Founding Impact, a non-profit organization with the goal of educating youth on social issues and innovation gave me the opportunity to truly strengthen my leadership skills. Working alongside like-minded individuals, I was able to meet the unfulfilled need of a youth-led social justice initiative both in my school and the greater community. Millennials are consistently proving to be the most socially conscious generation and having youth-led workshops and discussions on social justice issues would further nurture this spirit. Although many of the issues I aimed to address were global, there was an unmistakable need to address pressing issues closer to home. My school's Breakfast Club was severely underfunded and the staggering amount of students
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The event had the ideal balance of entertainment and awareness, which ensured participation from a much higher number of students than those usually interested in social justice issues. Dodge for Hunger garnered massive involvement from the student body as students volunteered to organize the tournament, pledged to play, and donated to watch. Although entertainment was an important aspect of the event, we maintained the focus on hunger and poverty by holding a schoolwide assembly educating students on the issue that affects many in our own community. By partnering with community businesses to obtain donations for winning teams and incentives for top donating students, we increased the magnitude of positive impact we made. However, this was not uncomplicated - assembling a proactive team to plan, market and carry out an event for over 1600 people was an arduous, but ultimately worthwhile task. Our actions had remarkable results - we simultaneously collected over $2000 in donations for the Breakfast Club; raised awareness regarding poverty and hunger; and exponentially increased school spirit. Furthermore, we were recognized with an Honourable Mention by the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board for a “Speak Up!” grant. The utter success of Dodge for Hunger subsequently means that we can continue, and even improve the event on a bigger scale
The event had the ideal balance of entertainment and awareness, which ensured participation from a much higher number of students than those usually interested in social justice issues. Dodge for Hunger garnered massive involvement from the student body as students volunteered to organize the tournament, pledged to play, and donated to watch. Although entertainment was an important aspect of the event, we maintained the focus on hunger and poverty by holding a schoolwide assembly educating students on the issue that affects many in our own community. By partnering with community businesses to obtain donations for winning teams and incentives for top donating students, we increased the magnitude of positive impact we made. However, this was not uncomplicated - assembling a proactive team to plan, market and carry out an event for over 1600 people was an arduous, but ultimately worthwhile task. Our actions had remarkable results - we simultaneously collected over $2000 in donations for the Breakfast Club; raised awareness regarding poverty and hunger; and exponentially increased school spirit. Furthermore, we were recognized with an Honourable Mention by the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board for a “Speak Up!” grant. The utter success of Dodge for Hunger subsequently means that we can continue, and even improve the event on a bigger scale