A Month of Good News!
In a world all too frought with tragedy, bad news and polarization, it’s critical to celebrate milestones and achievements. Doing so reminds us of the essential goodness of the human sp
irit, and our ability to overcome. It shows us that our hard work has been worthwhile, and that we do, indeed, make a difference.
What in your life have you been celebrating? What has been exciting and meaningful in your world?
This month has been especially busy, with many great events and opportunities to be thankful. My nephew, Quint, graduated from college. I hosted the Top Women Igniting Success Awards, and volunteered for Read USA.
Honoring Those Who Contribute
The Top Women Igniting Success Awards. accompanied by the First Coast Symphony and Tara Winds from the Atlanta Symphony celebrated 35 women who have made outstanding contributions to our community. We also acknowledged 4 Top Achievers who have gone above and beyond. Those women include Ellen Wiss, co-founder and CEO of Read USA Inc., Helen Jackson, founder of the Women of Color Cultural Foundation, Chris Schwing, Chairwoman/co-founder of the Jacksonville Women’s Leadership Forum, and Ju’Coby Pittman of the Clara White Mission, which has made great strides in feeding and employing the homeless.
Ending Poverty
Did you know that 2/3 of children who struggle to read by the 4th grade end up in jail or on welfare!!!! And 2/3 of impoverished homes have no books. Ellen Wiss 
and Vanessa Tussey co-founded Read USA Inc. years ago to address this very issue. I had the privilege of volunteering this week at school book fairs where each child receives 3 free books to own! Donations are made from the community (we raised over $165,000) to pay for the books. Amazingly, this only costs $10 per child for 3 free books. We got books into the hands of 16,000 children this week,which means they will have books to read over the summer and stay engaged with learning!
This month, I witnessed the power of hard work, tenacity, learning and community fellowship. Every day members of your community, my community, every community throughout the world, are making a difference. Celebrate that and let that knowledge inspire and fire you up as you go forward.
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©2019, Snowden McFall, Fired Up! You may reprint if you credit me with content.Follow me on social media @snowdenmcfall
