we have with each other that have the most impact. I will forever be grateful for my human experience with Hodgi and many other people of my village.

         

Let's give it a try yeah?