Letter Archive:
M/D/Y Topic of Focus

Inspiration Leads to Good Works

BY PETER SLACK

The power of one person should never be underestimated.  Deanna Wong, a Port Moody 12 year old watched the 2004 documentary “Ryan’s Well”.  She was inspired how one boy’s dream changed a part of our world.

“Ryan’s Well” is a 2004 documentary of a seven-year-old named Ryan Hreljac from Ontario, who heard that children in Angola, Uganda had to walk for miles to get fresh drinking water. He was so shocked he decided to raise the $70 he believed it would take to drill a well for the village. When it turned out that it would actually take thousands of dollars he decided to raise that amount.

What's so special about this story is this little boy believed he is as responsible as anyone for creating a solution to an enormous problem. In this case - the lack of fresh and available drinking water in Africa. In fact Ryan Hreljac has now gone on to raise more than a million dollars!

Inspired by Ryan’s determination and passion to make a difference, Deanna decided to look closer to home. “I wanted to help people in the community, like prostitutes, drug addicts, and runaways that fall under the term, women of the streets."

She called the project SOS (Save Our Souls) and chose Agape, an organization in East Vancouver to be the focus of her project.  Agape works with women of the downtown east side offering food, shelter, clothing and counseling.

“I began to think of people who were often left out of the picture and I immediately thought of women on the streets” Deanna said. “Prostitutes, drug addicts, and runaways all fall under the term women of the streets. Right away I knew what kind of things would be great to give them. I thought that deodorant would be good, even soap or shampoo, and maybe some perfume or lip gloss. I mean, it's nice for them to receive a little treat once in a while too”.

Over several months, Deanna mobilized her fellow classmates to collect deodorant sticks, sample size bottles of perfume, lip gloss, soap, and shampoo for the women of Agape. She went to retailers and motivated them to donate items.  Gift bags were then packaged and personally delivered to Agape’s monthly breakfast in early April.  Deanna presented each woman with a gift bag.  She witnessed first hand the hard reality of women living on the streets and how her small act of kindness helped brighten their day. 

“Ryan's Well” along with Deanna’s inspired SOS work demonstrates if we're willing to take responsibility for the state of the planet and the plight of others, the world can truly be a better place!  With a great amount of effort and desire, anything can be accomplished, and that everyone helping a little, makes a big difference.