Will "Dougie" for Water

 I was reminded of a very humbling quote the other day. Ghandi once said,  “ Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”

I find that a lot of times I don’t do things because they seem insignificant but I have learned recently that them being insignificant gives me all the more reason to do them. You never know when you could be making a difference in someone’s life. Handing out Snickers isn’t exactly changing the world but I will continue to do so because Ghandi told me to!

The other day I was leaving a subway station and this man asked me if he could have a dollar for some water. I gave him a couple of bucks and he did the “Dougie!” I suggested that he start teaching a Hip Hop class but he just laughed. Little does he know that I know very well what makes a good Hip Hop teacher.

My favorite thing about this entire experience is that I’m learning so much about running a non-profit organization. Everyone in the office does a little bit of everything and I love that. I can successfully operate a pallet jack and I am cutting time off shrink-wrapping pallets everyday. You best not cross me when I have my box cutter or my tape gun. No matter how many times you sweep a warehouse it is dusty so I usually end up walking around looking like Dick Van Dyke straight out of Mary Poppins for hours each day.

When my mom was here we went to Bubba Gump Shrimp…several times actually. We were talking about it one day at work and Jaime didn’t know what we were talking about. My mom had the idea to buy Jaime Forrest Gump and get he and his wife a gift certificate. Jaime is now Bubba Gump’s biggest advocate! He came to work today and told me that Forrest Gump shows Jenny God’s Grace by accepting her even though she was bad.

This week we are having a Kaizen event. Kaizen is a Japanese word for Good Change. The entire office is involved in finding ways to improve our Teacher Resource Center. The TRC is an area where teachers that teach in Title One Schools (schools where more than 70% of the Students are on the Free and Reduced Lunch Program) are able to come and get school supplies for their students can’t afford them. We are divided up into teams and my team has gone above and beyond. We dress alike and made badges. Some of the other people in the office are “hatin,” (normally I would say “hating but I get corrected in the South Bronx if I talk like that) because of our excitement. 

I have been truly blessed by this entire experience. I'm going to be completely transparent with you Blog Readers for just a second. I was in a spiritual slump for a while and this experience is pulling me out of it. “SMS (Shine)” by David Crowder is a song that has really been on my heart lately. It is about someone that is completely disconnected but is yearning for some connection to God and asking him to soften their heart. I feel that it has been my prayer and it has been answered in a way I never thought possible. The people I work with are serving God daily with every aspect of their lives and I have learned so much from them.

Peace and Blessings! 

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