The Healthy Living Program consists of a series of experiential, hands-on, outdoor educational opportunities focused on community empowerment and engagement. Thanks to the support of several other local organizations, the program is able to promote and teach mind, body, community and environmental health to the children and youth in Cornerstones' care.
We’ve all seen the commercials that attempt to pull on our heart strings by showing us animals or children in terrible conditions — thanks Sara McLachlan. But there are selfish reasons as well, so why not focus on how generosity can benefit us personally versus the typical guilt-inducing approach?
Back in 2011, an organization in Australia started a grassroots movement called Plastic Free July as a way to raise awareness about how many single-use plastics we throw away/into the ocean every year. Today, this movement has grown to include over 150 countries and millions of participants working to reduce plastic consumption, likely preventing billions of pounds of non-compostable waste from entering our oceans and landfills.
Seeing and hearing about the lives of others through firsthand interactions provides empathy, which allows me the ability to gift normality to someone else. Working with Uncover KC has allowed me to experience just that, as well as help others do the same.
The Healthy Living Program consists of a series of experiential, hands-on, outdoor educational opportunities focused on community empowerment and engagement. Thanks to the support of several other local organizations, the program is able to promote and teach mind, body, community and environmental health to the children and youth in Cornerstones' care.
Back in 2011, an organization in Australia started a grassroots movement called Plastic Free July as a way to raise awareness about how many single-use plastics we throw away/into the ocean every year. Today, this movement has grown to include over 150 countries and millions of participants working to reduce plastic consumption, likely preventing billions of pounds of non-compostable waste from entering our oceans and landfills.
In the fall of 2017, Hurricane Maria became the tenth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, tearing through the Caribbean area for over a two-week stretch. Center of that devastation, and perhaps the most damaged by it, was the island of Puerto Rico. To better understand the devastation, as well as how the Kansas City community can help with recovery, we sat down with KC resident and PR native Lizmarie Garcia.
After last year's record-setting drive of 8,848 pairs, we we're hoping to hit the 10,000 mark in 2017. Thanks to the 74 groups and individuals that participated this year, we we're able to zoom past that mark for the first time ever.
Did you know socks are the most needed item among homeless shelters? In order to help combat this common problem, Uncover KC is excited to announce that we will be running our annual Socktober campaign for the fifth consecutive year.
It also just so happened that this evolution coincided with our KC2040 partnership, which leads to today’s exciting news — we’ve officially merged to form Uncover KC. Uncover KC is the culmination of years of working in the heart of our communities, seeing first hand what individuals want to do and what organizations need.
As the movement grew, we met a ton of amazing people that shared the same spirit as us. Luckily, we we’re blessed enough to have several of those join our cause and thanks to their time, talent and treasures, a dream became a reality.Over the last two months, the organization has had to say good-bye to a pair of those founding pillars and I just want to take a moment to recognize each.
This blog post is written in response to this article, found on the Huffington Post.
I want to start with a small complaint: I am so tired of hearing older generations call Millennials selfish, entitled, lazy, and any other variation of said descriptors. Remember this statement. We’ll come back to this in a minute.
This HuffPost article was written in response to / in summary of / in relation to a research piece originally summarized by the Washington Post. It’s essentially an article about an article explaining why Millennials do things differently in a way that appeals to older crowds.
If I’m being completely honest, I feel like this article is pointed in the right direction, but it missed the mark. It talks a lot about charitable giving at the corporate level, such as engaging us in paycheck allocations, incentive programs, and group giving opportunities - even how we’re more compelled when we’re emotionally invested in a cause. It talks about how we’re optimistic, how we care about the future, how we try to do less harm.
It’s when the article starts providing helpful tips and tricks to engaging Millennials that I start to squirm a little bit. Maybe it’s because the author suggests integrating giving so heavily with corporate measures. Maybe it’s how the article heavily ties volunteer work to professional work - I’m not entirely sure. There seems to be this undercurrent of I’m-just-volunteering/donating-to-boost-my-resume vibe when I genuinely question how common that motivating factor really is among my peers.
The original research was performed on just over 2,500 individuals classified as Millennials. Compared to the 20 some-odd million living in the US alone, this sample size is not significant. Not to mention the report does not specify whether participants come from a variety of geographical areas, socioeconomic backgrounds, races, religious communities, industries, and sexual and gender identities. While there is likely some diversity, the fact that the survey is held online already eliminates a large pool of participants who may not have access to computers on a regular basis. I find it hard to believe that this sample size is able to paint an accurate picture of our entire generation.
The main reason why I am critical towards their sample size is because there is such a heavy emphasis on “corporate” and “workplace” in an economy where so many college graduates are struggling to get their foot into the corporate door - not to mention the vast number of individuals who can’t even afford to go to college in the first place.
In an effort to tie this back into my initial complaint, because of the economy older generations created for us today, we see the importance of contributing to the greater good, if I may wax poetic for a moment. When we are fortunate enough to have extra, financially speaking, we prioritize giving our money to causes that are important to us, whether that be Planned Parenthood, cancer research, animal rights, or some other valiant cause. In cases where we have extra time, we see the importance of giving our skills to organizations that need more hands. We acknowledge the vital role these movements play in creating a thriving, sustainable future rather than just another item to write off our taxes at the end of the year.
Ultimately, we understand the importance of working together to make a better future for younger generations. We strive to move beyond the cookie cutter, corporate careers of our parents and grandparents and we see how smaller contributions made regularly can make an even greater impact. Yes, positive incentives are wonderful. Yes, making it easy to give back is awesome - but what we’re really looking for is an opportunity to make this world a better place.
