Creative Healing: Art Feeds

My parents did an awesome job raising me to become a humble young woman. When I think  about the legacy I would like to leave on this earth, I think about what my real motives are in life. After some serious soul searching, I came up with this simple  thought: I want to be a good person. What can I say, I come from good people; my great grands, grands and parents give back every opporunity they can. When I was younger, around the holidays, my mom would take my brother and me  to senior homes to read to the residents or would help us donate food to local food banks. Simple gestures, that I grew up thinking as second nature. Now as an adult, giving back is a permanent part of my heart. I believe one should include volunteering and charity  in your year long commitments, but especially during the holidays when everyone deserves a little  something special.

The last few years have been seasons of growth for me, when it comes to my personal passions so I wanted to incoporate what I'm best at into my season's give-back bucket list. After writing down a small list of things I am passionate about (styling, writing, inspiring others) I spent some time on two great volunteer resources: Volunteermatch.org and Idealist.com . Both sites offer visitors local listings of charity and volunteer opporunities. After about an hour on the two sites, my choices include  volunteering as a dressing assistant for a program that helps women dress for success. Knowing that I love  helping to build confidence, I understand what it can be like to live with low self esteem and to want to love what you see in the mirror. Styling women is my opportunity to shower them with compliments and creative suggestions to show off their prettiness. Every woman benefits from that feeling. Just like everyone deserves a shirt for their shoulders and pants for their legs, I also intend to volunteer some time at a clothing donation center, as well as donate items from my closet.

Long story short, each Thursday through the end of this year I want to dedicate to doing something good for someone else. My grandmother  told me to always stay a blessing to others, and I promised her I would. This week, I am supporting the 'creative' in every child. Growing up, I didn't  understand why I wasn't interested in the same stuff as everyone else. Later,  I considered  it was because there weren't  places for  future creatives to meet. Talent needs to be molded and supported to fully flourish. Programs like Art Feeds strive to provide creative healing and encourage artistic devolopment. Affecting 2600 little minds weekly, they are always looking for extra hands and donations. My heart wants to personally volunteer for this program, but my New Jersey location, slightly hinders that, so instead, I gave a humble donation to show my support for creative devolopment.

Today my $22.00, which would have usually gone towards a top or accessory, contributed to sponsoring an art class for children for one week. The feeling I'm having from giving to Art Feeds  tops any material satisfaction. Feel Good Thursday is my new favorite day of the week. Tell me how you are giving back this season.