Wow. So it has been a month since my last post and I'm getting excited, as I know a lot of you are too, of our launch (okay, excited, nervous, stressed, anxious...). I realize now as I write that fall is really just around the corner, and as much as I love that season of the year, I feel that I'm not quite done yet with summer! Those in New York City, have you noticed the days getting somewhat cooler? I remember walking to work this Monday morning and as I was turning around to Henry Street, there was this chilly crispiness in the air that really felt like fall.
In fact it makes me a little sad that we're nearly done with summer. Can you believe how quickly time flies? My professor from Boston always said, it takes forever to get to July 4th, but after that, everything just zips by.
So as with every ending, there's always a new chapter to turn and here's where we'll all finally get to see our initiative take off. Never be afraid to try-- that's probably the one thing that I learned throughout this whole process so far. Most of you may have heard my $10 vodka-cranberry story, but really, I think $10 is a product of everyone just giving it shot, sometimes without a clue what we're doing, but trying it out anyway.
I wanted to share with you what I learned from Mon's trip back home, the kind of difference $10 can really make. (Mon since you've taken forever to come up with a new entry here, I may have to pre-empt some of the material you may be thinking of putting down :-)).
Equity in Education is, translated to simpler terms, the vision of $10-- to provide underprivileged students access to quality education. Here's an example. ERDA, one of our non-profit partners, would like to receive funding for some science equipment to help test the ph level of water in a Chemistry class. Their plan then is to use that equipment to test the ph levels of the water in the Pasig River, and then as a key project component, students will brief Baranggay Captains (local town leaders) surrounding the Pasig River on the key hazards that could aggravate water pollution. I was thinking, wow, what a great example of how the supplies, which our donors have generously funded, could be used in a really relevant way. This is the point I believe where equity is achieved-- that learning experience in an underprivileged school in Manila will have been no different from that in a New York City school, because of the resources our donors have provided these underprivileged students. What a great way to level the field of education.
As we move forward with our initiative, there's an opportunity out there to make a real difference. And if we give it all a try, I do think that's there's no telling how much we can possibly achieve.
