One main reason I chose to go to Baruch was its location in Manhattan. Growing up, I’ve always wanted to live in Manhattan, and now I attend college here. There are so many things I’ve learned attending college in the city, but one main thing is my awareness of the homeless. The people you may notice and give some money to, or the people you see yet walk by without a thought. Even on the subway many times you encounter them sometimes sleeping or asking for money. I noticed that not many actually donate to them; either because they don’t want to or are immune to them and “ignoring.” I asked one person I knew why they wouldn’t donate, and they said, “If I help one person I’m choosing not to help the others, and what if they buy drugs with this money?” I completely disagreed with what she had to say, instead I’m more of an optimist and see it as helping one person is better than helping none. Every person has their own story and it’s never fair to judge by looks even though this is how society has trained us to think. You should always try to put those thoughts aside and think about how your donating five dollars may be the five dollars they use to get their first meal of the day. Even giving someone one dollar can buy them a coffee or something small to eat. Save one dollar a week and give it to someone and see them smile. We learn at a young age that giving is so important, yet, as we get older, we see fewer and fewer people doing it. We see the busy people in NYC rushing to get somewhere with no thought of those sitting on the sidewalk cold and hungry.

I started a gofundme page to create care kits and hopefully hand them out at least once a month. My wish is to give them everything I have, but seeing as this may not be the most realistic option, I want to raise money and help as many people as I can. Being a not-so-wealthy college student, I started taking donations from anyone willing to donate. Any amount of money donated helps—even as little as one cent. Raising this money may not be easy, but it is a goal to raise at least $1000 by the end of this month. I started to raise money because one day walking from class to my train I noticed a man, looking really sad, with a sign saying, “Any donations to make me smile.” Unfortunately I had no cash on me but gave him all the change I had and said, “Sorry I don’t have more.” He laughed and continued to say that any money I give would help him. I didn’t realize I would be able to make a difference in his life and I may not have made a drastic change in his life but even knowing that he smiled was a difference. After this I realized that anyone can make a difference. I always thought it was so cliche to say, yet now I understand why it is a popular quote. Never think you can’t make a positive change in this world.