The action research topic of helping homeless and those in need get food is important for modern Hawaii because it is a large problem that we face in Hawaii. Homeless people are far too many here in Hawaii, and it is something that only continues to grow over the years. Although there may not yet be a way to stop homelessness completely, what we can do is support and help them. Everyone deserves to have the basic necessities of life just as much as the next person, and a large thing that we take for granted is food, so by giving a small portion of what we have we can help the world to be a better place by bettering individual lives. Some leaderships that I think are vital for me to continually develop and apply to my life to truly be a 21st century leader is kindness and compassion. I must also continue to treat others with respect because as humans, we all deserve respect and some love in our lives. To truly have people look up to and follow in your path you need to make a good impact on their lives. Many of the issues that I face in my personal life reflect problems of my community and world as a whole. This is because even the smallest things can have such large impacts on life as a whole, therefore it is important that we continue to address problems in our families and communities because it can only grow from there into a revolution of good in our lives. From this experience, I have gained skills that I can continue to apply through the course of this project and even after. These skills include being educated on issues in our community, and critically and creatively thinking about ways to make a difference to resolve them. Moving forward I think that it is important that I continue to grow in my thinking, responses and ideas, and not remain stagnant in my learning.
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With the majority of my project being complete, I think that I am in a good place to be able to present at the end of April. All of the tasks have been completed and all of our information is written out and ready to share through the presentation. Throughout the process of the Kahiau Project I have learned many leadership skills including time management, and thinking through any and all ideas to do what is best for not only me but those I am affecting. To be a true 21st century leader in my community it is vital that I put the needs of others before my own and be a selfless and kind loving person, which alone is something that can make a difference. A connection that I see in my Global community that I strive to continue to address in my local community is the issue of people treating others badly, as if they are less. This can really hurt people individually and cause large problems as a whole when people are unwilling to open their perspective. Throughout the course of this I have face obstacles to being an impactful leader, including set backs with dates and making time in each of our busy schedules to be able to go out into the community and make the difference we want to make, but it is important so that is just something we have to work through and figure out to become the leaders we want to be.
The progress that I have made on the kahiau project since my last post was that I have continued to collect the data of the can collection and research about the Hawaii food bank and how making donations work as well as prepping for any of the things we need to do. A question we initially had was how does the donated food impact the people, and after concluding most of the project I can answer it by saying that even a small bit of food can give them more energy and nutrients as well as a little bit of hope and goodness in their life. This project can greatly impact my community because homelessness is a problem we in Hawaii heavily deal with, and every bit of help that we are willing to give is working towards an improvement of the people’s conditions as well as the conditions of the surrounding people and the community and land itself. Continuing, we can continue to be active leaders by simply caring for the needs of the people around us, whether they are big or small. Everyone needs something and if we continue to try and meet those needs our community can progressively become a better place. Seeing the difference for good that even the small things can make can inspire people to do the same and become a leader. It’s like the butterfly affect where even the smallest acts of kindness and leadership can impact lives all over the world.
The progress that I have made in the past few weeks is continuing to collect data on the collections of cans as well as researching about how and where to donate the cans to the Hawaii Food bank. There are many leadership skills that are vital to be a 21st century leader in our current day and in the society that we live in today. Leadership skills like taking power and responsibility over the problems happening in our community is a very important trait because it helps move forward your community. Some connections that I see in my global community that I can address here in my local community is the division of people whether it be because of race, religion, gender, social/ economical standings, etc. I can address that by spreading passivity and practicing bringing people together and not judging people like me or different than me. Some obstacles that I have come across to being an impactful leader over the process of this project is being able to work efficiently with the people around me when each person is working on their own. That is why it is very important that we communicate a goal that we are each working towards. Some things that I will do better for my next blog update is to present my ideas more creative way. There are no changes to the initial plan and in the next few weeks of this month I am going to take the next steps of researching and making the donation to the food Bank.
Since the last check in my group has collaborated to count and put together our collections into one large collection. We also took in last minute canned goods and we are now finished taking donations. As of right now there are no changes to the most recent plan that we have made. The next steps we will take include collecting data on our collections, preparing it, and lastly taking it To the Hawaii food bank in the most efficient way possible where they will make the final donation directly to the homeless people. Some things that we can continually do to help with this problem of homelessness and their needs are spreading the word. It is very important that people are more aware and educated about how real and how close this problem is to our communities, because when that gives them the tools and the desire to want to help and to make a difference for good. Small acts of kindness play a large part as well, it doesn't need to be something as large as a food drive, it can simply be just donating what you have and don't use, because many times people take things for granted.
So far, the progress that I have made in the Kahiau project had included growing my collection of canned goods and keeping track of how many cans we have collected as a group. We are concluding the collection and donations of cans because we have reached our goal, and feel satisfied with what we have done, although we are still open to donations if they are requested. As of right now there are no changes to the plan and things are going as accorded to our previous plan. The next steps that we will be taking are organizing the cans, counting the cans, and finally dropping them off to the Hawaii food bank and making the final donation. Globalization affects the human focus recipients of my projects, because we are working through an organization, the Hawaii Food Bank. But through them we are helping provide food to those who struggle to provide food for themselves and their families. Extreme Poverty is defined as a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs including food, safe drinking water, sanitation, health, shelter and education and information. Which means that there are many people within the island I call home that are living in extreme poverty, and they need help
Throughout this project I have gained and executed the leadership skill of taking action and being more responsible. A question that we made as a group at the beginning of this Kahiau Project was… How can we supply the homeless with better food and water, and how can that be used in the betterment of their conditions? Throughout the month of January, I have continued to collect canned goods from my friends and my family, I have even reached out to some of the people in my community, and I got many good responses and have added even more cans to my donation pile. Moving forward my next steps are to advertise even more, and to begin organizing my donations as well as communicating with the people in my group to begin the process of making our final donation to the Hawaii food bank.
The plan that our group had over the break was to spread the awareness about the problem that we want to help solve, being that we wanted to give some of the homeless in Hawaii a chance to have the proper necessities like food to be happier and healthier. We also wanted to give our friends and family a heads up on our plans to collect any canned goods that they may want to donate to us. We had also planned to begin collecting canned goods each on our own to start small and begin working our way up into something that could make a greater difference. As for what I actually got done over break, I had started with making a separate pile of canned goods in my own home that I would donate instead of keeping for ourselves. I also spread the word to many of my family and friends over the holidays, and got a lot of good responses and I have many offers from people who want to donate, as well as a few people who have already added cans to my donation pile. So far there have been no changes to the plan, but we have since decided that we are going to give our donations to the Hawaii Food Bank for them to distribute because they know better than we do about the needs of the people. The 3 specific next steps we plan to take is to advertise to the people that I havenʻt yet, more specifically the people in our school and communities. Then to increase my own donation pile, and lastly when everyone has collected a good amount of canned goods we will put our collections together and give it to the Hawaii Food Bank.
Our Kahiau group project is called save the crave, and our topic is helping provide food for the homeless who are not fortunate enough to feed themselves and their family. It is important to do action research on this topic because some of these people have so much less than us, and I, along with my group believe that everyone deserves the chance at living a happy and healthy life, and with that comes the right to have food and water. Those things are a basic necessity of life that we sometimes forget we are blessed with and take for guaranteed. Because of that we want to give back to our community, and bless them with what they need to be healthy and happy. The people in our group are Me, Hauoli, Klaudia and Aislen. The steps that we will take over the winter break are collecting canned goods from our family and friends to eventually bring together and donate to a food bank that supports the homeless in need of it. Our goal is to start our collection with the things that we have in our own homes and reach out to friends and family to donate canned goods to this cause as well. What I have found challenging about this project so far is finding the right cause to support. Although we knew we had a passion to help the homeless we had to narrow it down to providing them with food, and then had to narrow it down to which charities and foundations to work with to make the type of difference we wanted to make. What I am expecting to learn from this project is how to make a difference, as well as the impact that just a little bit of food can have on someones life. Through this I feel that I will get a deepening sense of thankfulness for what I have and a bigger perspective on the world and community issues. For assistance in my project I am asking my parents and a few friends because I know that I am stronger with people by my side to support me.This project is important to me because I believe that all people deserve the right to be able to thrive, and live the life that they want to. But without the basic necessity of food it is hard to live happy and healthily especially here in Hawaii. Being able to help the starving homeless is something that I am passionate about addressing because it can greatly affect the lives of each individual person, their lifestyles, and their actions. Homelessness is also something that greatly affects the community and the economy, and by helping to provide even a little bit food for them we are helping to make a difference in their lives, and hopefully even those around them. Food is important in every life, no matter who it is, what they look like, or where they come from, and is something I often take for granted but am very thankful for.
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AuthorAloha. My name is Jaydeen Flores and I am a sophomore at Kamehameha High School. I am from Mililani Oahu and I enjoy dancing, going to the beach and spending time with friends and family. Archives
April 2018
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