Giving Tuesday, Giving Back

You've heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday - two days for getting "good deals." Well, today, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, is Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday is a national movement, committed to hosting a dedicated day where people can give back to their favorite causes. Driven by social media, Giving Tuesday uses the power of the individual and collective voice to raise awareness and dollars for the transformative organizations in our community.

Today, in honor of Giving Tuesday, I am donating all of my social media to Girl Scouts of Central Indiana. Now I know what you're thinking: "Holly, you work for them. You have to."

True, I do work for Girl Scouts of Central Indiana and my job is to help raise money for the organization. However, that's not why I chose to donate my own networks. The reason is much greater.

I have been a Girl Scout for 26 years and am a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient. For those of you who don't know, the Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve. The award teaches a girl to pursue her passions and translate those passions into action.

While I usually tell other girls' and women's Girl Scout stories, today I'd like to share my own Girl Scout Gold Award story with you.

When I was 13, my grandfather was in a serious car accident, which left him quadriplegic and placed him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. I, along with the rest of my family, was irrevocably changed by this moment. I became hyperaware of handicap accessibility and disability awareness issues in my community. So much so, that I became a Program Aide through the Girl Scouts and traveled around our council teaching younger girls disability awareness.  

As I entered high school and it came time for me to select a Gold Award project, my grandfather's accident and the girls who I had taught about disability awareness were fresh in my mind. I was passionate about accessibility issues and youth development. So I merged the two passions into one project - a handicap-accessible play ground.

Over the next two years, I designed, secured funding for, and eventually (with lots of help) built a handicap accessible play ground. There are very few moments in my life that compare to the pride I felt as the final pieces of the playground were going in the ground. I was particularly excited about Pedro, a bouncing parrot spring animal.

Fifteen years later, my playground still stands and thousands of children have benefitted from its presence. It still warms my heart to see girls racing across the open meadow, to swing on the swings, glide on the glider, bounce on the spring animal, and test their coordination on a maze of steps.

My Girl Scout Gold Award helped me hone skills that have served me well into adulthood. My project taught me time management, problem solving, conflict resolution, and organization. The project coaxed me out of my introverted shell and enabled me to articulate my passion and the action necessary to act on that passion.

Today, I am a Girl Scout Gold Award advisor. I have had the honor of advising girls whose projects and passions have ranged from environmentalism to cancer research, hunger relief to teen suicide.

The impact each Girl Scout Gold Award recipient has on her community is a credit to her passion and to the program.

I am so proud to be a Girl Scout.

And I am so proud to support Girl Scouts of Central Indiana today on Giving Tuesday.