Minor, Ami - Giving Back

Last week I was able to volunteer some time at SBN Samantha's camp. And to start out, it was amazing, the camp was organized and planned out to the minute, to what activity was being done, to materials for storytelling, coloring sheets and books, and even the superhero theme. Though I was only able to help out for the morning shift, it was so heartwarming to be the with kids, playing, coloring, writing, creating our own story and even our own superhero. When do you ever get to create your own superhero and how their story plays out? I wish there was a camp like this one when I was younger, I would have totally loved every minute of it. Helping out SBN Samantha with her camp reassured and grew my passion for my School Supply Drive; which is something I've wanted to do but not like most other school supply drives. Some of the more common school supply drives give back to elementary schools, which is amazing, being able to share with such young kids and show what it's like to help others out. On the other hand, my school supply drive is more focused on giving back to middle schools. Being a Senior in high school, I've seen first hand what it's like to be in a classroom lacking basic necessities. Now we were able to make do with what we had, but I was able to see just how rough it was on not only the students but teachers as well. Teachers are given an amount of money they can spend each year, and that budget has to be divided and spent wisely. With the help of KJN and a teammate, we were able to create a video explaining my project and how people could help. From there the video was posted on social media and shared with the DMA families. One of my amazing teammates was generous to create a box(pictured below) to hold the supplies and it turned out amazing, THANK-YOU! Throughout the drive, we were able to collect a good amount of school supplies which will be sorted and dispersed out to nearby middle schools. My hopes for this dive is not to change the world but to be able to give back to my community and show that anyone can give a helping hand. Things don't just happen on their own, it takes someone with an idea, to then take those first steps, work through the ups and downs and see that idea through. I hope to grow this idea and be able to continue this school supply drive annually, to give back not only to the schools I attended but the as many schools as possible. These schools are growing and shaping our future leaders, we need to take care of them.

- Ami Minor

3rd Degree Black Belt Candidate 2019