After reaching out to Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Centers, I was shocked to hear that an average of 100 kids were staying the shelters at a time. I also learned that the kids were in need of higher-quality clothing, and that was how my project initially started. My goal was to provide higher-quality, personalized clothing in partnership with Target Corporation. Because of the state that our world was in, I knew that reaching out to community members for financial assistance was not the right move. Instead, I reached out to Target Corporation and was able to get a $5,000 donation, as well as a thirty percent discount on all of the clothing that I purchased.
After coming up with my initial project idea, I sent out flyers to the central and west side shelters to determine the specific needs of the children and get children excited about getting new clothing. I then went to Target on multiple occasions and was able to purchase items for all 100 of the children. Finally, I went to the central shelter to distribute the clothing, and I was even able to meet a few of the families in person! The overall experience was extremely rewarding, and I know that this is only the beginning of my community engagement.
21st Century Skills Used
Although I feel that I used all of the 21st century skills throughout this project, one that stands out is self-directional skills. Because my project was entirely online in the beginning, it was up to me to stay in contact with KHAKO and complete all of the tasks leading up to distributing the clothing. Another 21st century skill that I used quite frequently was communication skills. Whether I was talking to the Target general manager or the children's coordinator at KHAKO, I had to make sure that all of us were on the same page. Finally, I feel that I used interpersonal skills because I communicated with a variety of audiences, including the underprivileged youth, the executive director of KHAKO, and the Target general manager.
A special thanks to KHAKO for helping me complete my senior project, Karl the Target manager for helping me get the $5,000 donation, and my mom for helping me with the shopping and distribution process!