Inspiration Post

For my inspirational post this week, I was inspired by this picture I found on Pinterest. It really inspired me because I think that people do not really understand that not everything that happens, means the end of the world is near. I understand being heartbroken, sick of hurting, or tired of "the worst" things happening to you. I am such a firm believer of everything happens for a reason, and it has not let me down yet. Every single road that I have been led down, every path that i have taken, every decision I have made brings me to a new point in life. A lot of people need to understand instead of thinking about all of the bad things going on in your life and every upsetting thing that has you "mortified" or "broken" stay strong. Realize every door that closes opens a new one and you are never being rejected or deprived of something important in your life. It only means that something more important is on it's way. This was my inspiration for a lot of things that I have had to go through this past week. Instead of being hurt and sad over things that have happened, I keep hope in my heart and my future to believe that something better is just around the corner. Even if it takes you a little bit to find it.

Beauty Gap

How they started:

Amber Koonce was a college student who traveled to Ghana to work in a detention center and to help teach at a local school. When she was over there she had realized that none of the girls had any play dolls that looked anything like them. They were always white, or perfect, there was nothing they could have that looked anything like them. Amber did not agree with this. The dolls, who had bleach blonde hair and sparkling whit, perfect teeth, made these young women have a desire to not want to be themselves and look the way they do. They wanted to look more "Western" as they called it. The girls there started to attempt to manipulate themselves and their hair and skin. It became almost unhealthy. 

Amber has started "Beauty Gap" ever since which donates dolls of color and true life features to these girls so that they can realize they can be themselves, and still be perfect the way that they are. She calls them self-affirming dolls, and they seem to really be helping. 

How we can help:

By checking out www.beautygap.org and reading more about how her story has impacted girls in other countries. You can also help donate on their site and help them donate more and more dolls to orphanages in Ghana,Haiti, Kenya, and the Philippines.

Food Recovery Network

Background of how they started:

The Food Recovery Network (FRN) was started by three college students with a great idea. They were eating in the dining hall where they attended school late one night where they witnessed all the leftover food from the day be thrown away and wasted and they couldn't help but think about all of the starving mouths that food could have fed. That night led to the 2011 creation of the Food Recovery Network by Ben Simon, Mia Zavalij and Cam Pascual, students at the University of Maryland, College Park. By the end of that year, the website states that they already had donated over 30,000 meals to those in need.

How they accomplish this:

FRN accomplishes their goal of donating left over foods to all of those in need by creating campus crews all over college campuses. They currently have 172 chapters across 40 states and they are continuously increasing. These crews have worked together to donate 1,115,640 pounds of food and by May of 2011 they hope to have 180 chapters and 1.2 million pounds of food. These college kids are doing great things and this is so empowering. Help them reach their goal by starting a chapter at your college if they aren't on the list by visiting https://sara-gassman.squarespace.com. If you can't get involved, donate a dollar to the cause to help feed a starving individual. Keep the college kids with their cause!

Serengetee

Background of how they started:

Serengetee stared in 2012 after Jeff and Ryan, college students, were on a semester at sea and they met. They started collecting different fabrics from different parts of the world and to be the first brand that was centered around fabric to make a change in the world. It all started by them creating the pocket tees and putting them together themselves in their dorm rooms. They were working to make a difference in communities that they were getting the fabrics from by donating a profit of their money to different causes to benefit them. They then decided that now that they had really hit it off, they wanted to keep their products being handcrafted right there in the USA. According to their website, Jeff and Ryan and their team will keep searching the world looking for their next good cause to donate their profits too. Until then, support the causes that have already inspiring them by taking a look at their website www.serengetee.com! They accomplish getting their word out their and telling their story by creating a campus rep program. Campus reps will be fully engaged to sell their products and make sure they get the word out there to show all of the different causes that they were inspired to donate their money too. If you ever have interest in being a campus rep you can always apply online and bring some shine into other people's lives. Don't forget, every single fabric has its own individual cause you're supporting, so look around today!

Headbands of Hope

Background of how they started:

A college student Jessica Ekstrom was working on her internship at one of the wish granting organizations during the Summer of 2011. During this time she was working with a lot of girls who were battling cancer and she realized something. Girls love to wear headbands or hair accessories when they lose their hair due to their chemotherapy. The most amazing part? She was a junior in college, JUST LIKE ME! It amazes me someone could start something this huge when they're our age: but we're out they're doing it every single day. "Lets spread Hope in all kids, one headband at a time"

 How they do it:
Headbands of hope has set out to sell headbands in which every single headband purchased, one headband is donated to a child battling cancer. According to their website, since they began in April of 2012 they have donated headbands to every single hospital (children's) in America. Jessica believes that fashion and making these girls look great can be the greatest vehicle to positivity and self-identity. October of 2015 they even started the "Hope-Market" which is full of different accessories, clothing, and more that can be purchased which results in the benefit of a different childhood charity every single month. They call these their monthly missions, how beautiful! They give in two different ways, through giving headbands or giving through funding. Either way their mission never changes, to change a child's life. Next, they tell their story and make all of this possible through their campus reps and ambassador programs. These campus reps work as hard as they can through promotional events, sales events, etc. to spread the word and continue the success headbands of hope has provided!

This is such another beautiful organization which I do have many friends involved in, and have seen the effects first hand. What more can you ask? For more information on the organization or to look at what they have to offer check out their website at www.headbandsofhope.com!

Love Your Melon

Background of how they started:

The first organization that I want to bring to light is Love Your Melon (LYM). Love Your Melon was an organization that was created by two college students Brian and Zach. It was the product of a project in their entrepreneurship class at the University of St. Thomas. Their original idea was to help children battle cancer and they set a goal "to put a hat on every child in America battling cancer". When they made their first batch of hats, they caught on so fast and were so popular that they sold out the first weekend. Thats when they knew they had started something important.

How they do it:

Love your melon is said to be an apparel brand on a  mission to give a hat to every child in America battling cancer. They have reserved more than 45,000 hats to donate to these children. They go about this by having college campus crews at different university's raise awareness. We actually have one here at Slippery Rock. This organization is so powerful because they use social media, and their hard work to get the word out there. Every product that is sold helps a child by 25% of the cost being donated to The Pinky Swear Foundation and another 25% being donated to Cure Search. Campus crews all across the USA are working as hard as they can to make a difference. Crews work to reach credit levels with every hat they sell. When they reach certain credit levels they are able to do such amazing things such as Household Visits where they find a family and take hats to each person in the child's family and they spend an afternoon making that child feel like they aren't alone and can still have fun. They even have the opportunity to do hospital visits where they can go to a hospital and take hats to each person there.

This organization is most important to me than any other organization because I started the crew here at Slippery Rock. I am the crew president and I know how much of an impact this organization has on  children's lives: I've seen it first hand.

There is always more information available at LoveYourMelon.com where you can also purchase a hat and help a child out.

Why I chose to start this blog:

This blog will be about solely one thing: Philanthropy. In my sorority I have gotten the opportunity to partake in many different activities that involve philanthropy. One day one of my best friends, who is a headbands of hope representative (which is a pediatric cancer donation organization) was telling me about one of her partner organizations. After researching this partner organization and listening to her go on and on about it, I realized Slippery Rock University was one of the only campus's that didn't have a crew for this organization: Love Your Melon. I applied and interviewed to be the crew president and put together a crew on our campus. I got the job, which I do completely for free, to spread the awareness of pediatric cancer and sell hats where half of the proceeds are donated to Cure Search and the Pinky Swear foundation. This organization was also started by two college kids and I was amazed. When I got this opportunity to write a blog the first thing that I thought of was to do some research and write a blog post twice a week until the end of the semester all based on philanthropic organizations that were created by college students like myself. I researched and there are SO many that people do not realize are there and that make one heck of a difference in lives every day. I wanted to write this post to show everyone, any one can make a difference and a huge impact on someones life: no matter how old you are.