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"I wear CHANGE. My giving key is the reminder to myself to be the change I want to make. Even a little change can go a long way" @thegivingkeys //

(📷: @jefresh )

• #modernman x #thegivingkeys #menswear #fashion #style •

www.dathoang.com (at www.dathoang.com)

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Do's & Dont's Of Meeting New People(Regardless Of Where They Live)

Being nice to strangers doesn’t mean you foolishly give away your trust or treat them the same as you would a close friend, but it does mean you have patience, refrain from judgment, and try your best to get along.

Do: Treat them as an equal.

No one wants or deserves to be treated as less than anyone else, because no one is less than anyone else.

Don’t: Jump to conclusions.

Reading a book by it’s cover can never tell you what you need to know, you will never know someone unless you get to know them. Make an effort.

Do: Be willing to offer what you have.

We all have something special we bring to the table, whether it’s a word of encouragement or meeting a tangible need.

Don’t: Turn away from a need.

Sometimes when we meet people we realize we can create change in their lives, and for whatever reason we may not want to, but remember–no one has ever become poor by giving.

Do: Look past stereotypes.

When we agree with stereotypes we limit ourselves and others. Don’t try to fit someone into a box, they’re worth more than that.

Don’t: Believe the hype.

It can be easy to get set in our ways and not notice the people around us, but we have no idea what we could be missing by missing out on a new friendship.

Don’t ever decide you have given enough, keep giving to those around you whether you’ve known them for years or you met them on the sidewalk this morning.

Look for opportunity to share hope.

Xoxo

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Carols and Keys! #thegivingkeys #holidayparty (at The Fig House)

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Partnering up with @thegivingkeys to “Give-Back” this thanksgiving. //

Receive a key and pay it forward by giving it to someone you feel needs the message written on the key //

(📷: @jefresh )

• #modernman x #thegivingkeys #menswear #fashion #style •

(at www.dathoang.com)

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You Guys, Meet Priscilla And Gain Some Better Understanding

Someone we really respect and a great friend of The Giving Keys, Rachel Karman, is guest blogging for us tonight. Rachel works for Skid Row Housing Trust helping to place people who don’t have a place to live with a place to live.

She has worked with a wide variety of people who are coming from different situations and backgrounds, so she understands that the stigmas of homelessness are not very accurate. Her voice and experience is one we greatly value. Here she shares a story with us of a woman she met outside of her work one day.

“He yelled at me and called me a drug addict,” she told me when I walked up to introduce myself, banana in hand ready to give her. She showed me her left arm, there were visible marks, but not where I’d normally expect.

“I go to dialysis every day; it’s what keeps me alive. It’s sad that what is keeping me on Earth is also keeping me ostracized by a society that wants to believe I am a junky…”

I couldn’t argue with her or if I were being honest, even judge the man she spoke of. I’d seen Priscilla before; she hangs out near my place of work, which happens to be for an organization that provides homes to homeless people. I was humbled as I sat down to talk to her, learning of her illness. I’m supposed to know better, after all, this is what I do.

I’d always assumed, as had the man who yelled at her, that she was a substance user…I never judged her for it, I myself don’t have the cleanest of pasts, but that didn’t stop me from making assumptions, which now left me feeling ashamed. “How can we change,” I wondered aloud to her. “We have to be better in the way we treat people who are experiencing homelessness.”

“I think it starts with recognizing that everybody is different. People are so afraid of others who are different.” Priscilla is right. Every single one of us at one time or another has experienced the impact of being different and stereotyped; working with the population I do, I hear about it often. I have listened to countless stories from the folks detailing how they’ve been labeled and judged, even incarcerated for simply being without a home. The assumptions that homeless people are all lazy, junkies and/or crazy are huge and until that changes, we will never be able to fully address and treat the issue at hand.

So where do we start?

“Just say hello,” Priscilla told me. “You’d be surprised how much that can brighten someone’s day. Also, getting to know people helps. Listen to their stories before you offer them a solution. Don’t try to convince me to go to drug treatment if what I need is medical care, you know?”

After a few minutes I left Priscilla to head back to my office, but her words remained imprinted on my brain and in my heart. Everything she said was so poignant and seemed so obvious, yet we as a society, even when meaning well, still seem to miss the mark a lot.

So today let’s be different, let’s change.

Today, let’s learn from Priscilla. Let’s see each person as an individual, not as a statistic. Let’s make eye contact and let’s say hello. Let’s put aside what we think we know of people and listen more than we speak. Today let’s remind our brothers and sisters who are experiencing homelessness that they matter, that each of their stories are different and unique and that they have value.

Today let’s begin the movement that erases stigma altogether.

Today let’s love.

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I stopped by @thegivingkeys HQ to learn more about what they do. founder @caitlincrosby & her team absolutely blew me away. it was like walking into heaven’s office & meeting a bunch of professional angels…in so many words this is a global org. built on the foundation of doing good for others by promoting positive change with keys engraved by their employees who are transitioning out of homelessness…I strongly encourage YOU to find out more, #payitforward & support #thegivingkeys

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Why Pope Francis Is The Man In Our Book

Monday marked the day that Pope Francis commenced the building of showers around Rome for those experiencing homelessness to have a place to bathe, whereas before there were no options.

This is truly incredible. We always think of the need their is for food, however a need that is just as large is a place to clean up.

At the beginning of October the mission began when bishop Konrad Krajewski wanted to take a homeless man named Franco to dinner for his birthday. Franco said, “Father, I can’t go to the restaurant with you because I smell.”

Krajewski took him out to dinner regardless, celebrating his birthday. It was Franco who explained to the bishop what the biggest need for the homeless in Rome is. “Here no one starves to death, you can find a sandwich every day. But there is no place to use the toilet and wash.”

Action was immediately taken, and Monday November 17th work began to build the showers where they will be able to wash and change their underwear. And upon the invitation of the Pope’s Almoner, ten parishes in Rome in the neighborhoods most frequented by the homeless have already built showers which are available to them.

“It is not simple, because it is easier to make sandwiches than run a shower service,” said Krajewski. “We need volunteers, towels, underwear.”

This is an issue that all people who are experiencing homelessness find themselves facing. The lack of places to shower is a huge problem. Franco said, “You can always find some food in Rome. What is missing is places to wash.” Making a sandwich is definitely easier but building a place for people to bathe and change clothes in the long run will create so many possibilities. By providing showers they are helping these men and women have a chance to go into businesses and apply for work.

Love seeing the initiative Rome is taking to help people in such a simple but much needed way.

It is opening up a door to more opportunity. 

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Hello, Monday! by thegivingkeys http://ift.tt/1zSjzLb

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