In The Full Scoop on BS, I briefly told readers about a friend, Steve Hicks, who founded a few amazing organizations and helped many people. I did so as a segue to one of the founding principles of his organizations, and maybe what most drives him:
Make a difference and make something happen.
No one person is expected to fix everything that is wrong in the world, nor should they be. However, as long as you strive to make something positive happen on some front, you will be making a difference.
If you want to know more about Steve Hicks (and Glenn Jones), and their For KICKS program making a difference, check out this interview: http://www.thestar.com/life/2012/08/03/at_janefinch_the_for_kicks_sports_program_helps_atrisk_kids_local_legend.html
Of course, not every issue is of equal import to every person, and some issues affect far fewer people than other issues do.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) is a horrible, debilitating, often-fatal disease that deserves attention but has the mixed blessing of affecting far fewer people than many other diseases. Thus, it draws less attention. Those factors affect what fundraisers call sexiness. Accordingly, more funding and research, by governments and the pharmaceutical industry, go to tackle “sexier” diseases that garner more public attention and potential customers.
Enter the ice bucket challenge, a simple challenge that was done by a few people. It went viral in 2014. Incidentally, Steve Hicks did that with a Zambini-load of snowy icy water (!!!) poured on him and a few workmates. That I did the challenge too is unremarkable. What is remarkable is how simple the idea was, and how easy it was is to make a difference on the issue: When challenged, withstand a few seconds of brrrr, challenge three other people to do the same, and donate $10 on-line to ALS. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is the ice-bucketeer in the photo above, by the way.
This was simple and easy and powerful, so much so that in the process, small sums of money grew at incredible rates. Perhaps as important, everyday people began talking about a disease that was so often under the radar of public attention. This article discussed the positive phenomenon: http://business.financialpost.com/2014/09/06/ice-bucket-windfall-puts-focus-on-als-societys-to-do-list/.
The end result of that idea was an estimated $17 million going to ALS Canada with an additional $10 million being donated by Brain Canada. The US take for ALS was estimated at over $115 million.
On a different front, date rapes are similarly and literally far from sexy. Experts in a variety of fields suspect that only a small percentage of victims come forward, and when so called date-rape drugs are used, some victims don’t always know they have been victimized. Like ALS, this issue experiences the occasional radar blip but not much more.
Enter Undercover Colors, founded by four undergraduate students from North Carolina State University. Their idea was also simple and brilliant: nail polish that reacts to the most common date rape drugs, Rohypnol, Xanax, and GHB (Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid), by changing colour. By wearing this nail polish, a young lady need only stir her drink with one finger and check if her nail has changed colour. If it has, she can call police and immediately avoid being drugged into victimization. This post explains the product and creators: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/26/students-develop-nail-polish-to-detect-date-rape-drugs.
It could be that neither at-risk kids nor ALS nor date rape drugs are on your daily radar. However, by referring a parent with a troubled teen to a good local program, by doing the charity challenge, or telling friends who have grown daughters about Undercover Colors, you too can make a difference, and maybe stop bad things from happening. If you seek to make a difference on more fronts, that will be okay too.
It doesn’t take much to make something positive happen. Give it a try if you’d like to prove me wrong.