For the Greater Good

Youth Forward Scholarship Winter 2018

Name: Damon Harrell
From: Lee's Summit, MO
Votes: 203

The
last three years of high-school I volunteered for an organization
called Mothers Who Lost Children to Violent Crimes.  This
organization partnered with the Kansas City Missouri Police
Department to raise awareness about violence and crime taking place
in the city, causing children to become victims.

I
was given the opportunity to execute my leadership abilities
assisting with a fundraising event for the organization. I made
recruitment my first priority to ensure we had enough volunteers; I
asked several of my friends to volunteer to help at this community
event. Next, I coordinated the volunteer task list and assigned
volunteers to complete them. I reached out to the mayor, councilmen,
and high ranking police officers to represent and support this great
cause. I conducted a rehearsal before the event to ensure everyone
knew their roles and to make sure everything was organized. I showed
each volunteer their station and reviewed the jobs to be completed.
Volunteers were also tasked to set up the vendor tables. On the day
of the event, volunteers cooked the food, served food to all of the
guests who attended, washed dishes, cleaned and swept floors, took
out the trash, and put away all the event supplies.

I
have a passion for people and it is best displayed by helping others.
I set a personal goal to support this organization by executing this
event in a professional, organized manner. I wanted the women
(guests) to have a warm, welcoming environment. They were served and
had an inviting experience surrounded by people who cared about them
and the children they lost to violent crimes.

As
a result, the event was a huge success. We raised awareness
throughout the community about how violent crimes affected the youth
of the community. We made sure every woman who attended the event
had a good experience. The event was such a success that the Mothers
Who Lost Children to Violent Crimes organization partnered with the
Kansas City Missouri Police Department for future events.