The IE community responds
In the last month, the IE community has earned its respect as 200kg of clothes were collected and sent to Romania. Rebecca Mello, the main organiser of the initiative, describes her experience and students' response to the call.
In high school I started my charity. I would take my school’s unclaimed lost and found clothes and redistribute them to those in need in the school’s community. I wondered if it would be possible to continue when moving to Spain, but I didn’t know how that would even work out. In the late first semester, the opportunity opened up for me to travel to Romania, one of the poorest areas in Europe, and I thought why not involve the IE community in this initiative. In two short days we received 8 full bags of clothing and shoe donations. And over the next two weeks, the IE community helped raise over 200kg of donations for those in need in Romania.
Perhaps the variety of cultures or backgrounds, beliefs and ideas have an impact on how much a community comes together, and to tell you the truth I was completely unsure of how IE and its students and staff would respond to the cause I decided to propose. It was suggested to me to announce the idea to IE Campus life and they suggested going through the school’s charity club. Phone calls were made and emails sent and I was very pleased to see how well and efficiently the charity club worked to realize the initiative to the IE community in a short period of time. I was even more impressed with the response and donations received from the student body. Not because they gave but how much they gave and how enthusiastic they were about giving. It’s one thing to participate in a good cause and another to demonstrate willingness and enthusiasm in working together to make the world a better place. One day at a time, one coat or one bag of clothes at a time, our actions cause ripples of positive effects in our community and these spread out beyond our community and into the world. I received messages from people offering their individual support, locals from Romania offering help onsite and students helping to transport the donations out of the school. The amount of support was heartwarming and I was pleasantly surprised at the generosity of our student body. This is the IE experience. Yes, innovation is crucial in business and professional life, but innovation goes one step beyond that. When we harness our intelligence and resources to change and transform society for the better, then we exhibit a higher level of maturity and intelligence. By being the “change we want to see in the world” we rediscover the power in our individual actions but much more in our strength as a team serving as a positive force for change. Wherever we are. Romania thanks you for your help and we know that we can count on IE for future initiatives.