Winner of the Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge!
From the Northern New York Community Foundation – For the second year in a row, an area student wrote a winning essay about United Helpers for the 2023 Community Spirit Youth Giving Challenge, which solicits entries from three counties. It is made possible by the Northern New York Community Foundation in partnership with Community Bank, N.A., and an anonymous donor. Peayton, of Morristown, was selected out of nearly 130 entries!
In this challenge, the Community Foundation poses two questions to the region’s students. Below are the questions and Peayton’s wonderful answers (abbreviated).
What does community mean to YOU? Tell us what makes a community, what YOU love about your community, and why it is a great place to live.
What community means to me is people who can look out for you like your family, your neighbors or your friends. What makes a community is people, events, … sports, … school, and fireworks. What I love about my community is how people can be kind and thoughtful towards other people.… If I… win the [grant], I would donate it to United Helpers….
Select a charitable organization… that you believe best embodies your definition of community and helps to make it a better place to live, work and play. Explain why….
My mom and my cousin work for United Helpers IRA*. I would like to donate there because I have a really good connection with some of the residents and the employees. One resident is so nice, he calls my sister and me his girls, and he always… looks for my mom’s car.… What I think they could do with the grant is go on field trips like… the movies,… the park, and… bingo. It could make the community better… for the elderly to… live so they are not on their own…. The reason I believe it makes my community a great place to live is because the elderly could not have a home… [if UH didn’t]… take care of them. That… makes my community a great place to live.
*An IRA or Individualized Residential Alternative, is commonly called a “group home,” for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities and traumatic brain injury.
