"Life's too short, eat dessert first!" --Grandpa Chuck

I was little when my Grandpa Chuck passed away, unfortunately I vaguely remember him... but I love him. My family always tells me stories about him, they say he was a kind and generous man. My grandma says he is the best man she has ever known and loved. He used to say "Life's short, eat dessert first!" a phrase that I say every time I eat ice cream before dinner or for breakfast. It's not that life is short it's that it just feels like it goes by so fast. I know he is proud of me for taking this opportunity. I am "eating my dessert first" which is gelato (get it because I am going to Italy). I will be on a plane to Europe in about seven hours and you know what? This trip isn't just for me it's for my family that worked so hard to get me where I am, it's for my friends that live in lower/middle class families like me, it's for everyone who didn't believe in me, it's for my great grandpa who told our family to eat dessert first, it's for my community that supported me, and it's for my mom who spent her teenage years raising me and her youth taking care of a family and a husband who is kicking cancer's ASS. My mom is a phenomenal woman and I love her and I am thankful that God blessed me with such a great mom, an amazing family, and everyone in between.

Arevaderche!!!

Arevaderche California, Ciao Italy!

So about seven months ago I started fundraising for this trip and I made it! My family and I tried at least 101 ways to get money for me to go. Many people didn't have faith in me and sometimes I didn't either, but I made it. This program is really designed for kids whose parents could write a check for $7,000 without even blinking, but that doesn't mean it's impossible for others. I never would have thought I would be presented this opportunity but I am grateful that I was. I would have never been able to pull this off without my family, friends, the Pilgrim Congregational Church, and generous strangers. I believe everything happens for a reason and I believe that this trip was meant to be because every month we were able to scrape up money, even with being busy with school, work, community service, prom, and being a teenager we (my family and I) were able to raise $7,230 in seven months. I strongly believe with all my heart that God had this in his plans for me because if he didn't he wouldn't have given my family and I the strength and the determination to not give up when things got hard. So the theme of my story is never give up, nothing is impossible, dreams really do come true, never stop dreaming and never stop trying to achieve your goals!

P.S. You can't just sit around and wait for your dreams to happen you have to get out there and make them happen!

Thank you everyone!

Scratch that, I'm NOT $500 short, I am $180 Short....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SO CLOSE!!! How much do you think little brothers go for these days? Just kidding.


I can't believe I've almost got it....Not quite there yet. I have until Friday. But I think with the help of a few more awesome strangers and friends and family digging in their couches for chance this may really happen.

Almost there!!!!!

2 weeks ago, I needed to come up with a seemingly impossible amount of $2700 to make this trip happen. To be honest, I had prepared myself with the thought of not getting to go to Europe. I was a little sad, but mostly happy to know that there are so many giving people just a stone's throw away: my Mom who has been key in our fund raising and selling efforts, my Aunt Andrea who helped me get this thing going, Big Mama, I couldn't have done it with out her, and so many others. It all adds up and I am so grateful for what I have learned about myself and my family through this journey. It might seem trivial to some to be raising money for a trip when there are so many people in need in the world. But I believe that this trip will give me the tools and education I need to help when and where I can when I am put in the position of "can you help?"

I have about $500 left to go in about a week. And 6 months ago that amount was HUGE, but now doesn't seem so out of reach as I look around my room for things to sell. hahaha

I don't think God would let me come this far, surviving even the rapture yesterday ;-), to just give up and say, "oh well, there is nothing more I can do."

"There isn't a person anywhere who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can." -- Henry Ford

I would never have expected to get to do something like traveling abroad and now, it's almost a dream come true. Just $500 more. 

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step"- Gandhi

I started this journey of trying to get to Europe with nothing but the hopes and dreams of one day being able to go. The journey I am going to take to Italy this summer is about 6,000 miles and 3,000 air miles, and my first step was to apply for the trip and now I will be on my way. My only problem is that I have $800 more by the 30th of this month, it sounds impossible, at the beginning of this journey almost everyone thought it would be impossible for me to even get this far, but obviously nothing is impossible if you just believe. I know that with the love, support, and prayers of my friends and family I will be able to make this dream a reality. I thank everyone who has supported me this far and I know that without these wonderful people in my life I wouldn't have even got this far. I thank God for not only blessing me with this dream-fulfilling opportunity but also for the people he has blessed my life with.

Race to the End

So here we are, three weeks until my final payment is due for People to People. I can't believe how far I have come in the last 6 months. And how it keeps just falling together at the last minute. This month will be no exception to that rule. With the help of friends and family I have raised over $5000. I have been humbled by the kindness and encouraging words of strangers. I still have to raise the last $2800. We're still fund raising and selling, and while I feel I'm so close I know it's still scary and far out of my reach. So today I'll close my eyes, and say a prayer that this can really happen. There was a purpose in my journey, and even if I don't get to go on this trip in the end I will still be incredibly grateful for the adventure and what I've learned from it. And I think I'm a better person because of it. Before, if I earned $20, I would blow it on something stupid, but now, every dollar is valuable to me, priceless, going to something important and life changing in the long run. well, important to me, anyway ;-P

I can see the finish line, I'm going to sprint to the end!

How do you eat an elephant?

I started this journey with $400 and seven months later, I now have raised $3,410. I am not done yet I still have two more payments to go. On April 1st I have to pay $990 then on May 1st (the final payment) I have to pay $2,800. I am so close I can almost taste the Italian gelato. With all the help, love, and support from my family and friends, I am eating my elephant.
So how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." -Gandhi

This morning at church on of my friends asked if he could practice his speech in front of the church audience to get some practice. In his speech he talked about education and poverty in America and how it will affect us in the future. One thing that I admired about his speech was when he quoted Mohandas Gandhi, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." I have heard that phrase many times and as the world gets crazier and crazier that phrase gets more powerful and meaningful. It's true, we can't just expect the world to change if we all sit back and let it fall apart. In order to change the world for the better we must all as individuals, a community, a nation do our part. My uncle told me that we don't change the world by saying we can't, we change it by saying we can, even our president tells us "Yes we can." We don't all have money or time to change the world but we can do simple things like donating food, giving blood, or even motivating others to get involved in helping others. The least we can all do is pray for those who need help and give love to those who need love. 

Big Momma

Whenever I bring up my Big Momma people look at me funny and say, "Big Momma?" and I smile and say, "Yes my Big Momma." Big Momma is a women I have known for almost my whole life. She is the mother of my dad's friend whose kids i grew up with. Big Momma adopted my brothers and I as her grandchildren and she treats us as if we were her own flesh and blood. She is a very accomplished Black woman who is always studying to get her PHD. She gets her PHD the same year I get my high school diploma. So I look up to her as a role model. She is the women who talked my mom into letting me go on this trip and this month when I found out I was short about $500 for my last payment she gave me the money to catch up on my payments. Thank you Big Momma

Stage Fright

Friday night was the awards ceremony for the Black History Month essay contest. Before I knew what award I would receive, I had to read my essay out in front of the Human Relations Council members. There were many amazing essays read that night. There were middle school, high school, and college winners. I was super nervous about reading my essay but I lived and won first place out of the high schoolers. This prize included $200, an Obama collector's plate, a picture with the Vice Mayor of San Jacinto. That night I felt very accomplished and gained a little more confidence.

The First $1,000 Payment

Today I found out that I have made enough money to pay the first $1,000 payment. I am really shocked because for the first two weeks I only had around $90. To break it down I received $100 each form my Big Momma, Ed (a close family friend), and from my uncle Bob. So theres $300 right there. Then I made $100 from selling sports cups, $50 from selling candy, and my pay pal account that my aunt and uncle put $370. So now were at about $910.... At the moment I am not sure where there the last $90 came from... but wherever or whomever it came from I am very grateful.


Thank you friends and family for all your support.

Passport: The main thing that will get me there

Sometime this month I am going to go get my passport. Besides the money and support, the passport is the most important thing, because without a passport how am I going to travel out of the country? And without my Uncle Jeff I wouldn't have a passport. My uncle lives in Florida and when I was little he was ALWAYS at our house which was cool because I love him. One of my fondest memories of him was when he had a new girlfriend (who he is now married to) who had a daughter who is a little bit younger than me. One day they came to my house and took me and the daughter to the beach. It was a fun day and I was happy that he loved me enough to involve me in activities with his new family. Anyways he gave me the money for my passport. I very much appreciate that he is willing to help even though we live thousands of miles away and I haven't seen him in years.

Girl Power!

Last Thursday I went to a Soroptimist meeting to ask for a sponsorship for my trip. For those who have no idea what Soroptimist is, it's an organization of professional women who make the effort to improve the lives of women and girls worldwide. I went to them to talk about how this trip to Italy and Greece is an educational experience and how it is related to my future goal of becoming an architect. Architecture is a male-dominated profession and Soroptimist are all about equality and diversity so I knew they would be the perfect people to ask for help. I was a little nervous about meeting these women but they were all very kind and seemed interested in what I had to say, most of them have traveled to Italy before. They said that at their next meeting about finances they would tell their other members about me and see what they decide. So I am keeping my fingers crossed but I am just thankful that they even made time to have me come talk to them.

Dr. Maya Angelou

Today I had to submit an essay for a Black History Month Essay Contest. The Essay had to be about a person of color who has faced many trials and tribulations but still accomplished their goals. But there was a twist to the essay, it wasn't just an average research essay it had to be written as if I actually knew the person I was writing about. I thought the obvious people to write about are President Obama, Oprah, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But when you're writing an essay in an essay contest you don't want to pick a common topic, so I chose to write about Dr. Maya Angelou. She isn't the most obvious person to write about but she is still popular. She was the person I enjoyed researching the most. She inspires me to never give up on my dreams. She said "I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass."
Another thing I admire about Dr. Angelou is that she traveled and she inspires me to keep fundraising to get to my goal and accomplish my dreams. 


"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends." -Maya Angelou

Anonymous Donation of $500

An anonymous donor donated $500. The nice lady told my mom that this money is only to be used as shopping money when I get to Europe. The lady also said the reason she is so generous is because the Lord says that you should give generously and expect nothing in return. She does this and her life is very blessed. Is it because of her optimistic point of view or is God really rewarding her for he good doings? I don't know but which ever the answer may be, this way of thinking should be used in everyday life. We should all look outside of ourselves to help others, expecting nothing in return but to know that we have made someone else happy with whatever we have to give. Time. Love. Money. There are endless ways to give and be blessed in return.