Name: Lindsey
Monroe
What is your job?
I am the Special Events and Public Relations Coordinator for
Camp Sunshine in Decatur, Georgia. Camp Sunshine provides year round
recreational, educational and support programs for children with cancer and
their families. I manage all of our large fundraising events, maintain our
social media and website, and work with outside groups who plan fundraisers for
our organization.
What social causes
are most important to you?
Camp Sunshine is more than a job to me. I give a lot of my
time on the weekends to help out with our programs and I spend a full week at
our summer camp. The children and families that we support are an incredible
inspiration to me; they really put things into perspective. They are faced with
one of the most awful things I can imagine – a child who is critically ill
through no fault of their own – and they come through the experience with such
strength, grace and dignity. Some of our kids are recently diagnosed and just
beginning their journey while others have been cancer free for years; I learn
something from every kid I meet. I think that helping these families feel
“normal” – even if it’s just for a few days – is important and desperately
needed.
What charities do
you support – and how?
In addition to Camp Sunshine, I also support Project OpenHand which provides meal deliveries for chronically and terminally ill people.
My mom and I started volunteering with them by delivering food years ago and we
have continued to support them as a family. I like to help pack food for the
meals in the kitchen. I have spent hours individually wrapping hoagie rolls or
bagging up snacks for Open Hand’s clients. It seems like a simple thing but home
delivered, nutritious meals are vital to the people who receive them.
Why do you have a
passion for this one in particular, is there a personal tie?
I have a passion for Camp Sunshine because I used to work at
one of the hospitals where many of our campers are treated. I got to know many
of the kids while I was there and saw the struggles that they experienced with
their diagnosis and treatment. Cancer is really hard on a kid and chemotherapy
is rough, even though it is making you better. A lot of the kids lost their
hair or had to have limbs amputated so they felt like weirdos. I can relate to
feeling like a weirdo or an outsider so these kids have a special place in my
heart.
Is there a particular
way you would want to encourage readers to be involved?
I would encourage readers to support Camp Sunshine by
volunteering, donating items from our Wish List, or by making a financial
donation. We can make even small donations go pretty far around here! We’ve
gotten really good at planning more with fewer
resources, but we rely solely on private donations for our funding. We
provide more than 145 programs every year for over 900 families across Georgia
so we are busy!
How would you define
social responsibility?
To me, social responsibility means that you are a helpful
and compassionate member of the community to which you belong. I believe that I
have a responsibility to use my energy and efforts to help others. It can be
something as small as a random act – buying someone’s coffee on a Monday
morning – or something large like getting your company to volunteer together at
a summer camp. Being socially responsible helps build positive relationships
and inspires others to give as well. And it makes you feel good! I feel so
happy when I am able to do something for another person, even if it’s just a
hug or a quiet walk.
Do you have any
tattoos that relate to your social work?
I do! I have a stylized flower in shades of magenta, coral
and orange on my left wrist (no black outline!) that is my reminder that there
are still amazing things to be found in the world, even when things seem really
awful. There were a couple of months when several of the campers I was close to
passed away and I was feeling really sad. We had a camp program and I got to
see a child who was on treatment and desperately ill climb up a ‘pamper pole’ –
a 20 foot telephone pole! – stand up on top of it, and jump off to grab a
trapeze like it was nothing at all! It was incredible. At that moment, I knew
that wonderful things were always possible, so my tattoo reminds me of that.
Thank you to Heidi for this awesome opportunity! You can check out Camp Sunshine at www.mycampsunshine.com !
ReplyDeleteGreat interview, Lindsey. You are a real live angel. xo
ReplyDelete