I never imagined how a simple idea can change lives.  Just four years ago, I took the idea of watching movies with my friends and created a way to contribute back to society.

Here is a copy of my common application essay of my work with founding the Outdoor Movie Nights fundraising group and the impact it has had on feeding the hungry and rebuilding a nation on the other side of the world.

 

    The glow flickers across and bounces off the screen, lighting the fence, plants, blankets, and our faces.  A mix of emotions circulates through the audience over a few hours and in the end, my friends and I leave with complete satisfaction.  A simple nighttime movie both entertained us and made us contributors to society.

   

    Three summers ago I discovered the magic of combining four basic electronic components (speakers, a receiver, a DVD player, and a digital projector).  Using this combination and a stretched white sheet, I designed my own outdoor movie theater in my backyard.  It began as a fun and inexpensive way to watch a movie and enjoy a warm summer night outside.  Yet after a year of volunteering experiences, I believed the movie nights had additional potential of providing more than just entertainment with friends.  I wanted the events to have a greater purpose by providing aid to those in need.

   

    I told my friends that my movie nights succeed regular movie theaters, which include the expense of overpriced tickets and food.   Their alternative would be going to my outdoor movie nights for classic films, having more time with friends and the chance of helping others in our community.  This caught their attention and I sold attendees admission tickets at a cost of a $1 or one canned food.  Over the course of a summer, I accumulated more than three hundred cans of food and enough money to buy one hundred more.  All of this was donated to the Oregon Food Bank, a state program to provide food to the homeless.

 

 

 

    Realizing Itafari’s goal of trying to rebuild an entire country, I wanted to increase my own goal of the amount money to contribute.  With encouragement and the donation of items from my friends, I held a two day garage sale.  I promoted the sale through the local community newspaper, organized the layout of the sale (with displays of pictures of Rwandans, taken by the president), and instructing my friends how to inform the visitors about the foundation.  After closing the door on the second evening of the garage sale and only one movie night, we raised a total of $713.

 

    As a freshman in high school, I considered outdoor movies a hobby. As I grew older and more aware of my community and the world around me, it became my unique way to contribute those in need.  When the president of Itafari spoke to us this summer, she talked about one person making a difference and I hope that the money we raised will make a big difference in Rwanda.

 

    It’s important for everyone to find his or her own way to contribute to others, and it has been an amazing experience I’m proud to have started.  I plan to continue this fundraiser for years to come and to find more organizations of various causes in all parts of the world. Through my actions, I hope I influence friends and others to increase their degree of civic virtue, setting aside their personal interests in order to help others.  From this experience, I’m more optimistic as seeing everything as an opportunity for something more than it would usually be considered.   Simply combining a white sheet, a movie, basic electronics, and a group of eager friends willing to give a dollar, we raised over $800 in a two month period.  It’s an unusual combination that proves that anything you create can be successful.