Negativity and selfishness gets great publicity in our social networking, indirect-contact society. You’d be led to believe the world’s running low on good people and that no one cares for or respects one another anymore. Their only concerns are themselves; and when they’re in need, no one is willing to lend them a hand without reward.
This is not the case. Kind, caring, selflessly-generous people still exist. Tami VandenBerg is a shining example.
An award-winning Grand Rapids, Michigan business owner and community activist, VandenBerg is co-owner of The Meanwhile Bar and The Pyramid Scheme Bar & Venue.
The former executive director of Well House, a non-profit dedicated to ending homelessness, VanderBerg also created a successful campaign that decriminalized marijuana in Grand Rapids.
While good at what she does, she’s also a good person and one who believes in helping others.
I asked Tami VandenBerg to tell me about a time when she did something nice for someone that she didn’t know. Here’s what she shared.
“I found out from a friend of mine that I had been working on some anti-violence work with, he told me that he was pulled over by the cops.
He had been working with some youth and one of them had left a little something in his car, and he had no idea. He was in the wrong neighborhood and the cops were looking for somebody to pull over.
They pulled him over, they found the little thing. If we hadn’t put all that time and money and work into decriminalizing, he would have gone to jail.
And that’s happened to thousands of people.
I haven’t done as much, sort of on the individual one-on-one, outside of Well House. That’s 200 people that I didn’t know, that I leveraged everything I had to try and get them a place to live.
So, it feels good to care! It’s just always been in me. I thank my parents for that. I thank my upbringing for that.
I’ve always considered every person my brother, my sister. We’re all human beings. We’re all trying to make our way on this planet. You don’t know what people are dealing with. I would hope that someone would help me! And people have helped me.
What better thing can you do? What’s a better use of your time? You’ve got to pace yourself. You’ve got to make sure you don’t give all your money away. You’ve got to save a little bit.
But, really, what’s a better use of your time than trying to help people?” |THIS.
[By Mr. Joe Walker]
“We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let’s start giving.” – ‘We Are the World’
