A TV commercial recently caught my attention. It highlights the song "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Mind. It caught my attention because a) I instantly recognized the song and b) it was a new rendition of the song. The vocalist in the commercial sings it slow, and somberly while playing a piano. He's also performing it at a homeless shelter.
The song is used for the commercial to help bring home the point - don't forget about those in homeless shelters, rescue missions, or halfway houses after the holidays are over. I agree whole heatedly with the commercial because the holidays seems to be the time where people really focus on helping others because its the time of giving. Around Thanksgiving a lot of people may venture out to Soup Kitchens to lend a hand serving Thanksgiving dinner to those who normally wouldn't have much to eat. During Christmas I saw so many Toys for Tots boxes in store windows. There were jacket drives, and many organizations asked for a donation at the checkout counter for different organizations. After Christmas and the New Year hits, the promotion for all of these organizations stop. This is also a problem. People don't stop going to homeless shelters or soup kitchens because that is their day to day reality until they get that stroke of luck or get that situation where things can turn around for them. Some Soup Kitchens can even get overrun with volunteers around the holidays that they would have to turn some away. Don't get me wrong, it is great that people do give to others around the holidays, but it should expand all year long. I'm the type of person who puts others first and will give and give even if it comes back and blows up in my face. Trust me, it has, numerous times. My generosity has been taken advantage of, even in some past workplaces or professional settings, but i still like to give my time to others because I know not a lot of people have as much as I do. In 2017, I supported three different organizations in various different ways. The first is the Food Bank. I created a program at the library I used to work at called Canned Film Festival. It is a play off the Canes Film Festival, because I think I'm funny, and I thought it would get the point across. Movies would be shown at the library every week and we'd encourage food donations be brought in through the week for the local Food Bank. Then there was the Out of the Darkness Walk in Oct 2017. It was sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Their goal is to bring awareness to various opportunities to prevent suicide and drop suicide rates in the US by 25% by the year 2025. All the money raised for the walk goes towards educational tools and research. I walked for the friends and people I know who have been affected by suicide and reached my goal of $50 in donations. Finally, my biggest project I've ever done. I held a Little Hats, Big Hearts donation program at my library for Dec 2017. We were to collect knitted/crocheted red hats for newborn and premature babies. I even set up some side programs to get people to come out to the library and just knt/crochet as may hats as they could. These hats are to be passed out in Feb 2018 in recognition of American Heart Month. Donations were collected from Dec 1 - 20th 2017, and in total w got 84 donations. After the success of the LH, BG program, I got a drive to do more. I've been looking at other organizations that could receive knitted/crocheted donations so I can send donations to them both involving work and my own time. Some I have found include: Project Red Scarf (create red scarves to be included in a care package for foster kids who aged out of the system and head to college), Project Linus - create blankets or a 7x9 square to be made into a blanket and sent out to children, and Warmth for Warriors - knit/crochet black hats for deployed troops, to name a few. I love knitting and I love helping people so I found a way to combine the two. There are various ways you can give back to others who are facing misfortunes. Start with a google search or talk to a friend/coworker for some ideas. Or look towards you family to find something that means a lot to you. There's something for everyone. All it takes is that one person to make a difference for someone. -SJ
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