Final Take Action Post

My final take action project revolved around a giving tree to give hats, gloves, and scarves to women and children that can’t afford them. I did this project through a church that works with “Shelter of Flint” to reach out to their emergency shelter. There is a woman at the church that runs this program but she let me sort of take over and become the leader of it. It was an awesome experience! Instead of just reaching out to the people of the church like they usually do, I reached out to families in the daycare center at the church, friends of my own, and even more of the community. I put out flyers to the families at the daycare and out in the community. The people of the church that always participate in this program said that this was the most donations they have ever received. The excitement of previous helpers of this program was very touching. They had many kind words to say about me being such a young person wanting to help so much. Along with flyers, I created elaborate emails to be sent out. I started the emails with people I knew and asked for this email to be forwarded. What was most amazing about this is that there was a countless number of people bringing in donations that had heard about this “giving tree” through email! How awesome! It was an awesome feeling to know that my little bit of work put in had such a big outcome. This had an impact on not only the women and children through this program, but the church and community too. I can’t believe how far I reached out on my own. I could extend this project next year by getting these giving trees going in other churches and places. This project extended my learning tremendously from this course. A lot of what we learned and read was outside of the country. For me, it is hard to see these issues being so far away. Finding issues in my own community really opened my eyes to how close to home some issues can be. Realizing that there are women and children so close to me that need things to keep them warm for winter was moving. To me it was awesome to see because it is something I could help with. Another thing I learned from this project that extended onto my learning from this class is how my little help had such a huge impact. It showed me that if every person did something as small as what I did, we could help a ton of people in need. This project just made the thought of helping the needy seem so much more possible than ever before. I also see now how any help can be a big help to people in need. When I thought a little donation won’t do much to educate women that are stuck in sex trafficking, before. Now I think how much that little donation can help!