Sorting Food For The Hungry

For my change the world project, I want to help starving families all around the world. My cousin, Ella, and I started to take action in our community by volunteering at the Deerfield Food Pantry. We sorted many different types of foods into categories in which they belonged. These foods will soon be stacked on the shelves and given to hungry people that can't afford to buy food. I plan on volunteering more with my cousin in the future because of my amazing experience the first time. It's satisfying to know that I made a difference in someone's daily life, just by taking some time out of my day to help. 

Changing the World by Feeding Starving Children

My change the world project was about starvation in Africa. Since I couldn't actually go to Africa, I found the next best thing. Feed My Starving Children is a volunteer place in Libertyville. I went to Feed My Starving Children because I figured out that they send food to a bunch of different countries including some in Africa. My experience there was very memorable. It was nothing what I thought it would be like. When I first heard of the place, my first thoughts were we'll just be packaging food, but I was very wrong. It turns out that we actually make the food, then package it. There are different tables and at each table there are different stations. My job was the scooper, so I scooped up the food and put it in a bag. The food that we put into the bags was all the ingredients children needed. Veggies, Vitamins, Grains, and Rice. Feed My Starving Children was also a lot more fun than I expected. They blasted music, so you could sing or dance along. Teamwork was another important part. You could make up team cheers and you have to work together to get the job done. Overall, I had an awesome time and I would defiantly do it again some time soon.

SMS Girls Volenteer at Stand Up for Kids!

 

Sarah Gertz, Abby Goldberg, Abby Knaus, and I all went to Stand Up for Kids Chicago. Stand Up for Kids is an organization for homeless teens to hang out, eat dinner, and get their nessesites. They go to this organization because they are too old for a homeless kids shelter and too young for an adult shelter. Therefore, there is really nowhere for them to go. When we were volenteering Sarah and I checked in the teens that went in there. We asked them if they could sign their given name, chosen name (if they didn't like their given name they got to choose one), and if they had a smartphone or not for a new app that alerts them when the shelter is open and other things. On the other side of the shelter Abby and Abby were making dinner plates and pouring drinks into cups to serve. About halfway through we switched jobs. Nearing the end we handed out a quiz about Chicago and it's history. They were allowed to look up the answers on their phones or computer. When they got all of the answers right they won a scratch ticket. When we left I felt very good inside because I had made a change. 

Hunger/Poverty

My change the world topic was world hunger and poverty, it really upset me to see the people that were suffering from this. I chose this topic because most of my family was poor and malnurished and I really wanted to go into this because I really wanted to see what my family went through and what it is like to live in conditions like those. I am really glad I chose this topic a would do it many times again. I really hope people would start helping more in this cause.
Thanks,
Ken

Gay Marriage Legalization in US

Gay marriage is an interesting topic to talk about in the case of legalization. It has currently been legalized in my state, Illinois, which means progress. Legalization will change the world in so many ways. Many homosexuals struggle from depression caused by loneliness. Gays could just be boyfriends or girlfriends but I guess they would prefer a stronger and more trustworthy relationship. I, as a teenager, can't do much to progress the legalization throughout the states, nonetheless I can have many sign their name that they agree to accept everyone for who they are and for what they might be. Just accepting someone for who they are can go a long way, and have so many positive effects on people. If you agree to this approach please take the time to write your first and last name in the comments. This would mean the world to some people just knowing that someone is on their side. 
Thank you,
MJ Alexander

Stopping Overpopulation, One Educated Woman At a Time

Overpopulation is affecting so many citizens all over the underdeveloped world today. I heard about this issue briefly in Social Studies one day and decided to explore it further for my Change the World project. I found out through research that every woman living in an under-developed country will have at least 7-8 babies by the time she is fifteen. I found it disturbing that women would be mothers for so many children by that young of an age.  This inspired me to learn more about this topic so that I could help with the solution. I found that there are many ways to help with this issue. One way is by educating women in developing countries that they have a choice in the amount of offspring they have and on how to use contraception to exercise that choice. After I had done all the research, I presented the overpopulation issue with its problems and solutions to my class so I could take the first step of educating others. I asked them to take 3 quick steps with me to help improve the overpopulation problem.   I encouraged them to take these three easy steps:
1) Go to Population Connection, 
https://secure3.convio.net/zpg/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=121 
2) Review the Letter, Complete your information
3) Click SEND
About 3 or 4 days after I had given the presentation, my friend Gabi was the first to take this important step towards education on contraception for women in underdeveloped countries. She followed the three easy steps and sent the letter which basically explained to our congressmen that we needed more education on contraception for women in third-world countries. A couple days later, Gabi got an email from a Dick Durbin saying all the things he had done and how he was supportive of this issue.  He was pleased I reached out to him.  I was so happy that she did this because I influenced someone to take the same call to action that I did to help a problem I find very important to solve.  You can also help with this issue by following the three easy steps above. Please SEND the letter because even if it seems like a small effort, each letter tells our representatives that we want them to help support these womens' issues and hopefully they will respond and impact a whole lot of womens' lives for the better.

Have You Done Something Nice This Year?

For my scrapbook, I did bullying. Bullying is a topic I care a lot about and is happening everywhere all around the world. For 2 and a half weeks I have been having the teachers watch everyone. If they see someone go out of their way to do something nice, they send me their name. One the last day, when all the names have been sent to me, I went around giving all the kids who had their name written down a piece of candy. In each class I went to I explained what I was doing and that I was giving out the candy. All the people felt very happy knowing that they did something nice, which makes me feel like I did something that shows that others will see if you go out of your way to do something nice. After doing this I hope that people will do more acts of kindness. That I how I changed the world! :-)