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Dream Girls
Lifting up, cleaning up, and giving hope
Dillon Buirski
Boys, the latest clothing trend, the hippest new restaurant, a steady paycheck: typical concerns for the average, young, American female. Yet, some young women in our midst are impressively wise beyond their years and have dreams that are anything but average.
Whitney Johnson | Ubuntu Africa
While volunteering at an orphanage outside Cape Town, South Africa during her junior year abroad, Whitney Johnson came face to face with the impact of HIV on young lives. She was moved by the desperate state of the infected children who were ostracized by their families and communities and left to fend for themselves. The Bedford native returned to Colorado College determined to help the sick children that had so affected her. Her dream became Ubuntu Africa. “I felt like I was meant to go there,” recalls Johnson. “I felt like I could really make a difference with these children.” A long road ahead of her, Johnson arranged for a cocktail reception to raise money for the cause. “I was very lucky because I had a lot of support from the community I grew up with.”
Several months and fundraisers later, Johnson had sufficient funding to get the project off the ground. The end result was a staffed facility for HIV-positive children and teenagers, providing healthcare, individual and group counseling, HIV education, nutritious meals, and medication compliance programs. Currently the program serves 100 children, ages four through 18.
Since the realization of her dream, the now 25 year old finds herself spending the majority of her time in Africa, changing lives one at a time. “Every single day when I’m out at the center, there are miracles,” Johnson reflects. “Every individual human being on the planet affects the world, and we’re all so connected. [It’s important to] be aware of the impact you have on the world and know that you can make choices that lift people up.”
Katherine Mullen | Greener Impact
Katherine Mullen was nearing the end of her sophomore year at Litchfield High School when she recognized a lack of sustainable, eco-friendly programs in the area. Her desire to foster volunteerism and eco-awareness blossomed into the school’s Greener Impact club, bringing together a group of students to educate the community, improve the school, and revel in the wonders of their beautiful surroundings.
Now a 17 year old senior at LHS, Mullen and the club’s 20 active members have taken the “go green” recycling initiatives to impressive levels, leading campus clean-ups, establishing recycling centers and compost systems on the Litchfield town green, and even cleaning up the area’s roads. “We all wear those reflective orange vests as we walk along the roads picking up trash,” she says with a laugh. “Greener Impact is not just about raising money, it’s about getting out there in the environment and doing.”
Mullen’s initiatives with Greener Impact have pushed past simple eco-friendly activities like heading up a holiday recycling drive to donating unopened gifts to the local Susan B. Anthony and Fish Homeless Centers. And, in the wake of the Haiti earthquake devastation, the group trolled the school lunchrooms for spare change, racking up nearly $2,500 to support the crisis efforts in Haiti.
“No matter what or how little you do, you can always do some good,” says Mullen. When Mullen moves on to college this fall, she hopes to share her passion for the environment with her new community, perhaps by opening a campus chapter of Greener Impact.
Lauren Nadan | Hats for Hope
There are those who rise up to meet challenges. Lauren Nadan is one of them. Nadan was a sophomore at Fairfield Ludlowe High School when she was diagnosed with a serious blood disorder. While undergoing treatments, Nadan was exposed to the embarrassment of the young patients experiencing hair loss, one of the most visible side effects of the chemotherapy treatments.
Healthy and motivated to boost the self-esteem and self-image of those children, Nadan drafted and sent letters to various companies requesting donations of trendy hats to bring to the sick children at New York Presbyterian/Weill-Cornell Medical Center. Her efforts resulted in 2,000 hats from 40 big name designers, such as Burberry, Barneys, J. Crew, Puma, and the New York Yankees.
“You’re contacting the companies, you’re raising money, but when you actually bring the hats and you see all of the kids, it’s a whole other level,” says Nadan. The enthusiastic response allowed Nadan to expand the hat distribution to six area hospitals.
Now a 22-year-old senior at Emory University, Nadan, who has founded a chapter of Hats for Hope on campus, hopes to work with her future employer to start yet another chapter. “The more people you can get involved, the more impact it can have,” says Nadan. “Hats for Hope has a lot of potential.”
