you
I was born and raised in a suburb near
Chicago
I lived a very sheltered life in my
comfortable middle-class white suburban
neighborhood whenever my family would
take a trip into the city we would see
homeless people everywhere growing up
all my life I heard things like don’t
don’t make eye contact don’t give them
money they’ll spend it on drugs and
alcohol if they just got up and got a
job maybe they wouldn’t be homeless I
grew up learning to dehumanize people I
grew up learning to suppress empathy but
I didn’t let that ingrained bias or
society’s view of homelessness stop me
from taking personal responsibility of
the issue so just two years ago I was a
seventeen year old senior in high school
and around December everyone is getting
excited for prom looking care
appointments buying fancy dresses now
don’t get me wrong Hollywood teen chick
flicks definitely hyped up prom for me
but I just could not bring myself to
spend hundreds of dollars on one dance
so one night I was in my room
procrastinating my homework and on a
youtube binge and I came across a video
of a man donating Thanksgiving dinners
to the homeless in Los Angeles and
honestly it brought me to tears and I’m
a very aggressive crier so it was not
pretty that video was the spark it was
the push that I needed to decide to
ditch my prom to help the homeless so
immediately I started making a list of
things homeless people often need I said
my plan into motion of how I was going
to sacrifice a night of fun for the
service of others so $200 and a few
months later my dad and I drove into
downtown Chicago with 20 cardboard boxes
scattered on the floor of our minivan
and it was honestly one of the most
exhilarating times of my life
[Music]
it is Saturday March 28th 2:30 p.m. and
we’re at Costco to do a little shopping
[Music]
question
[Music]
the same always you change new days of
strangers the world is in plumbing
pieces too strong
while the pieces above that don’t belong
nations droppin bombs chemical gasses
filling lungs of little ones with ongoin
sufferin as the youth die young so ask
yourself is the lovin really gone so I
can ask myself really what is going
wrong in this so what you just saw was a
shortened version of the video that I
posted on YouTube shortly after prom I
posted on social media sent it to a few
friends I even sent it to a few news
media outlets and blogs because I know
that no matter how good your content is
if it doesn’t reach people it doesn’t
inspire people
so before I knew it Ashton Kutcher and
Nicki Minaj posted about me on Facebook
I was in news media outlets in Japan
Mexico Ireland I raised over 62 hundred
dollars on GoFundMe and I was getting
facebook messages from people all over
the world telling me that I inspired
them and that they were going to start
creating care packages for the homeless
in their hometowns I was riding this
invigorating wave of internet fame and
morality but it quickly turned into
something that I never saw coming
nasty comments poured in online saying
things like well she only did this for
attention she did this because she
couldn’t get a prom date she did this to
Pat her college applications it was so
upsetting and I understand that that
comes from a place of privilege but
after the time and the sacrifice and the
money that I’d put in a single Facebook
comment could tear me down but there was
one thing that kept me going it was a
letter I received from a fifth grader
with special needs Jordan said you
should keep helping people that are poor
don’t let what people say stop you so I
didn’t instead I started give a box a
nonprofit organization dedicated to
packaging and distributing boxes of food
clothes and supplies to homeless people
to date we’ve served more than 400
homeless men women and children across
the country we decided to name the
company give a box because it’s simple
and giving is simple being an active
citizen in our communities is simple it
starts with empathy small acts of
kindness to show others that you care
about them genuinely showing love to
your neighbors for the sake of humanity
but what is empathy look like and how
can we make tangible changes in our life
to start incorporating it why was in
Philadelphia last month and if you’ve
ever been there you know they’re
homeless people on every corner I came
across a woman who looked like she could
have been much older than me and she
held a sign that says anything helps
even a smile so what does it take for
you to smile at a person a second out of
your day well you have 86,400 of those
every single day I know you can spare a
second see I want you to understand that
giving comes in many different forms you
can give your attention you can give
your time and your energy you can give
your encouragement like Jordan the fifth
grader gave me so you don’t get this
wrong philanthropy isn’t about how much
money you can donate philanthropy is
about how much of your life you are
willing to sacrifice for another person
on this earth are you living this life
solely for yourself because if so I
challenge you to feel fulfilled on your
deathbed when the only person you’ve
impacted is yourself when you’ve only
ever taken and you’ve never given all
the successes in my life have come from
people giving me time or hope or
affirmation you can change someone’s
life but you first have to believe that
you can now I’m not saying giving is
easy putting another person before
yourself isn’t easy what’s easy is
putting cookies into a bag at the food
bank walking out and living your life as
if food insecurity doesn’t exist in our
communities giving is a change in the
way that you live your life and it’s a
change in your heart so what is the
point of these give a box distributions
it’s not so people can go out there and
do them and forget about homelessness no
it’s not so they can check off a box on
their morality list dust their hands off
and say my good deed of the month is
done no it’s to start the spark it’s to
get people thinking to get people caring
when you come face-to-face with someone
with the life so vastly different than
your own that you can’t believe you just
complained about the Starbucks Wi-Fi
because trust me I was that person so
what starts the spark my spark started
from a YouTube video I was inspired by
spark on YouTube social media plays a
powerful role in philanthropy but for
some reason Millennials are under fire
for our use of it and I think it’s
completely unfair I would not be
standing on this stage sharing this
message with you if it weren’t for
social media why are we criticizing
people for sharing acts of kindness
online when their good deeds inspire
others to perform similar acts it
reaffirms that there is hope and good
people in this world in a media flooded
with conflict and war and politics but
don’t get me wrong social media has its
drawbacks
Facebook has made slacktivism a very
easy thing to fall into profile picture
filters and liking pages can bring
attention to the causes that we care
about but they absolutely cannot be the
only thing that we do do not mistake
slacktivism for empathetic giving so
what does empathetic giving look like
well give a box create handwritten
letters by each volunteer to include in
our boxes volunteers often have a hard
time thinking of what to write and I
tell them imagine yourself in a similar
situation and write what you would need
to hear to remain hopeful that is
empathy you have to believe that change
starts from something small it starts
from a moment or a decision or an idea
change starts with you but I’m not
asking you to make giving
the biggest chunk of your day or of your
life I’m asking you to Center your life
on it and start thinking of everyday
ways that you can incorporate giving buy
coffee for the next person in line hold
the door open compliment a stranger
mentor someone giving is simple so I
want to close on a quote from this
homeless man in Chicago he said when you
feel like giving up think of me because
even when you think you have nothing you
have something your heart and that is
something no one can take away thank you
[Music]
you
I was born and raised in a suburb near
Chicago
I lived a very sheltered life in my
comfortable middle-class white suburban
neighborhood whenever my family would
take a trip into the city we would see
homeless people everywhere growing up
all my life I heard things like don’t
don’t make eye contact don’t give them
money they’ll spend it on drugs and
alcohol if they just got up and got a
job maybe they wouldn’t be homeless I
grew up learning to dehumanize people I
grew up learning to suppress empathy but
I didn’t let that ingrained bias or
society’s view of homelessness stop me
from taking personal responsibility of
the issue so just two years ago I was a
seventeen year old senior in high school
and around December everyone is getting
excited for prom looking care
appointments buying fancy dresses now
don’t get me wrong Hollywood teen chick
flicks definitely hyped up prom for me
but I just could not bring myself to
spend hundreds of dollars on one dance
so one night I was in my room
procrastinating my homework and on a
youtube binge and I came across a video
of a man donating Thanksgiving dinners
to the homeless in Los Angeles and
honestly it brought me to tears and I’m
a very aggressive crier so it was not
pretty that video was the spark it was
the push that I needed to decide to
ditch my prom to help the homeless so
immediately I started making a list of
things homeless people often need I said
my plan into motion of how I was going
to sacrifice a night of fun for the
service of others so $200 and a few
months later my dad and I drove into
downtown Chicago with 20 cardboard boxes
scattered on the floor of our minivan
and it was honestly one of the most
exhilarating times of my life
[Music]
it is Saturday March 28th 2:30 p.m. and
we’re at Costco to do a little shopping
[Music]
question
[Music]
the same always you change new days of
strangers the world is in plumbing
pieces too strong
while the pieces above that don’t belong
nations droppin bombs chemical gasses
filling lungs of little ones with ongoin
sufferin as the youth die young so ask
yourself is the lovin really gone so I
can ask myself really what is going
wrong in this so what you just saw was a
shortened version of the video that I
posted on YouTube shortly after prom I
posted on social media sent it to a few
friends I even sent it to a few news
media outlets and blogs because I know
that no matter how good your content is
if it doesn’t reach people it doesn’t
inspire people
so before I knew it Ashton Kutcher and
Nicki Minaj posted about me on Facebook
I was in news media outlets in Japan
Mexico Ireland I raised over 62 hundred
dollars on GoFundMe and I was getting
facebook messages from people all over
the world telling me that I inspired
them and that they were going to start
creating care packages for the homeless
in their hometowns I was riding this
invigorating wave of internet fame and
morality but it quickly turned into
something that I never saw coming
nasty comments poured in online saying
things like well she only did this for
attention she did this because she
couldn’t get a prom date she did this to
Pat her college applications it was so
upsetting and I understand that that
comes from a place of privilege but
after the time and the sacrifice and the
money that I’d put in a single Facebook
comment could tear me down but there was
one thing that kept me going it was a
letter I received from a fifth grader
with special needs Jordan said you
should keep helping people that are poor
don’t let what people say stop you so I
didn’t instead I started give a box a
nonprofit organization dedicated to
packaging and distributing boxes of food
clothes and supplies to homeless people
to date we’ve served more than 400
homeless men women and children across
the country we decided to name the
company give a box because it’s simple
and giving is simple being an active
citizen in our communities is simple it
starts with empathy small acts of
kindness to show others that you care
about them genuinely showing love to
your neighbors for the sake of humanity
but what is empathy look like and how
can we make tangible changes in our life
to start incorporating it why was in
Philadelphia last month and if you’ve
ever been there you know they’re
homeless people on every corner I came
across a woman who looked like she could
have been much older than me and she
held a sign that says anything helps
even a smile so what does it take for
you to smile at a person a second out of
your day well you have 86,400 of those
every single day I know you can spare a
second see I want you to understand that
giving comes in many different forms you
can give your attention you can give
your time and your energy you can give
your encouragement like Jordan the fifth
grader gave me so you don’t get this
wrong philanthropy isn’t about how much
money you can donate philanthropy is
about how much of your life you are
willing to sacrifice for another person
on this earth are you living this life
solely for yourself because if so I
challenge you to feel fulfilled on your
deathbed when the only person you’ve
impacted is yourself when you’ve only
ever taken and you’ve never given all
the successes in my life have come from
people giving me time or hope or
affirmation you can change someone’s
life but you first have to believe that
you can now I’m not saying giving is
easy putting another person before
yourself isn’t easy what’s easy is
putting cookies into a bag at the food
bank walking out and living your life as
if food insecurity doesn’t exist in our
communities giving is a change in the
way that you live your life and it’s a
change in your heart so what is the
point of these give a box distributions
it’s not so people can go out there and
do them and forget about homelessness no
it’s not so they can check off a box on
their morality list dust their hands off
and say my good deed of the month is
done no it’s to start the spark it’s to
get people thinking to get people caring
when you come face-to-face with someone
with the life so vastly different than
your own that you can’t believe you just
complained about the Starbucks Wi-Fi
because trust me I was that person so
what starts the spark my spark started
from a YouTube video I was inspired by
spark on YouTube social media plays a
powerful role in philanthropy but for
some reason Millennials are under fire
for our use of it and I think it’s
completely unfair I would not be
standing on this stage sharing this
message with you if it weren’t for
social media why are we criticizing
people for sharing acts of kindness
online when their good deeds inspire
others to perform similar acts it
reaffirms that there is hope and good
people in this world in a media flooded
with conflict and war and politics but
don’t get me wrong social media has its
drawbacks
Facebook has made slacktivism a very
easy thing to fall into profile picture
filters and liking pages can bring
attention to the causes that we care
about but they absolutely cannot be the
only thing that we do do not mistake
slacktivism for empathetic giving so
what does empathetic giving look like
well give a box create handwritten
letters by each volunteer to include in
our boxes volunteers often have a hard
time thinking of what to write and I
tell them imagine yourself in a similar
situation and write what you would need
to hear to remain hopeful that is
empathy you have to believe that change
starts from something small it starts
from a moment or a decision or an idea
change starts with you but I’m not
asking you to make giving
the biggest chunk of your day or of your
life I’m asking you to Center your life
on it and start thinking of everyday
ways that you can incorporate giving buy
coffee for the next person in line hold
the door open compliment a stranger
mentor someone giving is simple so I
want to close on a quote from this
homeless man in Chicago he said when you
feel like giving up think of me because
even when you think you have nothing you
have something your heart and that is
something no one can take away thank you
[Music]
you
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