A couple of weeks ago we took up a second collection for the White Helmets Hero Fund, the first responders who are committed to saving the lives of the innocent victims of the war in Syria. This collection was partially inspired by a former student/athlete of mine, Allie Vaughan. Miss Vaughan has since graduated from Iowa State and is working in Connecticut, working in of all things, the toy business where she is some sort of engineer/developer.
Let’s say that my experience with Allie during those high school days was….interesting. Somewhat of a hyper, creative, too smart for her own good student , our relationship vacillated between mutual appreciation to mutual antagonism. I think, due to this back and forth between us, a greater mutual appreciation for each other has developed and endured. Or maybe it is simply the distance between us now. I am kidding of course.
Allie is a smart and wise young person, with a big heart. She is involved with many charitable organizations and fund raising activities including the White Helmets Hero Fund collection, which we contributed toward earlier this month. Allie is joining us Sunday in order to ask us to consider donating more to this worthwhile cause.
Allie tries to be creative in not just raising money for a cause, but also to draw attention to the need and issues as well. While I always tried to avoid encouraging Allie’s creativity during our time in high school, usually because I suffered from her creativity back then, in this case, I believe it is something worthwhile. I will let Allie speak for her self….
“In the wake of the crisis in Aleppo, I would like to make a fool of myself in order to help in some (hopefully huge!!) way. For those of y’all willing to donate to the White Helmets Hero Fund I am inviting you to propose a ridiculous stunt, embarrassing dare, or other related shenanigan for me to complete (something that we can choose for her).
A few of you may remember the “Mustache Girl” charity incident a few years ago which operated by the same concept. To raise money for Special Olympics, this mustache and I walked proudly across campus for the day. A girl on the bus thought I passed out and she assumed I didn’t know the mustache was drawn on me, then tweeted about it and I saw her tweet. That was good stuff. Also, this was my freshman year so you can basically imagine how the rest of college turned out for me…Donate or Do-Not, there is no donut. But seriously plz consider. Peace.”
Allie, is inviting us to help her “earn” further donations for the White Helmets and she will be here at the Sunday Mass to explain things further. In any event let us help Allie make a fool of herself and while this will not be difficult to do, the cause is sound and needed. Count on helping Allie raise funds for the White Helmets Hero Fund this weekend.
Run2Win4Him
Rev. James Kirby