The Sideline Sage w/ Frank Ober – Week 10
- Sideline Sage with Frank Ober
Make An Impact is LKNConnect’s Outstanding Non-Profit for the month of June. This article is the fourth in a series of four articles describing their mission, how businesses can make an impact in their community, their programs, and read on for more about their community projects. — EH Stafford, Managing Editor
Our impact strongly depends on donors’ and businesses who participate in our My Corporate Impact Partner (MCIP) program. Do you want to know what that is? Checkout last week’s LKN Connect article for more information. We, at the Make an Impact Foundation (MAIF) help children in need, no matter their race, religion, or socio-economic status, by providing opportunities and resources they don’t have access to.
We partner with local businesses and other non-profits to help solve the problems that children in need might face by designing community projects. We have found that most children in need, living in low income families, don’t realize the opportunities available to them outside their home or communities. Through our community projects we open the doors to other career/life opportunities.
In the past one of our biggest opportunities to enhance the lives of children was through our Impact Enrichment Camps. This free week-long camp was held each summer, most recently in 2019, at Johnson C. Smith University. Young boys in the Charlotte community attended the camp to learn more about sports like basketball, football, dodgeball and then after lunch, we would share with them career opportunities, lessons on life-skills and character education. Through all of that we strive to help them realize, even if for just one-week, there was no limit to what they could do and be.
Recently, with one or our MCIPs, we drew up a “flight plan” through our Drones2Jets project, to expose children to aviation and STEM related careers and opportunities. This project seeks to provide children chances to tour local facilities who use drones, manufacturing, and other trades in the aviation field. The children will also have access to flight bags, aviation/STEM curriculum and hopefully scholarships to be given as they pursue the final steps of a career in an aviation related field. There are opportunities to join our flight plan and help expose children to aviation through sponsorship opportunities or our My Corporate Impact Program. Contact us to learn more.
There are approximately 4,000 children in Iredell County living in poverty according to the US Census Bureau (2019) and approximately 30,000 in Mecklenburg County. 2020 was a year of big goals for us, as we wanted to grow our boys Impact Enrichment Camp, start a Girls Impact Enrichment Camp, and launch that new community project, Drones2Jets.
Due to COVID-19, we had to transition those large in-person opportunities to virtual or small group opportunities. We hope to provide free content to local youth, similar to what they would learn or see at our camps for the remainder of the year. Then we will focus on hosting winter camps should the pandemic status allow. Check out our website soon to see the progress of those community projects.
Are you a business owner or tradesman and want to tell your story or give advice? You would make a great presenter to our kids either virtually or in person. Do you like to just be around kids and help them? Volunteer to be a camp counselor, volunteer or just someone to hang out with the kids, help with lunch/snacks and make sure they leave safely. You can sign up here.
Go to our website and pick the project you are passionate about and then donate to that project. $100 provides us the ability to bring one more child to the week-long camp. $50 allows us to take one child a day long Drones2Jets field trip.
Follow us on social media, share our content, allow your voices and passions help children in need just by telling someone about us.
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