Doin It For The Gram or For Real?

People are always claiming they want to help change the world and make it a better place. When the time comes to take action half of those people don't have the time and the other quarter were just bullshitting from the start. These past few months I have been doing more community work then I ever have thanks to my best friend/roommate. She started a nonprofit organization named ARK (which btw is currently hosting a school uniform and supply drive!) and asked for my help. I have always wanted to find a way to help the community and give back but I never actually took the time to sit down and plan out how I was going to do so. Once I heard about her newly founded organization I was stoked to help! The support we have been receiving is phenomenal and from the looks of it I can already tell that ARK is going to help change the lives of many in the DMV area. The one thing that is disheartening is the amount of social media support we receive compared to the REAL support.

What I mean by real support is people taking action on the cause they support. Most individuals want to be a "part of" something. They don't realize that it takes more than posting a flyer on Instagram or video on Vine to get the results you want to accomplishing that. You could post a flyer a million times but what does that mean if you aren't doing what the flyer is telling you to do. In order to support another cause you first have to support your own. This doesn't necessarily mean go out and start your own non-profit (although you could!). It's as simple as finding a cause that touches your heart and trying to find your own way to help out. I think where people go wrong is trying to help out in areas they aren't interested. For example, I like animals but i'm definitely not an animal activist in any type of way. More than likely I wouldn't attend a drive that is collecting food for animal shelters, not because Im a bad person or animal hater, simply because it's not a cause that speaks out to me. 

It's okay to not be able to help every single cause or organization in the world. You are not a bad person for this. You become shameful when you start fake supporting the cause. If you post something asking for someone's help toward your cause you better be out there doing more to help out. Stand by your word, stand by your cause and DON'T JUST DO IT FOR THE GRAM. That's not cool. #Lennysthoughts

BELOW I HAVE ADDED SOME LINKS FOR NON-PROFIT WEBSITES\

ARK

National Council of Nonprofits

Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington