Originally Posted: September 5, 2011
Today is Labor Day in the US. Labor Day has its roots in celebrating achievements made by workers unions and thus rewards hardworking employees with a day of rest (unless of course you work in retail). Labor Day is also celebrated in six other countries and International Worker’s Day is celebrated on or around May 1st by over 80 countries. Please feel free to read this post today, then again in October, March, May and June to celebrate those Labor Day’s as well!
Today I’d like to spotlight a hard working young person. He is now 16, but when he started Hoops of Hope he was only 9. According to his biography, Austin Gutwein learned that over 15 million children are orphaned by HIV/AIDS and that 12 million of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. Austin didn’t get discouraged by the enormity of the task, he decided to do what he could do. Austin could shoot free-throws. He was sponsored to shoot “2,057 free throws representing the 2,057 children who would lose their parents during a school day.” What started with a 9 year old shooting free throws has grown and now has provided more than $2,000,000 to help orphaned children in Africa. In the last seven years Hoops of Hope has done amazing things including building schools and medical centers and providing bikes, backpacks and medical caregiver packs.
Pearl S. Buck, an American Novelist, once said
The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible — and achieve it, generation after generation.
Austin is in a long list of young people throughout history who have achieved seemingly impossible things for themselves, their families, their countries and for the good of others. To learn more about how to support Hoops of Hope by holding your own event check out this page. Don’t want to hold your own event? Join another event in the US or overseas.
Do you know a young person who is doing something great? It doesn’t have to be as high-profile as Hoops of Hope, maybe they are volunteering at the Senior Center around the corner or helping their younger brothers and sisters with their homework. Share their story in the comments below.
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