So I pushed back a lot and I started sort of coming up with my own list of organizations would accept us as volunteers because I think I understood instinctively as, as most parents do, um, most caregivers do that the best way, the simplest way to raise kind, compassionate, grounded, grateful, empathetic people is to expose them to service and to serving others and to doing this work in the community in a really meaningful way. It just expands your perspective. It allows you to interact with others who are not, who don't share your exact same life experience. Um, and so I thought it was critical. So I became that person in my community. Uh, people would ask me like, hey, where are you volunteering around the holidays and hey, where can I donate all this stuff that my kids have outgrown. And I just became that sort of, you know, rolodex for people if you will. And then I found Doing Good Together and I said, you're doing this amazing work in Minneapolis. Can I do this, do a similar thing here for you in New York? And that's how it how it kind of took off. I started writing around it, you know, essays in parenting magazines. I started speaking to churches, synagogues, uh, boys and girls scouts clubs, the Junior League, like All these people ask me. And here I am, I'm just a mom. You know, my, my career, my education is in public health and health care administration. I worked for healthcare companies and hospitals for 20 years. So this was just something that grew out of my own personal passion. And that's why I say I'm a really passionate advocate for this because it's brought so much joy to my family. And I think it's work that every parent knows is important to do. They just sometimes don't know where to start.
