19 Things for 19 Years

On the 13^th of January, I very happily rang in my 19^th birthday. It was a wonderful day surrounded by friends who are like family to me and I came to the decision that Sunday is the best day to have a birthday – no classes and there’s church (looking forward to you, 25^th birthday)!

The day was extremely busy, from an early morning IHOP breakfast to a 9pm dinner at Applebee’s. I didn’t think I’d have a moment to myself, but I ended up having several hours to focus on homework and just reflect on being 19 (age is a big thing to me. I always think I’ll feel older. Never happens.). Almost immediately into reflecting, I knew there had to be something different about this year. I wanted to reach out, volunteer, make a difference.

And so “19 Things for 19 Years” was born. I’ll share my list with you:

1.      Sponsor a child in India

2.      Donate toys to a children’s hospital

3.      Buy an animal from Heifer International

4.      Donate clothes to charity

5.      Volunteer at a soup kitchen

6.      Participate in the 2013 AIDS walk

7.      Volunteer with meals on wheels

8.      Give blood

9.      Purchase gift cards for needy families

10.  Donate to Toys for Tots

11.  Be a Christmas angel

12.  Donate to I Am Second

13.  Give to natural disaster relief fund

14.  Buy ‘make change’ bracelets

15.  Donate to Operation Smile

16.  Participate in Autism Speaks walk

17.  Donate to a Jesus Well for the Dalit people in India

18.  Partner with Polaris Project

19.  Raise $1,000 in 19 months for (RED)

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon spring cleaning, so today I’m dropping off bags of clothes at the Swift donation box outside my dorm room. However, I’m not crossing number four off the list. Some of these I plan on doing several times throughout the year because the need that those charities are meeting never goes away. And honestly? Some of these goals I’m a little nervous about. I've never fundraised before, so I felt a little overwhelmed. But I know that when I listen to Him, great things follow. I also know that completing some of the above will require personal sacrifice. I was planning on getting a tattoo on the year mark of getting my last one. It’s against the law, however, to donate blood or marrow within a year of getting a tattoo, so the second one I want so badly is going to have to wait. It’s so going to be worth it, though.

Before I go, I just want to say that I am not sharing all of this to put myself up on a pedestal and saying, “Look at all the wonderful things I’m going to do!” Because I may not be able to complete all 19 things, even. I’m doing this to show that you don’t have to be the CEO of some big company or be raking in millions of dollars in order to support charitable movements, to make a difference in this world. You can be a 19-year-old girl at college just trying to scrape by with a good GPA and not too many expenses. You can be a four-year-old girl trying to make a difference by selling lemonade. You can be anything and you can make a difference.