One thing that I strongly believe is that if you have the opportunity to better the life of someone else, or make even the slightest difference, you have to take it.
Through the power of social media and some really awesome people, I recently became a part of something called Meals of Love. As college students most of us are given a meal plan with a certain number of meals each week. Our meals reset at the end of each week and ones you didn't use do not carry over. Therefore many meals often go unused. I never really thought much of it before, until I saw a tweet that two girls from GVSU posted with the most amazing idea.
At Grand Valley we are only about 20 minutes from the beautiful city of Dowtown Grand Rapids. These girls were collecting their extra meals at the end of the week, making the short trip and giving them to homeless people on the streets. If we aren't using all our meals why should they go to waste?? As soon as I saw the tweet and that it was right here at GVSU I couldn't wait to be a part of it.
The next week ten of us went downtown with 41 meals to give away. Students who couldn't make the trip but still wanted to help donated meals beforehand as well.
Watching these people's faces light up as we gave out the meals was really a humbling and inspiring experience. They were so thankful and wanted to talk to us, and thank us, "God Bless you" they said, while others admitted to this being the best thing to happen to them all week.
It's horrible the way these people have to live, some of them alone, some with their families and children. Maybe we can't provide them with homes, maybe we aren't stopping world hunger, but even making the smallest difference in someone's life still matters. What started out with two girls and a few leftover meals turned into 10+ kids and 41 meals within a weeks time, and I'm sure will only continue to grow.
If everyone took the smallest amount of time out of their day to help someone else, to do something that doesn't benefit themselves but benefits others, to do something out of the goodness in your heart, imagine how beautiful our world could be.
"There's no way we were born to pay bills and die."
I'm so thankful to have came across an opportunity to better the lives of people in need. I'm so glad I came across people who find making the smallest difference so important. I'm so glad I know I wasn't born to go to school, get a job, pay bills, and die. I'm so glad we're all here on this earth and have the opportunity to live, and make a difference in our world.
