Our resident teen blogger, philanthropist, and author, Alyssa Antoci is back today with a topic dear to her heart. With the tragedy and hurt we’ve seen in our world lately, we are thinking a lot about things we can do to make a difference.
Last year, Santa Barbara Life & Style Magazine interviewed Alyssa and her family and highlighted some of the ways they’ve worked to leave a legacy of philanthropy and love.
What are some simple ways you can make a difference in our world? Sometimes making a difference is positively impacting even one person. You can change someone’s entire day with one act of kindness. You might think it’s simple or meaningless, but it could be the only feeling of kindness that person experiences all day.
Some ideas for making a difference:
- Donate your allowance for a week, or even a month, to help those impacted by violence, hurricanes or other catastrophes
- Have a car? Offer to drive a younger friend or sibling somewhere.
- Leave extra money with the barista at Starbucks to cover part or all of the bill of the person behind you.
- Help a friend or sibling with a tricky homework assignment in a subject you’re skilled at.
- Open doors for people struggling with canes, walkers, heavy loads, or baby carriages.
- Help your parents unexpectedly around the house, beyond your chores. Prep dinner, clean, or take a more active role in caring for pets.
- Help your neighbors. Look for people who might need help with yard work, watering, or easy clean-up.
- Bring cookies to neighbors for no reason.
- Bring a gift card for your teacher even though it’s not Teacher Appreciation week.
- Keep extra money in your backpack to cover friends who forget to bring cash for bake sales or special lunches.
The world may be hurting but we possess so much love and kindness––much greater than the hurt. Like Alyssa, all of us can make a difference too!
Alyssa Antoci is the fourteen-year-old author of an anti-bullying children’s book called The Purple Marble. She speaks regularly in schools as an anti-bullying advocate. She also has a charity called Just a Little Cloth Children’s Charity, where they donate fancy dresses to underprivileged girls, because every young girl deserves to feel beautiful. Follow her on Instagram @alyssabantoci.
I am so proud of Alyssa. What a wonderful young lady.
We agree! She’s a star!