Male: Do you want to make a difference in people’s lives but do not know where to begin? Coach Cynthia Brian suggests donating from the heart to make the biggest impact.
Cynthia: I founded a charity called “Be the Star You Are”, it is 501 C3 that empowers women, families, and youth at risk to improve literacy and positive media.
Personal Growth Expert and Success Coach
And the whole point of this is that—we found that 4th graders around the country were not reading up to par and that was a really sad thing and the majority of people that are in prison are illiterate so, we really needed to boost the literacy.
To get kids unplugged once in a while and to read books and to put positive things in their head is very, very important for all of us. And, what we do at the charity is we have all these fabulous kid volunteers who come in and we have a book review team and we call it “The Star Teen” book review team and the kids read books, they write or review, they get published. So, get the opportunity to be published at a young age, which really fosters self-esteem, self-directions, self-confidence and their abilities to read, to write, and to make a contribution.
But the most important thing I think, is getting kids involved, in volunteering because we are all part of one world and we are all one and it is so—a critical that kids learn at a young age and they are not entitled to everything that happens to them in our community but it is up to them to do something. It is up to them to give back and if it is not me, and if it is not now, then who is it and when?
So, when we are working with the kids, we make sure that by helping other people, they are helping themselves and it is such a paradox of life when you are giving back, it makes you feel really good and I have a little story, I just want to tell about this because I think this will illustrate it and that is I had one of my students, I was walking down the street and saw a woman with a baby who was really struggling to get some money to put in the meter.
And, so she walked right up and she dug in her purse and she gave her 50 cents and she put the money in the meter. Well, the woman was just blown away and said, “Oh my gosh, you did not have to do that”, of course, you do not have to do it but afterwards of that was—the young girl felt like she was a hero, like she could really done something important and she had.
Because she had saved that woman—some time and aggravation and also helped her with her child and it is little things like that. It is that “pay it forward”, it is—when I crossed the bridge, often, I will pay for the toll for the person behind me. It is doing the little things in life that matter,
All of us can write checks but when we donate our time and we also donate from our heart and that is what making the difference and we all have to make a difference.
Male: Have you ever volunteered? How did you feel afterwards? Did you make a difference? Share your experiences right here on www.peoplejam.com.
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