Overview

On average, I dedicate about four months each year to providing services through fundraising, physical labor, and educational support to several nonprofit organizations. Balancing a career, personal life, and philanthropic activities can be extremely challenging, but I feel fortunate to be able to engage in meaningful charitable work. In this page, I am sharing a few organizations that I believe are worth supporting.

Please note that this page is a work in progress and will continue to expand over time.

Local Organizations:

Indydronerescue.org

Drone Assist Indiana, (which cleverly stands for Autism Spectrum Safety Indiana Search Team) is a non-profit organization that provides search and rescue services, and education around the use of unmanned aircraft systems to help locate individuals who may be considered high risk.

To learn more about this important organization, click on the image below and you will be directed to their website:

Figure 1: Drone Assist Link

Special Olympics Indiana Polar Plunge

I participated in a local polar plunge which benefits Special Olympics Indiana, a non-profit organization that provides a fun, inclusive environment for children and adults with intellectual disabilities to reach their greatest potential through Olympic-style sports. Not only do their efforts change the lives of the athletes, but they are also a catalyst for social change by breaking down misconceptions and negative attitudes towards those with disabilities. When participating with USI Consultants, we were able to achieve our fundraising goal and contribute to an over $870,000 total collective goal! Figure 2 is a snip of me mid plunge in the freezing water. Note this is a snip of a larger team photo I but I have only posted my cold face because only those who were there get to see the full group :)

Figure 2: Freezing for a Reason at the Polar Plunge

Natural Helpers

Natural Helpers is a nationally recognized program where middle and high school aged students help their friends. Students who become Natural Helpers are recognized amongst their peers as being natural leaders, and people they gravitate to for support. Natural Helpers aren't professional therapists, rather, they are expert listeners and attempt to help their friends figure out their own issues by talking them through.

Students naturally talk with their peers before any other adult, on issues relating to academic stress, boyfriend/girlfriend issues, or situations occurring at home. Every Natural Helper participates in a two day training to help them recognize when they can help their friends, and when and where to ask for help for issues beyond their comfort level.

To learn more about how to support Natural helpers, click on the image below:

Figure 3: Natural Helpers Link

Indiana Pacers Stem Fest

As mentioned in USI Consultant's Linkedln Page #PacersSTEMFest2023 was a huge success! We spent the day showing kids what a career in the STEM field might look like through fun and informative activities. We are proud to be a part of helping educate the next generation and open up a world of possibilities for them!

Figure 4: Myself Instructing Our UAS Simulator

International Organizations:

GIVE Voulnteers Tanzania

GIVE offers meaningful volunteer abroad programs that transform the lives of its volunteers, igniting new passions and inspiring incredible personal growth. Work hard, play hard alongside our host community members. Immerse yourself in extraordinary new worlds. Break down cultural barriers and build up lifelong relationships.

Our sustainable projects have a lasting impact on the communities we work with and the volunteers who travel with us. And unlike other volunteer abroad organizations, almost all of our volunteers choose to stay involved long after their experience ends, becoming lifelong global citizens learn more about GIVE, click on the image below:

Figure 5: Myself (Center) with Volunteers in Tanzania 2019

Give Volunteers Laos

My purpose in life is to help as many people as possible, and one way I do so is through volunteering in different countries across the world. You might recall, through your support, I have fundraised enough to make it to and from the incredible country of Laos. Although there is no way to share the magnitude of how absolutely life changing the people we worked with are, the staff/volunteers who help facilitate the work, and the genuine cultural immersion volunteering offers, I do want to share with you takeaways from the trip as well as answer questions about how volunteering in Laos helps.

1.Do you know anything about Laos? I ask this because before volunteering, I did not. Laos is a small, landlocked country just north of Thailand. It borders four other countries as well: China, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia. It’s known for its mountains, Buddhist culture, and waterfalls.

2.Learning Lao is so important, but you can communicate and connect with others without a common language. However, a Lao person who speaks English is more likely to get a higher paying job as an adult. As a result, we teach English to children and adults in the remote village of Sop Chem.

3.The village of Sop Chem has a community of people who are all nicer than the nicest neighbor you have - it’s as simple as that. They go above and beyond to help one another despite having to live life without the resources we take for granted.

4.The families in Sop Chem make about $1,000 USD per year. How does that compare to how much you make per paycheck?

5.In addition to teaching English and working on environmental projects, I also worked on Permaculture. Permaculture stands for Permanent Culture and Permanent Agriculture, meaning the entire point behind permaculture is to create long lasting agriculture that can help a society move forward in its development through creating independence. Permaculture lowers the price of food which allows villagers to allocate funding to different critical projects as well as creating a self-sustaining source of food and medicine.

6.The monks in Laos are sustained by the offerings of food and in turn provide spiritual merit for the almsgivers. I had the opportunity to become an almsgiver and provided offerings.

7. Part of being a responsible visitor to a host country is learning about history from their point of view. The United States Secret War in Laos is something that I hope you learn. Although there is not enough space in social media to talk about its impact, here are a few facts that I want you to know.

7a. Laos is the most bombed country in the planet and is currently in the process of removing Unexploded Ordinances (UXOs) dropped by the United States.

7b.80 million cluster bombs remain undetonated and kill innocent people because they are scattered throughout the ground. Removing the cluster bombs is difficult due to the mountainous topography.

7c.The U.S. spent 13.3 million dollars per day and bombed Laos for 9 years. 13.3 million *365days *9 years is approximately 43.7 billion dollars spent to bomb Laos.The U.S. has contributed approximately $118 million to clean up UXOs since the war ended. Think about that and re-read it if you have to.

8.If you got to this point, I highly recommend that you watch this video because it helps provide better context to the above information

Figure 6: Link to UXO in Laos Video

9. Funding through the organization I volunteer with helps provide prosthetic limbs to people affected by UXOs as well as the safe removal of UXOs. It is a different feeling talking to villagers who have been injured and have had relatives die from bombs we dropped nearly 50 years ago.

10. You couldn’t take a bad photo in Laos so to prove it, I decided to share some with you. These were taken with my phone! Note: I do not prefer to take pictures of people unless I have permission. Therefore, I did not take any.