I am a helper. I am caring. I am one
who stops running to help the person who tripped next to me. Through the values
that a single mother instilled in me as a child to the values I gained from
being a fraternity man of Alpha Sigma Phi and Fraternity/Sorority Life, I
learned that it only takes the leadership and courage of one individual to
create change. Margaret Mead argued, “Never believe that a few caring people
can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have.”
Last summer I was searching to get
involved in a cause that required communities to unite and work together to
achieve a common goal. That’s when I came across the Global Peace Foundation’s
Safe Haven campaign on human trafficking prevention. Upon seeing no community support
groups for victims and survivors in all of the Northeast United States and
learning that this heinous act is a $32 billion industry preying on more than
100,000 Americans, I knew something had to change.
Four weeks of training 31 fraternity
men later, Alpha Sigma Phi became a certified Safe Haven and a source of help
for victims. Leading a men’s organization in this fight resulted in a news
story on WPTZ which caught the attention of our headquarters, the local Rotary
Club, and Dr. Susan Ryan who teaches a human trafficking course at the
University of Vermont.
I have found my calling through this
campaign: I started a journey toward ending gender violence, an epidemic
affecting 1-in-5 females and 1-in-16 males across college campuses. Being a
male in a fraternity does not mean I cannot be an advocate for sexual assault
prevention. It is individuals like myself who need to lead the engagement of
these conversations with other students.
Since the beginning of February, I
have been working with Title IX Coordinator Butterfly Blaise not as an intern
but as a resource to bring Jonathan Kalin, founder of Party with Consent and
Male Athletes Against Violence, to campus. I have been securing funding through
CAS grants and even presented in front of the SA Senate as to why they should
fund this presentation. All 16 senators voted unanimously for the event’s
funding.
It is my goal through this event to
unite communities across campus to be a part of the conversation and register
groups for individual workshops with Kalin throughout the day.
I have also been volunteering for
North Country Honor Flight, a nonprofit that sends World War II and Korean War
veterans to see their war memorial in Washington D.C. at no cost to these
heroes. As a group leader in this campaign, I supervise other volunteers to
ensure we are successful in raising the $12,000 and locating 14 veterans needed
to experience one last mission.
My friends and family often ask me,
“How do you do it?” Although at times I may feel overwhelmed, I respond by
saying, “A cup of coffee and a dream can take you anywhere.”
