The Blue Sweater shows readers how much impact one person or one action can make. Jacqueline Novogratz tells an intriguing story about her journey in changing the world. She traveled to Africa and saw first hand the challenges of poverty and the limited rights women have. Her journey serves as an inspiration to initiate change and help others.
In high school, I was involved in a lot of volunteer work where we donated clothes to kids, food to typhoon victims, and money to those in poverty. Our donations helped people, but it isn't sustainable. What happens after the food and money run out? What happens in the long-run? I believe that a more sustainable solution or help we can provide is by helping others find jobs.
One idea I have is to start a company that sells coffee or ice cream and hire homeless people to man the stores. We can provide them with an advance salary to help them pay for food and clothes, and hopefully, they'll eventually be able to rent their own apartments. Homeless people are not incapable, they got buried in poverty and can't find a way to get out. Through this company, we can give them a chance to start over and get out of poverty.
I think providing an advance salary to help the homeless could be a great idea but also one that we have to be cautious with. From The Blue Sweater, I learned that some people will take advantage of those helping and not be as committed to improving their lives. I think it will be important to establish a system of accountability, so they don't bail after receiving the money.
ReplyDeleteI think you raise some great questions about the sustainability of those kinds of programs. There's only so much we can give in terms of material goods but I think it's important to find other ways to help people. I love your idea and I think focusing on how to help homeless people is super important. I'm very excited to hear you expand upon this idea more in your pitch!
ReplyDeleteHey Kelly, I think your idea is amazing and definitely something that can help homeless people find a job and get themselves out of poverty while keeping them in a good direction and leading them towards this goal. On the other hand, I agree with David and think that it might be a bit risky to pay salaries ahead of time since it might cause a contempt for work since all they might care of could be their salary.
ReplyDeleteHello Kelly, I agree with you that a more sustainable way is to get these people in need tools to return to a normal life rather than just giving them money. Also I'm glad that you're involved in such volunteering work so early! It means a lot to the society we live in.
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