make a difference in the world

I do have some christmas spirit at least. Nearby is a foundation that helps troubled youth. They live on site in small communities. Because so amny have nothing but the clothes on their back, they have a christmas angel program.
You’re given the kids first name, age and their wish list. You have a 50 dollar limit. I did the best I could to get the kid everything I could for the limit. It’s to show them that people do care about them. There is no contact between the angel and the kids, but it doesn’t matter.

Here’s an interesting idea
What if everyone in America gave up one present for Christmas and took the money and donated it to a charity??

Well, I know I’m going to make a difference in the life of one person. One of my Scouts. To be brief, there is hardly any money, and no father in his life.Life Is pretty grim for them sometimes. Mom had to borrow money ( at my insistence) to get the car loan paid. When I asked him about his plans for the future he said that he would like to go to school for a certain career, but he sees no point in it, since there is no money to send him.
I have money from a settlement with the military for my disability. With their permission, I have set aside $18,000 for his college education.(You should have seen the look on his face) with the following conditions—
Only he and his Mom can know about this. If others found out about a Scoutleader essentially giving a Scout this much money, well, there would be a lot of hard questions to answer.
He can’t waste it. Try to stay the course on the education, and not just screw around.
He still has to apply for loans and grants. The money will give him a start, but not pay for everything.
Now, he is taking his grades a little more seriously and is trying to find good places to go to school. I hope this works out.

I haven’t done too much on this goal lately except continue in Scouting. I’m realizing though, just how much some of the kids in the troop are messed up.
I have one who was physically abused by a camp counselor when he was young. He is now the product of a nasty divorce and an uncaring alcoholic dad. he is also deaf in one ear. he has anger and other emotion issues.
One is an orphan from Sierra Leone. he and his sister saw their parents macheted to death. The orphanage was hell on them. He has some PTSD and anger issues.
Another claims to “have no father.” What I found out is that they know who dad is, but even after DNA testing, he refuses to acknowledge him as his son, even boasting that its the same with his other brothers and sisters. Mom tries as hard as she can to keep going. He loves acting, singing, dancing and just entertaining. They don’t have money at the end of the month for a lot of things, but what there is goes to him.
2 others are also from nasty divorces.
I guess you never have to look far to find need. I do what I can to help them, sometimes stepping out of my role as a leader to do so. I hope that whatever I do will help the boys in their lives. They know that they can contact me anytime for anything.

I don’t know. Iv’e been active with the program for several weeks now, and it seems more a burden than an help. While there is nothing specifically wrong, the kids are great and all that, I find myself not enthused about this.
My depression has been rearing it’s ugly head a lot lately.It makes it hard to be a help at all. Usually when I am like this, I tend to be more of a hinderance. Unfortunatly, this is a common pattern in my life.
It’s a small program, and one person who is not with the program affects the quality of the entire experience.
I suppose the best time to leave would be now, before the kids get to used to me and the same for me.

OK, So for know, I’m working with Science for kids, an afterschool science program in a community center. Mind you, this is the inner city, one of the poorest area. The kids there signed up for this, though, so they want to be there.
There is a field next to the place where train tracks once were. I saw evidence of deer there, so I want to show them this.
I have one 10 year old who can barely read and can’t even tie his shoes. His parents are “too busy” to show him.
There was a flattened are where the deer had bedded down and he ( who was also afraid deer ate meat) thought” people had been back here f---g.”
While I was not suprised by this(I’d been exposed to inner city kids before) I was disappointed.

With all the crap going on in the world, I wonder is it really possible for one person to make real change. I know that there are many examples, such as Gandhi and Mother Theresea. I admire them. Also the smaller examples, such as teachers, police, firemen,volunteers, etc.
It’s just that for every step forward, there are 2 steps back, or just a simple sidestepping of the issue altogether. How is it possible to stay positive with the weight of the world against
you?
I know a lot of you out there have this as a goal, but have any of you actually seen any results?
Yes, I realize that most changes occur long term.

Today I am going to talk to 2 of my Senators (well, their lackeys anyway) about expanding child abuse laws. .It’s just the fact that there are so many grey areas.These need to be tightened up
Just got back. They can’t help me per se, but are going to point me in the right direction by sending me to the proper people.
Maybe child abuse is where I should focus my attention.
r Tomorrow I am going to see about volunteering at a program that helps kids with science. I wish I had the time to do them all!!

I,ve 2 possibilities right now. 2 place I contacted have sent me info packets. One is literacy volunteers, who help kids and adults to read.
The other is Compass house. They are a safe haven for runaway and at risk youth. they provide a shelter, and help them get back on their feet.
Both very noble places. i think I would be OK at both.
I’m also looking into a local place where I could be trained to be a liasion between parents and kids with mental health problems. I could have used that as a kid.

I’m looking into various organizations to see what may be good for me. There are so many people who need help. i want to help them all, but of course that’s impossible. All of this is throught the United Way.
There are opportunities for literacy coaching, helping kids with science, helpin with the mental health association.
As I said, so many. Just looking at the list is depressing.