Helping people is what I like to do and I believe in doing so! It is one of the best ways to make a difference in someone’s life. So when my friend approached me and asked if I wanted to help her with a campaign, I was more than thrilled to take the offer! There were a lot of steps we needed to take in order to get it going. The most important one was to decide what campaign we wished to support!

At last, we chose the Yellow Brick House. The ‘Yellow Brick House’ is, yes, actually made of yellow bricks! It is an organization in York Region that provides many services to women and children who have escaped their abusive relationships. For instance, it provides a place of emergency safety for all those runaways to stay. Unfortunately, they don’t have everything to make their guests happy! That’s where all of us come in!

26May2015We decided to collect donations for the ‘Yellow Brick House’ at our school! We spoke to our principal and vice-principal first about our idea and they were very supportive! They offered to help with our campaign! With plans in place, my friend and I decided to go around every Tuesday and Thursday to collect donation items from each class with the help of some classmates! We also made announcements for it to make everyone aware and did a presentation to EACH AND EVERY CLASS at LBP!! Yes we went in all 26 classes in our school and the response we got was astounding!! To add more fun to the campaign, we spoke to our vice-principal asking if she could schedule a teacher’s volleyball game at the end of the month! She did. Gladly!! We told all the students that if they bring in an item to donate…they get to come to the teacher’s volleyball game! My friend and I ended up filling huge boxes to the brim with donations and were not done yet! We couldn’t believe our eyes, to say less.

The process of bringing donations to the Yellow Brick House is very quick and secure! You just bring the donations to the door. Due to the fact that there are women and children in there who want to keep their identities confidential for safety reasons, you cannot enter the Yellow Brick House unless you have a background screen check!

To help donate you can bring in some items like toiletries, and pots and pans, and unused clothes and such! You can check out more ways to help using this link: http://www.yellowbrickhouse.org/english/how-you-can-help/

My friend and I learned a lot from this experience. It was a rewarding experience and I can’t wait for another opportunity. Besides, we knew we have helped many people to improve their lives! Not just to have a safe escape when necessary in life, but to enjoy it like any of us deserves!! And bringing smiles is the remedy to creating a smile upon your own face!

“Little things make a big difference”

Venus Wambura.