Encouragement
Uplifting others is a fairly simple task. It involves little to no preparation, time, money or resources. It's something we can all freely give and receive, yet many of us go days, months even years without lending an encouraging word or feeling encouraged ourselves. Hope Seekers strives to give the gift of encouragement to everyone, and believes that a step toward making the world a better place starts with uplifting others. So... The next time you notice something good about someone, tell them.
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~ Anne Frank
Current Campaign For Hope
TheGifted Arts
Introducing CJ Morgan, III and Nichole Morgan, cofounders of TheGifted Arts.
Goal: $3,000
It was a reach, but we knew there was one more quarter under the seat of the 2000 green Mercury Cougar. We concluded another hot summer day and we were collecting our quarters, nickels and dimes so we could secure dinner; a calzone from a local pizza shop. It was a summer of sacrifice that had a number of our family members questioning us on why we were punishing ourselves to work for a local Y program for little compensation. It was in that summer that we found purpose and that purpose lit a flame within that wouldn’t allow us to do anything else, but create a program that would change the lives of the youth in our “Teen Camp.” During this time, the concept of TheGifted Arts was conceived. We used the arts then to teach life skills, confidence, character building, and to just create memorable moments in the lives of our youth. Nine years later, we still receive messages like “Hey Mr. Cj, I just wanted to say thank you. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used things you told us and actually applied them to my life.”
We later went on to further our education, explore our careers, and cultivate our passion and thus created TheGifted Arts.
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Q. What's your story?
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Our mission is to inspire our youth to transcend limitations and embrace purpose though the performing arts. We accomplish this goal by guiding our artists on a multi-year journey toward a deeper understanding of their identity through artistic experiences that shape confidence.
Q. What is the mission of your organization?
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The funds we receive will be used to expand and support GiftedAcademy, our premier performing arts program. GiftedAcademy uses performances to inspire confidence. We accomplish this goal by guiding our artists on a multi-year journey toward a deeper understanding of their identity through artistic experiences and transitioning them through four key stages: Preparation → Accepting a challenge → Risk-taking → Evaluation.
At a high level, we incite Critical Thinking, Literacy, Presentation, and Professionalism skills to help our GiftedArtists identify their purpose and engage in the process towards reaching their goals.
Q. What will you do with the funds donated?
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We deeply believe that our program offers a multitude of growth and access opportunities. We aim to meet the following outcomes:
(a) Increase access to effective educators and caring adults that contribute to the success of students from underrepresented groups and lower socioeconomic backgrounds
(b) Expose students to post-secondary education and career options, both traditional and unconventional pathways
(c) Maintain or improve letter grades placing our students in good academic standing
(d) Extend learning time that lessens the amount of time spent out of school or not engaged in extracurricular activities
(e) Amplify self-esteem and confidence in their ability to navigate and compete in the classroom, as well as prepare for and advance into college and careers
Learn more about us at www.thegiftedarts.org
Q. Anything else you would like our donors to know about you?