Green Ribbon Project Threads Teens Together
From a Bay Area team to the East Coast to a current Global Citizen Corps Leader, 2005 Global Action Award honoree Katherine talks about the “new life” of the Darfur Green Ribbon Project.
As I packed my bags for college, I wasn't sure what would happen with the Darfur Green Ribbon Project in the coming year. Annalise and I had started it with the hope that others might take on the project in their communities, and we'd designed it so that it would be easy to replicate and self-sustaining. We could never have imagined how far the project would expand from those first spools of green ribbon. By the end of our senior year over 15 schools were involved, and together we'd raised $5000 for Relief International's livestock programs in Darfur, Sudan. But would the Green Ribbon Project lose momentum after this powerful first year? Would the project continue after most of its initial leaders had left the Bay Area for college?
I should have known better than to doubt the power of the project and the people involved. As the conflict in Darfur continued to escalate, so did our determination to make a difference. Within my first month at Yale, in the fall of 2005, I got a sign of the project's new life. Amira V., a senior at the Harker School in San Jose, CA, emailed me about starting the Green Ribbon Project in her community. She had heard about it through Youth Philanthropy Worldwide (YPW), a wonderful organization based in the Bay Area that I've worked with for two years. YPW helps students doing all kinds of global action projects, offering guidance and linking them not only to effective aid organizations but also to each other. I worked at YPW this summer helping develop YPW Clubs, groups of students working to tackle the world's greatest problems through global action projects in their own communities.
Amira and I immediately started working together across the country, exchanging advice and ideas on how to address the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. By the time of the 2005 NetAid Global Action Awards ceremony that November, I was confident the project would only expand further as new people like Amira got involved. Within the year, Amira and her classmates had brought the project to completely new heights. Through green ribbon sales, guest speakers, special events and a CD of student music they made and sold, they raised around $3000 for Relief International! And what's more, they brought the project to a Junior State of America convention, selling ribbons and recruiting new schools. Today, students from over twenty schools in California and on the East Coast are involved.
Now Amira is in college – actually, she's at Yale with me! But while Amira and I may both be in school in Connecticut, we know by now that the distance is no obstacle. Now it's a senior at The Harker School, Vyvy T, who is one of the students still going strong in California. Not only is she continuing the project, she's also starting a YPW Club at her school. And she's a member of the 2006-2007 NetAid Global Citizen Corps!
But Amira, VyVy and I are only a few of the people involved in the Green Ribbon Project. There are countless others doing amazing work at schools around the country. I've seen our project take on a life of its own. More than anything, I've realized how powerful and essential it is for our generation to commit to global change together by doing what groups like NetAid and YPW help us do — form networks of young people determined to make a difference.
As I enter my sophomore year, the situation in Darfur remains grave. But the efforts of Amira, VyVy and countless others have shown me that our generation won’t be daunted by these problems, and we won’t be slowing down any time soon.
