Hello friends!
I had an incredible week! I'm sitting in my room listening to the thunderstorm while reflecting on all my adventures. Last Monday, I met with Happy Helpers for the Homeless at the Chuck-e-Cheese in Glen Burnie. We brought over 20 homeless children there for a day of fun! What an eye opening experience to see these kids playing games they never normally get to experience. Many of them said that their parents didn't even know that they were there and weren't sure when they would see them next. Happy Helpers serves the homeless of Baltimore city every weekend by providing them with food, clothes, toiletries, and other basic needs. This organization has been in existence for 18 years and was begun by an 11-year-old girl named Amber Coffman. Amber also competed in MAO pageants at one point in her life and is now working for a non-profit in the state of California. Her mother, Bobbi, continues to run Happy Helpers here in Baltimore. What an incredible organization!! I spent the day with Aaliyah, my buddy, and we played skeeball, car races, and so much more. She even forced me to climb up in the maze with her and go down the kiddie slide which was waaaaaay too small for my 5'10 height. Hilarious! I took lots of pictures which you can see on my facebook page.
I think the most touching moment was when I met a homeless family of three generations. The grandmother and her teenage daughter are suffering from drug addictions while they are caring for the teenage girl's newborn baby. Some of the Happy Helper volunteers asked me to share my crown with the little baby and take some pictures. Well, grandma wanted a picture too! I told her she looked just like Miss America and she gave me a HUGE toothy grin. My heart melted inside. It was so touching to see how my crown can bring joy to others.
Again on Saturday morning, I met with a group of teenagers at Happy Helpers headquarters where we made sandwiches and sorted clothes for the homeless. Happy Helpers makes over 600 sandwiches every Saturday which are then distributed to the homeless in Glen Burnie and Baltimore city. We traveled down to Glen Burnie and met with a group of homeless men looking for some food. I got to meet Ron who looked at me and said you must be in beauty pageants (I didn't even have my crown on). We had a great conversation and I'm looking forward to seeing him again in the future. I was impressed that these men look out for each other. One of the 'regulars' was missing so the guys took a bagged lunch to give to him later. I was very humbled by this experience and hope and pray that these men find true strength in the service given by Happy Helpers. We also collected any orders they had for a specific type of soap or razor such as Dove or Gilette. I thought this was a beautiful way to give honor and dignity to these men and show them that they are worthy of love and respect. I am so grateful for my time spent with Happy Helpers! And the greatest part was to see young teenagers actively involved in community service and be given a chance to impact another person's life.
Saturday evening, I attended the Miss Potomac/Free State and Sweeps pageant at Morgan State University. Congrats to the six new titleholders! Our Miss MD 2010 class is complete and we are ready for June!!! Next week, we will all be together at orientation and I'm really looking forward to spending time with the girls.
Today was quite the busy day! My mom and I took a field trip to Western Maryland to see my beautiful region as Miss Appalachia. While exploring downtown Cumberland, I popped into a few restaurants and businesses to meet the local townspeople and introduce myself. Wouldn't you know that I found the mayor, Lee Fiedler, in a coffee shop! He was enjoying a morning cup of coffee with his wife and invited me to sit and chat. We had a lovely time talking about the revitalization of the city of Cumberland, the Catholic school system, and even my possibly playing the harp at their weekend festivals. After making lots of new friends, I drove to the Allegany Radio Station, Magic 100.5, for an interview. One of the on-air personalities, Amanda, gave me a tour of the studio and conducted my interview. I had the chance to talk about the Miss Maryland Organization and my platform of 'Inspiring Youth to Serve'. The radio spot will air this week as a featured item of the 'Influential Women of Western Maryland' segment. Also, it will be posted online which I will get the link to you as soon as possible. I can't wait to hear it myself!
The day doesn't end there! I spent a lot of time visiting businesses in the Western Maryland region, but my favorite had to be the Rocky Gap resort. WOW! Anyone looking for a vacation?? Go to this resort! It's gorgeous. Golfing, boating, swimming, hiking, a beach, and pretty much everything you want in a vacation. My final stop was at the Appalachian trail. I first visited the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters to introduce myself and learn more about the trail. We got a map and headed out to hike. What a beautiful part of Maryland and I'm so glad I experienced it. Got a little nervous when it started raining, but I got to see a lot of the trail and surrounding areas. Amazing.
That's about it and I'm exhausted! Busy week up ahead especially with the fashion show fast approaching! Don't forget to reserve your tickets early. Email me at harkinsharp@hotmail.com
Good night!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment