When I was first approached by Steven Wrigley about The Global Outreach Foundation, many things caught my eye. What the organization was about, his vision on where it would be, the contacts he had to make it happen and more than anything, the drive that he had to make a change in the world. However, something else stuck in my mind. Something that I absolutely love. Something as simple as a word choice. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about our tagline, empowering children, and what it really means.Why did Steve use ‘empowering‘ rather than ‘enabling‘ or ‘helping‘?
If you look in the dictionary, there isn’t much difference between the two words. To me, there is a colossal difference!
To me, enabling children would create a culture of co-dependence. The children would absolutely NEED us to be there 100% of the time in order to create something from the opportunities that we would be providing. They would need our money, they would need our guidance, they would need our help every step of the way.
On the other hand, empowering children would create a culture of self-reliance. Empowering someone allows the individual to be taught correct principles, given the help that they need, but the key is creating a sustainable model or system that can be followed for long after the teacher has left the student.
Remember the oft told story and cliche, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.”
Our mission, as The Global Outreach Foundation, is to empower children by providing opportunities and tools for education, coupled with mentoring services. Through education and mentoring, we are able to improve their overall quality of life and help to instill self-reliance and confidence deep into the child’s sense of self.
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