Tag Archive for 'youth empowerment'

Inspiration Information — Bilaal Rajan

aaron published on November 5, 2010 in celebrity and zeitgeist. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” — John Bunyan

When it comes to making a positive difference in the world, there are so many champions of change from individuals to large-scale organizations all working tirelessly to shed a little light in the vast darkness of need.  Many such inspiring leaders have been featured here, from ageless saints to reformed sinners.  But none seem to create as big an upswelling of inspiration as those incredibly young crusaders like Jordan Romero,  Jessica Watson and Zach Bonner: barely teenage kids who in the span of their short lives have accomplished unbelievable feats.

Today I’d like to introduce you to another phenomenal young man, the scale and breadth of whose achievements simply blow me away.  Meet Bilaal Rajan — age 13.

The desire to help others all started for Bilaal in 2001 after a devastating earthquake racked his family’s homeland of Gujarat, India.  Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Bilaal looked at his parents and told them he wanted to help.  “He was eating a clementine at the time”, his father remembers, “and he said, ‘okay I’m gonna go sell these.’  We had a box of oranges in the fridge and he took them out, made a poster and was off.”  Bilaal went door to door to his neighbors houses selling oranges for the victims.  He raised $350.  He was only 4 years old.

In 2004, 7 year old Bilaal decided he needed to help the homeless in Haiti after a hurricane ravaged the island nation.  He wanted to do something bigger than just donating his $10 allowance, or selling oranges.  So he devised a brilliant strategy.  He made a special request to his father’s company to donate boxes of cookies for sale at school recess, all to raise funds and awareness for the starving children in Haiti, many who at the time were so impoverished they had resorted to baking cinnamon and mud together and then eating these “earth cookies”.  Bilaal formed a team of 12 other classmates to help increase the distribution and sale of the cookies.

When Bilaal presented UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Fund) with a $6,387 check, the astounded representatives couldn’t believe that such young kids had raised such a tremendous donation.  UNICEF was so impressed that they made Bilaal their official child spokesperson.  As UNICEF’s youngest ambassador, Bilaal took advantage of his public post and the press to contact over 50 of Canada’s major business companies, asking them to contribute to his charitable cause.  Boxes of supplies, baby food, free medicine and gift certificates started flowing in from pharmaceutical companies, Heinz, national drugstores.  Bilaal realized he could leverage his age and his passion to reach further, do more.

On a small scale, he continued to raise personal donations, handpainting and selling decorative acrylic plates for the Holidays.  On a large scale, he started encouraging his peers to raise awareness through a series web challenges posted on his website: handsforhelp.org In 2005 he urged Canadian children to each raise a minimum of $100 with an ideal goal of reaching $1 million.  In the meantime he pledged to personally raise $10,000.  Within two weeks,  Bilaal ended up raising over $50,000 himself while the Toronto District School Board presented the president of UNICEF a check for 1.3 million from all the money their kids had pledged.  Local communities got inspired to contribute to the cause.  And the Government of Canada  ended up matching the school board’s donation dollar for dollar.  Ultimately Bilaal presented UNICEF with nearly $4 million from his campaign!  He was still only 8 years old.

Since then Bilaal as traveled to over 20 countries as a humanitarian ambassador, helping children who have suffered from Tsunamis, AIDs, famine and war.  He wants to spread the value of volunteering, not just to kids his own age, but to everyone.  In his own words: “I’ve always had a positive attitude and that’s simply because we can’t go forward with negativity because we’ll never get anywhere.  And the  sentence that entered my mind was: Why shouldn’t other children in other parts of the world not have what we have and taken for granted?”

Impossibly mature, poised beyond his years, Bilaal, now 13, has authored two books.  “8 Principles To Maximize Kids True Potential: A Roadmap To Success”, based on his simple strategies for manifesting your dreams — big or small.  And more recently, “Making a Difference: Tips from an Underage Overachiever.”  He keeps an online blog, were you can follow his current philanthropic ventures, and he gives frequent inspirational speeches at local schools, conferences and Leadership conventions.   When it comes to encouraging others to action, Bilaal is not camera shy.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are.  It doesn’t matter how busy you are.  It doesn’t matter how much you have on your plate, and we’re all really busy.  But you can make a difference in your community and world.” -Akela Peoples, Youth in Motion

This past year, in honor of International Children’s Day (June 1st), Bilaal encouraged all Canadians to join him in the Barefoot Challenge: for an entire week Bilaal walked around without shoes to raise awareness for the thousands of childern around the world who live without ever owning shoes.  He also shaved his head to further raise donations.

“As one person, I know I can make a difference.”  Bilaal says with complete confidence.  “But as a group of people, we can definitely change the world!”

Thursday’s Inspiration Information — Zach Bonner

aaron published on October 21, 2010 in celebrity and zeitgeist. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

“All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.”  Friedrich Nietzsche

When I was twelve years old, the greatest feat I had accomplished was beating Sonic the Hedgehog all on my own, without the help of my brothers.  I remember my world feeling very small and self-contained.  Life existed in proximity to who I could talk to, where I could walk, and what I as an eleven year old boy could (or was allowed) to do.  Everything else, the world at large, was a vague periphery that perhaps one day I would get a better view of, once I grew several inches in height and a few layers in maturity.  I was, in short, a normal twelve year old.

Now meet Zach Bonner — age twelve.

In his short life, Zach has accomplished more incredible philanthropic feats than most adults ever even dream of achieving.  Which is exactly Zach’s philosophy, don’t just dream it, do it.  It all started in 2004, when Hurricane Charlie ripped through his hometown in Florida, destroying homes and devastating the community.  Zach couldn’t stand the site of people destitute and suffering, so he took his little red wagon and took it door to door in his neighborhood, collecting clean water for the victims.   After four months, Zach had collected 27 pickup truck loads of water.  He was only six years old .

When two more hurricanes rolled through, Zach kept on rolling his wagon to the point where his family needed to establish a foundation for all the monetary donations Zach was taking in.  They named it Little Red Wagon Foundation, after the local moniker he had received around town.  Unlike most boyhood obsessions, Zach’s passion for helping people in need didn’t pass into some other fad.  Instead it grew and exploded.  Zach started organizing Christmas parties for homeless kids living in Florida and Lousiana.  He teamed with the national charity StandUp for Kids, to collect 400 “Zachpacks” — backpacks  filled with donated food, school supplies, and toys which he then distributed to homeless children.  He handed out X-mas presents to Hurricane Katrina victims.

In 2006, Zach has received the  Presidential Service Award from President George W Bush.  He was only eight.  The following year he organized an event to raise awareness called “24 Hours”, where students in high school simulated being homeless by staying in separate boxes for 24 hours.  And Zach was only just getting started.

“When you pray, move your feet” — African Proverb

In November of 2007, Zach launched his most ambitious awareness-raising campaign — My House to the White House.  The idea was powerfully simple, Zach would walk the 1,225 miles from his house in Tampa to Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.  All to raise awareness and funds for homeless children.  He completed the journey in three legs,  raising over $25,000, lots of media attention and speaking directly with several U.S. Senators.  He spent his nights in Washington sleeping at the Sasha Bruce emergency shelter.

When asked why he’s so passionate about helping the homeless, Zach speaks with maturity beyond his years: “After you’ve met these kids, seen what they’ve gone through… it’s really hard NOT to help.” And once he set his feet in motion, it became impossible for Zach to stop.  This past March he left his home in Florida once again with an even bigger goal in mind.  Walking everyday, 17-22 miles, through burning desert and pouring rain, Zach determined he would walk the 2,478 miles across country to Los Angeles; all the while, passing out gift cards to people in need and raising awareness for the cause of homeless.  He coined the mission “March Across America.”

On September 14, 2010 Zach completed his 178 day walk, stepping onto the Santa Monica Pier with hundreds of fans and supporters, including Elton John who donated $50,000 and Michael Guillen, the CEO of Philanthropy Project, who selected Zach’s story from a pool of 6,000 candidates to make a $5 million movie, entitled The Little Red Wagon. After gazing out at the Pacific Ocean sweeping beneath him under the pier, Zach had this to say…

“There’s an ancient Chinese proverb: ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’ Most people don’t walk a thousand miles, or 2,500, but what it really means is that we all need to take that first step to get something big done.  If I’ve helped even one homeless child, I hope I’ve accomplished that.”

Zach is a shining example that you don’t need money or resources, connections or means to truly accomplish great deeds.  You don’t even need age.  In Zach’s own words:  ”Kids are never too young to make a difference.  You are never too old or too young to make a difference.  Don’t let anyone stand in your way.  Find something you are passionate about and just do it.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dreamed big thoughts, set myself a goal of starting a charity or mentoring a kid.  Getting involved in the community… practicing what I preach.  And then time lapses, excuses accumulate, and life moves off in multiple self-serving directions.  Good intentions are so easy, transforming them into direct action so hard.  And then you encounter someone like Zach, who challenges every limiting convention that holds us each back. This incredible twelve year old who shows us that taking action is actually very easy.  It just requires taking that first step.  And then following with another.  And another.  And another…

And never stopping until the work is complete, the grand goal reached.