You don't have to be the loudest person in the room to make a difference

Day 3 was great, I had a lot of inspiring and motivating speakers. The one that stood out the most to me was Jessica Abo's talk on "Affluence is not a requirement for Influence". Jessica Abo was the kind of woman I aspire to be. She has done so much in her lifetime to give back to organizations and people. Jessica gave us 3 terms and asked us to define them; recruitment, community, and apathy. Recruitment means education, education the potential new members on our organizations, our values, and our philanthropies, and why we do these things. Community means communication, how am I talking to my organization. I need to figure out the most effective form of communication amongst the members in my organization, if they are an emailing person, don't call them. The third point was apathy which means appreciation. Appreciate every person that walks through your organizations door, from alumni to new member.

When Jessica was in high school she heard about the Thompson Family, which was the first African America family to have sextuplets. Around the same time this family had sextuplets, so didn't a white family who was receiving a lot of recognition from the news and the locals. Jessica thought this was unfair and the Thompson's deserved to be recognized. The Thompson's were a very low class family, and deserved the world, and that is exactly what Jessica wanted to give them. Jessica began contacting news stations and newspapers to get any information on how to contact this family. Jessica was turned down so many times because she was a 16 year old who wanted to help better. I bet if Jessica was caught stealing, this story would be headline news. Helping people should not be this hard, nor should it be hard to receive recognition. Jessica rally-ed her school, and they found the Thompson family and they reached out with a wishlist. Jessica and those behind her got every single item on that list and got everyone to travel on a bus and hand deliver these items.

FOX and CNN covered the story and within a week, Freddie Mac gave the Thompson family a new home; a car company gave them a van; and Howard University gave free college tuition to all five of the surviving children. Soon after, Jessica attended the Thompson sextuplet's first birthday at Howard University, and a tad bit later, they all came to Bethlehem, PA for Jessica's high school graduation. Till this day Jessica is really close with the Thompson and continues to be involved in their life.

"I think teaching young people that affluence is not a requirement for influence is a great lesson because you don't need to be a certain age to make a difference," said Abo. "You just need to see a place where you can step in and step up"
 http://www.fox5dc.com/news/2260367-story#

I think we all can learn from this beautiful story. Philanthropy is and should be personal. We join our organizations to make not only an impact but a lasting one. We need to leave a legacy of amazing community services efforts and give back to our community, which we reside in. Go out and find an organization or a cause, whether it be a homeless shelter, salvation army, or even a local restaurant. Think about who is an influencer in your community, reach out to them, and have them be apart of your efforts. Do NOT get caught up in group think. Jessica was not the most outgoing and she taught us that you don't have to be the loudest person in the room to make a difference.

I encourage you all to look her up and reach out, she is amazing!
@JessicaAboTV

http://www.talkinggood.com/profiles/JessicaAbo