Why We do What We Do

Someone asked the other day, "Why do you guys do what you do? You can't make a dent in the actual problem." It's not an unusual belief but it should not stop us. Every single one of us in every single move we make every single day can make a difference in the lives of those around us. And with a targeted effort, the difference we can make in the lives of needy children is immeasurable.

How about an example? We at Communities In Schools of Arizona just finished with the Supplies 4 Students program, which is one of our success stories every year. Lloyd runs this program with all the finesse and dedication that is his hallmark. In his report he writes, "We continued to move away from the previous years' structure of having a drive in the Arizona Mills Mall. Because the mall drive was volunteer intensive and only resulted in the collection of several hundred backpacks, we chose to focus on business drives, which have always been a major contributor to the program."

To date, and donations are still coming in, our partners and individuals collected over 2200 backpacks stuffed with supplies to distribute to needy students at 21 valley schools and community centers. We had a surplus of supplies once the backpacks were stuffed and each school received extra bags and boxes of pencils, crayons, glue, paper and such. Overall there were 151 volunteers who put in over 1652 hours of time to prepare the backpacks for pickup and distribution to the kids.

And we can't make a difference? We can all make a difference. Here's a story.

Looking through the thank you notes we receive each year from the students, there was one from a little girl. She writes of how much she loves her backpack and is surprised that is filled with beautiful brand new pens, pencils and the like. She loves that it is pink. But what she loves most of all is that she is going to give it to her little sister, who is starting kindergarten this year and has no backpack, no pencils, crayons or glue. She is grateful that the back pack meant for her can go to her little sister who she sees as more in need.

That's how we make a difference each and every day and that's how we make a dent in the problem. Our little dent made a huge diffference for that little girl and her sister. As they say, "pay it forward." Some of us learn that in grade school in the simple act of passing on a backpack to a sibling. Some of us learn it when we come face to face with poverty, abuse or lack. And some of us are lucky enough to have a job that makes a difference every day of our lives.

Blessings to you and yours. Remember Communities In Schools of Arizona. Pay it forward. Pass it on.