Doing Something for the Greater Good

A little backinfo: I am in a program at my College called Character in Leadership. You had to apply for it before your Freshman year. There are only about 22 of us in my class anymore. We have one class each semester with the same group of classmates that is dedicated to leadership. We've learned about leadership theory, ethics, and have completed one local service project.

This year we are doing a global service project. We are working with the organization My Fight. My Fight is a solution to poverty. They give out microloans to people in Honduras currently (they are working on getting in to Ethopia) by selling t-shirts. It's a small organization but I see that what they do works. They get back 98% of their microloans (learn more here about micorfinancing) which is HUGE!

The reason we chose My Fight is because they are a solution. I've worked in a nonprofit business, I had an internship at a local YWCA after my senior year of high school. So when we were researching global nonprofits, I knew the lingo that nonprofits speak. I saw that they have a very small overhead cost, and their one (yes, they only have one paid employee) doesn't make much money off of My Fight. Their operation works. I was impressed.

Our Character in Leadership class is working on raising money for My Fight. We have gone dorm room door-to-dorm room door, sold Halloween-o-grams and now My Fight is coming to our campus. More specifically; Jesse, the founder of My Fight, is coming to our campus. If you are in the Jamestown area, come to Jamestown College Campus sometime between 8 and 10pm on Monday, November 14th and see what My Fight is all about. We'll have a musical guest, coffee, and t-shirts for sale. Visit the facebook event here.

Come learn about one of my passions. If you can't join us on Monday night but want to buy a t-shirt (for every shirt that is sold in the month of November and December, an annonymous donor will double your donation! - I bought 3:)) buy a shirt online.

Hopefully you learned something new today :)

Have a great weekend,

Kelsey Jean

All it takes for evil to take over is for one person to let it pass on by.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Hey bloggosphere -

I titled this "When was the last time you did something for the first time?" for a reason. This is new to me. I've always been a journal-er, but I've never taken the time to write a blog. So here goes!

Trying something new. They say you should always be trying to learn something new every day so I'm learning about blogging. This is my first, concrete, out-on-the-internet blog. I'm writing this with the no idea what I will end up doing with it, who I'm going to reach, or how long I'm going to keep it up. But I'm going to work my hardest to keep it up and keep it interesting (if only for me and my family).

Why am I doing this? Writing has always been a form of therapy for me. It's cheap. It's easy. And it never lets you down. I don't know how many times I have written a journal, read it, and tore it up to throw it away. Personal stuff can be hard to share and put into words, but I'm hoping this won't be a failed attempt will be successful.

Who am I to tell my story to the world? I'm not anyone most people know. I am active on my small, liberal arts college campus; so people here tend to know me. I work at a semi-popular restaurant in town, so people recognize me. I've done a few cool things in my short life. But this isn't to brag about my 21-years-short life. This is to just share my ideas, share my problems, share what I learn. Everyone has a story, and I am going to attempt to share mine.

What are you going to do with this? I am going to try to post 2 or 3 blogs a week. Now, I am a college student, so hell week and finals week I make no guarantees. Some may be short. I love to collect quotes and artifact that have some cool saying or meaning behind them, so I may just share that. My sister is pregnant with a girl, so I may post nursery ideas that we find. Or once baby girl comes, my ideas about parenting and being an auntie. I have a somewhat turbulent family life, so that may be talked about. I am sorta in charge of my Residence Hall on campus, so I may write about the hardship of being a peer to people that get into trouble. But most of all, this is my blog, so I'm going to write about whatever is interesting to me that day.

This is going to be an interesting ride, but I'm game for it if you are!
See you all next time.

Kelsey Jean

Live now. Do it now. Take risks.