By: Richard L. Smith
“I joined the Climate Leaders Fellowship in hope of making a positive impact in my community”. -Grace Pope
A phenomenal Bereh County girl has joined a network to improve homeless collaboration and social service coordination in NJ by helping residents without an address in the state.
Grace Pope, a junior at Dwight-Englewood School in New Jersey, set out to help homeless individuals in an environmentally friendly way as part of her Climate Leaders Fellowship project.
Officials said the fellowship, offered free of charge in a collaboration between the Rustic Pathways Foundation and Stanford University's Deliberative Democracy Lab, challenged students like Grace to design a project customized to their community's needs and then join in online sessions with other participants to share ideas.
With her project partner (from New York's Ethical Culture Fieldston School), Grace created a GoFundMe to purchase socks from an environmentally sustainable company to donate to a homeless shelter.
Rustic Pathways officials said Grace raised $1,654 and purchased 450 pairs of socks of different sizes for adults and children.
They donated the socks to the Bowery Mission, which serves homeless and hungry New Yorkers.
"Completing the Climate Leaders Fellowship program has strengthened my love for the environment," said Grace.
"The project my partner and I implemented empowered me with the knowledge that anyone can make a difference. I know that donating environmentally friendly socks to warm up those less fortunate didn't dramatically alter the course of the planet or anybody's life, but that only encourages me to find ways to make a long-lasting impact.
My journey in conservation has only begun, and I know it will be something I stick with for years to come."
Please click HERE if you want to join the effort to assist the homeless.