It was definitely one of the best days of my life on May 14th when I was announced as Miss New York 2009! Representing my state as a positive role model has been a lifelong dream of mine.
My first appearance as Miss New York? I got to ride in a brand new Mustang convertible in Great Neck's Memorial Day Parade. It was an incredible experience riding down the main street and watching all of the children get excited to see me. I remember hearing one boy say, "Look Mom it's a princess!" and I certainly felt like a princess that day! Everyone was taking my picture and kids were coming up to hug me afterwards. That is when I realized how powerful this title can be. I have been blessed with this incredible opportunity to motivate and inspire people to follow their dreams.
During the interview portion of the pageant, I was asked what I would do with the title if I won. I had two answers to this. The first was, inspire children to follow their dreams, because if you work hard enough and keep your eye on the goal – anything is possible. The second was to further my mission of motivating people to do volunteer work and community service. I started my own volunteer organization back in 2007 called Preserve America which is based on my belief that volunteering is one of America’s core values that we must preserve for the future. I organize numerous community service projects every year all with the same goal – promoting volunteer work. If it weren’t for the voluntary service of America’s founding fathers, we wouldn’t be celebrating our 233rd birthday this Saturday. If brave American’s didn’t volunteer for the military, who knows what a state of turmoil our nation would be in. If courageous firefighters didn’t volunteer to protect lives and property, the result would be disastrous. If doctors didn't volunteer their services in countries where medical care is a luxury, entire populations could be wiped out by disease. Volunteering is the backbone of our nation and it would be a tragedy if we were to let that dissipate. I am committed to using my title to promote volunteer work to the best of my ability. There are nearly 20,000,000 people living in New York – that’s a lot of potential volunteers!
Volunteering doesn’t have to be as extreme as enlisting in the army; Anyone can help out just by planting flowers on Earth Day, donating toys to your local school, or spending one day a month distributing food at a homeless shelter. I challenge you to give back to your community this weekend. While you’re at your 4th of July barbeque remember that there are people in our country who will be going to bed hungry, there are terminally ill children in hospitals that won’t get to watch the fireworks, and there are soldiers who will be spending our nation’s birthday on foreign soil. So do a good deed this weekend – anything you want. Give America the greatest birthday present – give back to her citizens. I thank you. America thanks you.
No comments:
Post a Comment