“Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.”

I remember the moment in 2016 like it was yesterday. There I stood, completely overwhelmed by what my eyes were seeing and what my heart was feeling. I was standing on a street in the Philippines, and on both sides of the street as far as my eyes could see were bars, clubs, brothels—each of them filled with hundreds of girls. Girls like me. Girls who had stories, and girls that smiled and cried. Girls who had hopes and dreams and who wondered if those dreams would ever be reality. I looked into these girls’ eyes. I saw life, and I saw pain. After witnessing all of this, I stood in the middle of the street, frozen in my body and in a daze. I was full of thoughts that felt both present and a million miles away. There were questions but no answers. Unbeknownst to me, the journey to answers would begin in a hallway around 2AM that night. I knew I needed sleep but the night was sleepless. I was wrestling internally with all I had experienced just hours prior, things I had seen that I could not unsee. I was sad. I was angry. I was overwhelmed. There were so many girls, and I was just one girl. As I ventured away from this scene, I could not shake the feeling that I needed to do something. I could not turn a blind eye. I thought back to something I had once boldly proclaimed while in a college class: “I will change the world.” Now, in a hallway halfway across the world, sitting with the reality of what I had seen, this statement seemed naïve and impossible. The hope and determination I had now seemed so far away, and in that moment, all I could do was sob. At some point I had cried out all the tears in my body, and I was exhausted. I wish I could say that I had this major breakdown and breakthrough all in the same night, but that was not my reality. That night, I had no answers—only tears, exhaustion, and lots of questions.

It was not until days later that my answer was revealed, and it came in the form of this statement: “Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone”.

This statement was shared by a popular speaker and leader, Andy Stanley, and his full statement was, “Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone, because if we all did for one what we wish we could do for everyone, it might change the world. But certainly, it would change one person’s world. It may even change your world.”

This concept landed on and penetrated my heart and soul the day I heard it. It made sense to me. After all, I had been that one at times, and I knew the profound impact of doing for one. I knew personally that if you were that ONE, it really mattered. So, I decided to integrate it as my own, to really live by this idea that maybe I could not feed everyone but I could feed one. Maybe I could not show up for everyone, but I could for one. Maybe I could not go to every refugee camp, but I could go to one. Maybe I could not give to everyone’s fundraiser, but I could give to one. Maybe I cannot not help every girl on a one-mile street on another continent, but I can support one organization that continually shows up for these girls. Maybe I cannot directly help every single girl in Jacksonville, but I can help the one that walks through these doors.

This is where you can help too. By “doing for one what you wish you could do for everyone,” you can be a part of what I believe can be a movement of “doing for one.”

So, what does this mean practically? By choosing to do for one, you can give any amount, and every dollar that you give will go to covering the cost of therapy for an individual that is a survivor of complex trauma and, at this point in their life, is unable to afford the cost of therapeutic services but has been identified as one that is in need of these services.

There is no tax write off or catch to this. It is simply a way for you to “do for one what you wish you could do for everyone” because I believe that if we all do this, together we can heal and grow and impact our world and generations to come. This is how a movement begins.

I am committed to always helping the ONE. I invite you to come along with me in that journey.

To give, simply click on the button below.