Thursday, September 07, 2006

Saving the world, or at least my little corner of it...

I am a problem solver. Nothing makes me happier that figuring out how to help people. My friends and family all know this and take full advantage of it... I feel needed and they get what they need it is a win-win situation. "Where can I buy...?" April will know. "Who can tell me how to do...?" April will know. "Why doesn't this program exist in our community?" April can find out if it does and chances are, if it doesn't she will work to make it happen.

So what's the latest problem needing to be solved? Well, I have a friend who has kids around the same age as mine and we want our kids to volunteer in our community. None of them are in Scouts (mine were, we are done now, thank goodness!) and it isn't easy to find a way for them to see and appreciate what they have. I thought, "there must be a website that lists volunteer opportunities for kids in our area." Well, there is not. So I started thinking, do parents really have the time and energy to take their kids to 'one more thing' not that this thing isn't important, but after sports, music, homework, etc. it tends to become one more thing.

What about a way for simple hands on projects that non-profits need done that can be delivered to kids who are already in a group, like Safe Key? If the NP can deliver the project {books needing labels, bag stuffing, packet assembling, etc.} to the group site the kids could do the project, learn about the NP and maybe appreciate their lives a little more? This could even be done in a pre-school playgroup environment where the moms do the project while the kids are playing.

I don't know... it's just an idea that may or may not go anywhere.

Past ideas/Problems solved:

Safe Haven Law - this one was very successful! I worked on this with the Junior League of Las Vegas.

Building a fully accessible playground - this one hasn't happened, but I believe it will. I may not be the one to do it, but by sharing my vision with others I know the right person to make it happen will come along. The story behind this is that there is not a fully accessible playground in Nevada. One that can be used by children in wheelchairs and walkers as well as being used by able bodied children. A few parks have one or two items that are accessible, but not an entire playground. The dream is to eventually have one piece of accessible equipment on every elementary school playground also.

Coats: Many of the students at a local elementary school in a low income neighborhood would not go to school on cold days because they didn't own a coat and they knew they wouldn't get to go out for recess and lunch without a coat. The school would have upwards of 100 absences on cold days vs warmer ones. So we collected over 300 coats and delivered them to the school and let the kids pick out any coat they wanted. It was the best, the look on those kids faces when I told them they could keep the jacket, it was priceless!

I guess I just miss the feeling when I have a project do complete. And right now I don't have one.

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