Giving When You Can

People will never understand how far a little positivity and kindness will go.

Throughout the years, I have found that it is not hard to give a little bit to those in need. The problem that our society faces is that many think that it is hard to go out of their way to be kind to others around them, or to do something good for another.

Going through high school and now almost halfway through my undergrad, I’ve opened my eyes to so much through the things I have seen and heard and the experiences I have encountered. Life is not easy, for you or for me; but there are many people out there that have it a lot worse than you and I, and they are right outside our doors.

Being at Le Moyne here is Syracuse has been such a great experience for me thus far and I expect nothing less for the rest of my years here, but while being in a new community I have found out a lot about Syracuse that I never knew before. When people think of Syracuse they, for the most part, think of things like SU Basketball, The New York State Fair, the Syracuse Crunch, Destiny U.S.A. and the number of fantastic locally owned restaurants, but they do not think of the things that are right in plain site that surround all of these things I just listed. Poverty. There are over 800 people in Syracuse that are starving every day. Also, Syracuse has one of the highest child poverty rates in the nation. Did you ever realize this was happening?

This year something came over me and I realized that I had to do something. I came to realize that we are each responsible for taking care of the person who is less fortunate than ourselves. There is always something to be done and anything we do, even the littlest thing, helps a person. Something I started doing was buying Annie Anne’s pretzels, or Dunkin Donuts bagels was cream cheese before I leave Destiny Mall and when I am driving out of the mall a hand them out to some of the homeless people on the sides of the roads. Now that is something small that makes a huge difference.

Just last semester in my entrepreneurship class, I was challenged to start a company that really helped humanity in one way or another. After thinking long and hard about something I could do, I thought about something that I love and how I could utilize what I love to do and also be able to use it to give back to people. For those of you that know me, you know that something I love to do is theatre. I love singing and acting, and I try to dance but it’s not a pretty picture! I thought to myself, how could I use what I love to give back to that large number of people in the Syracuse area that are living in poverty, homeless and hungry?

This is how I began my company, Arts into Action! We are working to do everything we can to help people in poverty. I hope that my organization can also help people like you who want to get more involved but don’t know how. But you have to be the one to take that first step. You have the potential to help a large number of people in our community. If you need help taking that first step, let me help you. Email me (laterzmj@lemoyne.edu) if you want to get involved and see a change in your community!