Angela Osei-Ampadu ’21, shares the importance of community outreach.
This summer 25 students were accepted in the CSGC grants program. These grants are funded due to the generous support of the Cost, Earle/Mendillo and Workman families, who established endowment funds to support the community and public service endeavors of future generations of Deerfield students. For more information on these grants please visit: https://deerfield.edu/csgc/grants
Since my last post, I’ve been continuing to find new ways to allow Shielding Our Defenders to make a positive impact as the PPE shortage in hospitals has lessened. I have been focusing my energy on community outreach.
I was able to get in contact with my representative, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign team. On August 28, I joined some members of AOC’s campaign team to distribute re-usable masks to NY-14 at a census-tabling event. Handing out masks in this Bronx community is important because it is a low-income community made up predominately of people of color, a community that has been disproportionately negatively impacted by this pandemic. This was a great way to help my community because being counted for the census means getting representation. During this event, I was able to see the beautiful and vibrant diversity of my community. This partnership with my representative’s team taught me how to reach out to my community leaders. Anyone can have an impact on their communities.
August 28 also marks the day of the National Action Network’s March to Washington in solidarity of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmed Arbery, and so many other Black lives that have been taken at the hands of racism. Today, NAN distributed our surgical masks across Supply Stations for protestors who may not have had masks. Though my team members nor I attended the march, we are very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of protecting those who are fighting for equality.
Lastly, I have worked very closely with my team to make re-usable cloth masks. I contacted businesses and asked them to donate fabric for these masks. Team member, Liv Del Sorto who had already been making re-usable masks for seniors in her community, sewed beautiful masks with the fabrics that were donated to us. Today we launched those masks for sale on our website. All the proceeds will go towards getting more masks and PPE. We are working on ways to keep Shielding Our Defenders going during the school year. We hope to be able to donate masks and hand sanitizers to inner-city schools as the school year begins. I am proud to be part of a team that works so well together in the spirit of doing good by others. Through Shielding Our Defenders, I have learned to become a better team leader, team player, and action taker. Most importantly, I have learned that the best leadership is where one can foster a community that makes others feel heard and cared for. Thank you, CSGC for granting us the funds to be able to make an impact in our communities!
