Echelon
Surround yourself with like-minded individuals who will inspire you, keep you accountable, and will be friends through it all.
That’s what Echelon feels like to me. More than a professional development group I love to serve with, but real friends I enjoy spending time with.
Five years ago, we formed the young professionals board to The Salvation Army called Echelon. A brand new concept to the very old international organization and the first in Hawai`i. I served as Vice Chair, then Chair, then Advisor, and am now on the Honolulu Advisory Board to The Salvation Army, but love to continue to serve with these people who have become great friends!
To me, Echelon is basically lifelong friends who love to serve others in the name of Jesus. We support The Salvation Army in particular because of it’s strong mission and biblical foundation, years of history and proven success stories of #doingthemostgood helping those most in need without discrimination.
Echelon does everything from helping serve meals at Thanksgiving, the famous Red Kettle and Angel Tree at Christmas, beach clean ups, pack meals for kids in need to have food over the weekend, and so much more. We are basically the muscle and energy who can do a lot of the lifting and posting since we are bringing awareness to this “old” non-profit organization through social media and other fun platforms.
Our flagship project we created is the Red Pencil Project where we raise funds for school supplies and backpacks and deliver them to schools to get their third graders ready for the year. (We hope to expand to further grade levels and schools as we are able to raise more funding). We visit these students once a quarter to teach them the character traits of generosity, kindness, compassion, and service. This past week, we spent some time with the students to talk about kindness. I read a book titled, “Have You Filled A Bucket Today” to all of the third graders at a school. In an activity following the reading, I saw kids write about how they can be kind, or saw their stick figure drawings, but it was when we spent more time connecting one-on-one when I learned the story behind one boy’s picture. A story of how he helped a five year old homeless boy he met on the street whose mom had just abandoned him. He told me how he gave his time to talk to the boy, his treasure (food) to share with him who was hungry, and his talent (speaking up) so he could call the police so that “they could help him find a home.” What a gift this young man gave me as he reminded me of the joy of serving and giving of your time, treasures, and talent to others.
I highly recommend volunteering and you will find other like-minded professionals that you will enjoy spending time with. I love The Salvation Army, but you can find any organization that your values align with and that you are most passionate about, and will learn and grow personally and professionally, and find friends while making a difference in our communities!
