BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

Learning to share

By Nicole Wright, age 16 | August 1, 2016

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Nicole Wright, a rising junior at Memorial High School, earned a Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can receive, for creating a camp for underprivileged kids.

This June, I hosted a week-long camp based on dance, faith and mentoring for 41 underprivileged kids at The Branch, Chapelwood United Methodist Church’s Hispanic worship community located in north Spring Branch. Through this project, I earned my Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve. But over the past six months, my project “Dancing Into the Future” evolved from simply a necessary leadership project to an experience that has changed my life forever. My life and worldview have been shaped by a revolutionary new idea I have never truly understood.

I learned that I need to share my toys.

Now, this lesson is one that children are taught from their first day in preschool. I have heard (and taught) the rhyme “Sharing is caring” more times then I could ever count and suffered through the same educational TV shows as everyone else, but this time I gained a new perspective. The kids I serve at The Branch do not have the abundance of toys I grew up with; they might share an apartment with their extended family to cut back on rent costs, and they often spend their entire summers in their apartments.

But despite the hardships these kids live with, some of which I have never experienced and will probably never fully understand, the ones I met share with joyful hearts. These kids may not have a lot of toys, but they share them. They might not have a lot of food, but they share it. Their families might not have a lot of extra money, but they share it. Through connecting not in their struggles but in their triumphs, The Branch is a community of loving people who know no bounds in their generosity. They welcomed me with open arms into a vibrant community that is free from judgement. This community is stronger than any I have experienced because it caters to the utterly human desire to share with others rather than any superficial labels or qualities.

In order to create true community, we need to share ourselves.

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