Photo courtesy of CHARISM

New American Girls Give Back Locally

By Shanda Bultsma & Melissa Marek-Donahue
Contributing Writers

The ideas of giving, charity and philanthropy are often reserved for those who are older, those who are financially well-off. Yet, these values, when deeply rooted in a community and its members, have the ability to make us into better people and positively transform the world around us. As Winston Churchill famously noted, “we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

Recently, a special group of young women at Discovery Middle School have come upon the joy of giving, both financially and of themselves. CHARISM Neighborhood Support Centers, the Fargo Public Schools, and the Women’s Fund of the Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation joined together this spring to bring the Habits of the Heart curriculum to a group of New American Middle School girls.

CHARISM has been working with a group of girls at Discovery for the past three years through CHARISM’s Faces Project – a program designed to teach underprivileged and at-risk middle school girls important skills that they can use to make healthy choices in their lives. The girls, many of whom are from refugee families that have settled in Fargo, have engaged in discussions about goal setting, making positive choices, self-esteem. They have also developed artistic and leadership skills through a variety of activities.

This semester, the Faces Project is coming to a close through collaboration with the Women’s Fund through the Habits of the Heart program. For five weeks, the girls have met after school with coordinators to discuss philanthropy, community service and giving back. The girls were tasked with learning about area nonprofits that help right here in Fargo. After their research, the girls felt drawn to the YWCA, captivated by what the organization does for women and children in need. Through the Habits of the Heart program, the Women’s Fund will now provide the YWCA a small grant as the selected nonprofit.

Yet, the girls felt moved to do more than just learn about the organization and choose them for the funds from the Women’s Fund. The girls wanted to give back of themselves as well. Talking with school administrators, they were allowed to provide concessions at a school dance. They organized and promoted their fundraiser on their own, and earned over $350 to use for a project at the YWCA. Participants took the money and bought care bags for the children staying at the shelter, including personal hygiene items, toys and other educational materials. For the final day of the project, the girls delivered the bags and sang a special song prepared for the residents.

“People weren’t sure if we could do this project, but we knew we could,” said Indira, an eighth grade student involved in the program. “It was great to see the faces of the kids when we gave them their bags. It made me so happy to help them. I love this group!”

Through the lessons the Faces Program girls learned and implemented through Habits of the Heart, they were able to see first-hand how rewarding it is to care about others in their community.  Another Faces Program participant stated after dropping off the care bags that she felt so good about herself by giving back, she wanted to start volunteering and helping in other ways too.

Those involved in this program are not necessarily who we think of when we think of philanthropy. They are young; they come from low-income families and have many other special challenges they face every day as New Americans in Fargo. Yet, they understand just how important it is to make a difference in their community and give of themselves even if they are not able to give financially. It is an important lesson that many adults, often more privileged than these girls, have yet to fully understand.

It was an amazing experience for the girls. They were able to learn skills that they will use for the rest of their lives – leadership and organization, as well as the importance of philanthropy; they know that they have the power to make a difference in the lives of others. When presented with the opportunity to give back to their community and help others in need, they took the challenge seriously.

On Tues., March 22, the Women’s Fund will present the check to the YWCA to help continue the valuable work they do in the community. The Faces Program girls and representatives from CHARISM, the Fargo Public Schools, the Women’s Fund and the YWCA will attend a reception at CHARISM’s Stonebridge site at 3:45 p.m. and present the check.

[Editor’s note: Shanda Bultsma is the Director of Youth Development at CHARISM.  Melissa Marek-Donahue works in Resource Development for CHARISM.]

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