Creating Young Advocates of Change
One JOI Box at a Time
The start of 2013 has been a great
one for me. Usually with the planning of new resolutions and new goals to
achieve, I often feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be
accomplished. I’m glad to say that this year felt a little different, and if
you have felt this before you are probably wondering what the secret is. New
Year’s usually begins with a forward looking outlook with a list of items that
need to be accomplished, whether its weight loss, or learning how to play that
new guitar you received on Christmas. This time around, I was able to sit back
and really look back at the year that passed and think of the accomplishments I
have been involved in, the most impactful to my life being the JOI to the World campaign.
As the new year rolled in, so did my
mail and amongst the bills and brochures I received were many heart warming
Thank You letters from the organizations in the city that were gifted JOI boxes
during the holiday season. With the support from the citizens of Calgary, JOI
Media is able to give back to those less fortunate every year through our JOI to the World campaign. The initiative looks at providing relief for those
facing homelessness, poverty and family abuse through the delivery of gift
boxes that have been filled by the local community.
In the past five years, through donors, volunteers and
sponsors within the community, JOI to the World has been able to gift nearly 15,000
JOI boxes to Calgarians' in need. Through the use of crowd funding and social
media JOI to the World has raised almost $25,000 online through www.katipult.com totaling approximately $500,000 in both physical and monetary
donations.
Although giving back to the community was the main
motive behind the campaign, at JOI Media we really wanted to influence the
youth and create awareness of the issues of homelessness, poverty and family
abuse in the city. This year, we had many elementary, junior high and high
schools join our initiative. The youth are the future and it is incredible to
see how many young individuals contribute to the cause with not only donations,
but also their time.
In the midst of all the Thank You letters we received,
I found this video mailed to me from the Bridlewood School, for their take on
JOI to the World.
This video really confirms the belief that our
movement has truly created young advocates who also see and understand the
importance of giving back to the community.
The statements that stood out to me the most from the video “we knew
this was an opportunity to make a difference”, “as the boxes started coming back
filled, we started to think about how one box could affect one’s quality of
life”, “We are the change”, and “Together we made a difference in
our community” really emphasize the fact that our campaign has not only
affected the lives of those individuals being gifted boxes, but is also
sparking the social activists in each one of these children to truly be the
change in the city.
