Every Day Heroes | Teen Ink

Every Day Heroes

February 11, 2013
By GabrielTheAngel SILVER, Erie, Pennsylvania
GabrielTheAngel SILVER, Erie, Pennsylvania
5 articles 2 photos 0 comments

What are heroes? Heroes are people who help solve world problems and change lives like people who deal with hunger and work to supply food for the underprivileged that otherwise may go hungry, people who work to clothe the underprivileged who might otherwise go cold, and mentors and celebrities working for the greater good doing what they can to set a good example and help people in need. Have you ever been hungry and wanted help? Have you ever been cold and wanted a sweater? Have you ever wanted anyone to step up and fund organizations around the world? Heroes are people who help the world whether it is stopping hunger, providing clothing to the cold, or celebrities changing the world.
Heroes are people who help the world by stopping hunger. I would like to talk about a man that has the nickname of Bagel Jesus. Bagel Jesus is an inspiration to any person who would like to make a difference in the world because he shows how easy it can really be. The man that everyone calls Bagel Jesus is a simple American worker who has an occupation at a coffee shop in New York City. When done with his shift he takes all the extra bagels made that day, and hands them out to the homeless or otherwise people in need of his help on the subways and streets of New York. He doesn't have to do this, he never knows anyone is watching, he just does it because it is the right thing to do and. The next person I would like to talk about in relation to hunger and heroes is an elderly woman named Ruth. I first met Ruth when I went with my sister to help at the food pantry In Greenfield Township. Ruth told everyone what they could do to help and how things would be taken care of for that day. Each table held lots of bags. All the tables represented how many people are in a family that is picking the bags up on that table. We would carry certain food items from a room in the township building and carry them to where we were working. We would then put however much of each item into each bag depending on the size of family. With Ruth as our leader, my sister and I (followed by other students that came to help) were working quickly and functional like a machine. Without a caring, smart, dedicated, and born leader to guide us that day, the job would have taken more time if there was a job to be done at all. Freerice.com is a website that should be recognized along with these people. Free rice is an open source website that lets any user answer questions on math, vocabulary and other subjects and when you answer questions correctly, ten grains of rice are donated through the World Food Program to hungry people across the Nation. I know lots of teachers who allow this website to be used instead of games on the computer when assignments are completed. This allows not only education to be promoted instead of free for all gaming, but also just a dozen kids playing this game for ten minutes can give more than five pounds of rice to hungry people worldwide. Other things that heroes can do to make a difference along with food donations are clothing donators and clothing donation workers.
Heroes are people who help the world by providing clothing to the cold. Once a month, my mom and I go through clothes that I might not like anymore or don't need, and we total them up and put them in a bag to go the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army is a clothing and other wise miscellaneous store where people can donate items of clothing or items of interest to be sold and given to the less fortunate. I got a black coat jacket for a wedding a couple years ago and a tie to go with it. You'll never know what you will find at the Salvation Army. Along with the Salvation Army store and donators, I would like to talk about the workers at the Salvation Army. I know basically all of the workers at the Salvation Army by name and they are very nice people. Our family appreciates their hard work and dedication to the store. Their cashier is an elderly woman named Bethany. She is very nice and very caring and is one of several people that I appreciate. All of the Salvation Army workers have been working there for as long I can remember and I think they should be recognized in Erie for their dedication. They could be working security, desk help, management, or a cataloguer for magazines, but they chose to donate their time to helping the needy and the underprivileged. Another thing on the topic of clothing for the needy, I would like to mention the Red Cross foundation. When hurricane Sandy hit New York, the Red Cross foundation donated all sorts of clothing items. There were thermal sweaters, hats, coats, and socks and just about any other clothing items you can think of. The Red Cross also started funding for the communities of the hurricane affected areas of New York for clothing that people lost in water or devastated houses. So many prayers were answered to the victims of the hurricane and the people of Red Cross should be recognized and repaid for their contribution towards people in need, and all of them should be accounted for, for these brave, caring, and sacrificial workers. Clothing workers and organizations help people in need but so do celebrities believe it or not!
Heroes are people who change the world like celebrities doing their part. Elton John is a famous British preforming artist, whom at the age of eleven got a scholarship to the Royal Academy of music thus starting his career as a song writer and performer. In 1992 he created the Elton John Aids Foundation (EJAF). This foundation benefited aids and HIV research and funding for these things as well. On the EJAF website Elton had this to say: “In the mid-1980s, I began channeling my grief into efforts to help raise money for the pioneering charitable organizations that formed during those dark, grim years to fund AIDS research and provide vital services to people with HIV/AIDS. “Every year Elton holds a "White tie and tiara" ball at his house in order to raise money for his foundation and so far he has funded more than 100 million dollars for more than 50 countries around the globe raising awareness and prevention of AIDS and HIV worldwide. If you think he can't get any better, you thought wrong. A couple years ago he donated more than 100 motorcycles to Lestho in Africa for doctors and nurses to travel to patients. Another celebrity helping the world is George Clooney. George Clooney is a writer/actor who dedicates lots of times towards worthy foundations towards helping people. He founded "Not on Our Watch" one of the greatest foundations of all. In this foundation, George and costars from "Oceans 11" (Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Brad Pitt) work to exploit parts of the world where there is unjust law or hunger through villages allowing people to raise money for these types of things once viral. "Not on Our Watch" creates power from political and celebrity leaders that have the control to change the course of actions in underprivileged countries and such. They are like angels providing a safe haven to the underprivileged and powerless. These organization protests unjust governments, rally's the citizens of dictating unfair countries to come together and bring down the walls between freedoms and power where the United States Government might not otherwise intervene or have knowledge of. Another celebrity that helps the world is Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt began his career with films like "No Way Out" and others in 1987 and since then he's been in more than 50 movies. Brad Pitt is mostly known for his architectural interests and he used this knowledge when creating the "Make It Right" foundation in which he helps fund organizations to build homes and such for hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans. With this foundation, he helped create more than 150 homes in the ninth ward for people who lost their homes to the storm. Along with "Make it Right", Pitt helps fund "Global Green" which eliminates threats to the environment and gets clean drinking water to more than two million people who wouldn’t otherwise have any. Heroes are everywhere helping hunger, getting clothing to the cold, and celebrities doing their part to change the world.

Because people help the world by stopping hunger, providing clothing to the cold, or celebrities changing the world in all kinds of ways, these people are the real heroes. People help all throughout the world attacking current issues, all of which are important to try and donate to in order to help and do your part. Whether you are volunteering, working, or funding for these types of problems, you can help. People help in all sorts of ways whether they are donating items or money to the needy people in their community or around the world, they are helping a great deal to improve lives and inspire others.


The author's comments:
Lots of people like my family, friends, neighbors or strangers inspire me, teach me, or make me smile. These people, in my book are heroes. Even if its just me who thinks thiough, they are heroes. Lots of things are wrong in the world like hunger, people left without help after natural disastors, and people without help who need it. Anyone that does anything to help these things or people become a thing of the past is a hero. People donate, fund, create, work, and live for others and these people need to be recognized.

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