"Giving back is among the most important and valuable things an entrepreneur can do. Period."
No matter how tough you think your life is there’s always someone that has it even tougher than yours. Helping others will help you too.
From as early as I can remember, I have always enjoyed helping others. My inclination toward service and giving started as young as I am able to recall. I remember being around 8 or 9 and sharing my lunch every day for a period of time with a classmate who never had anything to eat and once gave my shoes to a girl who had holes in hers right on the spot as I just ran home to get another pair. Any injured animal that crossed my path I cared for as they were my pets until they were well enough to be released back to their habitat again. I had an injured goose, baby squirrels that were abandoned, a turtle with a broken leg, and when really small I made a home for a found butterfly(OK, it actually was a fly but butterfly sounds so much more beautiful and accepted) who couldn't fly. As I grew older, I would always smile and talk to the new kid in the class or play with the kid who was all by themselves on the playground. I hated when my friends talked badly about others or bullied them and spoke in their defense as I, myself, have felt that pain having to change schools a few times and was subjected to isolation being new to an area and didn't want anyone else to feel that same as I did.
Later in life, I facilitated a golf outing for a few years to help a boy who was born with Quadriplegic Cerebral palsy and I was a co-founder of a group of girls that had an Irish Jig festival to raise money for the less fortunate that is still going strong in an area I no longer live. In recent years, up to present, I have been an advocate for bringing people together and asking them to collect Thanksgiving leftovers, getting donated turkeys, bread and desserts as well as warm clothing. With all in tow on our backs and wagons following we walked the city streets in Philadelphia and Cleveland together to find the homeless to give them some food and warmth and left some donated items at shelters we passed along the way.
My personal attachment with helping the homeless is I feel the pain of watching someone I love very much suffer and find them not in the best of living conditions due to PTSD. The pain comes from not having control of their journey and not being able to help change their suffering as much as I try, so i channel my pain and help where I feel I am making a difference. This is where helping others helps you too. Most of the homeless out there are Vietnam Vets who suffer with PTSD as well as those who suffer with addiction which also is an adverse effect of someone suffering with PTSD. I now am working closely with The Salvation Army Emergency Shelter in Cleveland that houses families. They also will house adult victims of human trafficking. Did you know that 56% of prostitution is initially from a runaway youth?!
Everyone is busy and life can be hard for everyone but you get what you give in life. In life I have given a lot. In return life hasn't come without hardships however I feel I am very blessed in life. Life has given me much needed lessons to be learned, I am loved back by those I love and have my health to name a few. We can choose to make time in our schedules for the things we deem important. Giving back or volunteering does not have to be all or nothing, and sometimes doing small things for others can be the most rewarding use of our time. It may seem like hard work, however there are countless rewards to giving back. Connecting to others, making a community better, helping someone smile one day who hasn't smiled in months or even years, and it can take your mind away from any of your own personal sadness you have no control over.
My career path has always been involved in servicing others and being a Realtor continues to be the same for me. A % of my commissions for every real estate transaction goes directly to the Emergency Family Shelter in Cleveland because unfortunately some of the houses sold are hard to show due to poverty.
If you like to join me in an event, donate or volunteer your time let me know in the attached form. I have to events I am a committee member on and would love for you to attend but if you are unable attend, please seek other ways you can help with in the attachments.
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