Time to Give Back by HMX
My commencement was last night and in case you weren’t aware of my school, President Obama was our speaker. Listening to his speech, it got me to thinking about how I was going to start building my own ‘body of work’. Having completed this milestone in my career, I realize that it is time for me to start giving back, when and where I can, no matter how small of insignificant the gift or act might be. And as if to confirm my own thoughts, I heard a segment on NPR about Giving Circles and thought to myself “What a great idea”.Now I know that many of the people reading this are probably as broke as me, if not moreso, and despite all the good intentions in the world, committing to any monetary amount is hard. I have a move soon approaching that makes me quiver when I think about how much money will be vacating my checking account in rapid succession, but I still have the urge to give back. I think I am trying to make this my year of giving, as I have made several sizable donations to Goodwill of clothes, I’ve sent a pledge to NPR and now, with your help, I hope to sponser as many young girls in The Gambia, West Africa, as possible.
My vehicle for doing so is Starfish International, a charitable organization started by Yassin Sarr-Fox, a former student of Murray State University and current Ph.D. student at Syracuse University. Having come from The Gambia, she has already overcome many obstacles and now she wants to give back and help others from her homeland to do the same and I aim to help her. Blythe and I have already committed to sponsoring one girl, but I would like to do more.
I’m not asking for much; I’m not even looking for a monetary commitment, but I would like to start a Giving Circle and all that I ask is your help in getting the word out. If you want to participate, that is awesome, and if not, that is awesome too because you at least too the time to read this far. The only thing that I really want of you, I suppose, is help in getting the word out. Share the address http://starfishinternational.org/default.aspx with your friends and family, retweet it, do whatever so long as you do something.
If you are interested in a Giving Circle, contact me through whatever means brought you here or through any other means you have available. If enough interest is there, we’ll get the ball rolling and see if we can’t sponser 5 girls, or maybe even 10. These donations are tax deductable and if you would like to speak with the foundar, Yassin, I’m sure that she would love that and answer any questions you might have. Check out the link, mull it over and if you have thirty minutes, listen to Obama’s speech. It’ll be a thrity minutes well spent, or you can read the transcript if you prefer.
