What I Learned In 30 Days

So now that my 30-Day Charity Challenge is complete I have had some time to reflect on the month. Originally I wanted to become more charitable because it was my way of living a life that is meaningful. When I go to bed at night I wanted to feel like I made a difference in the world. I learned anyone can change the world, and its actually pretty easy. The hardest part of my challenge was coming up with creative ways to give, and finding time to blog. Now that I have completed my challenge I know that I can easily give at least once a week, and that’s what I plan on doing for the rest of the year.

I talked to many of my peers during the thirty days about giving, and the common theme was that everyone wants to be a giving person, but they don't have enough money or enough time. I proved that is just an excuse not to give. I am definitely not a wealthy person, I serve tables, and work in a hog barn....you do the math. I also have very little time. Between two jobs, and school time is not exactly something I have a lot of. In thirty days I donated over $350 and around 20 hours of time. Getting creative is the reason I could donate the amount of money that I did. I usually donated my time late at night or on my day off. Looking back, donating $350 seems like a lot. The funny thing is that the karma and good blessings are real. If you do something like give for all the right reasons you should have no worries. During the month I received a check from an individual who lives in Clive. He wrote a letter that basically said keep up the good work, and enclosed was a check for $100 that I was supposed to use for school. I used the money to buy text books for the social welfare and public policy class that I am currently taking. Also during the month I was contacted by the Iowa Falls Chamber Main Street and was hired to speak at their annual dinner. My giving has been returned to me in many different ways, including the two that I just mentioned. The most important thing that I received was the feeling of worth, and the feeling I got when people told me that what I am doing has actually inspired them to do the same.

In the future I will be trying to acquire more speaking engagements where I can inspire and motivate people to give. I’m very excited to meet some Waukee middle school students next Wednesday. I will talk to the students about my month of charity, and complete some group projects that I came up with. The main project that I will help them complete is a 30-Day Team Charity Challenge. The students and I will come up with a month of giving, and each student can sign up for one day to give. Next week I will share what we came up with. I hope that the students can learn as much in thirty days as I did.