The Power of Hope by Rhea

The Power of Hope by Rhea - January 2017 Scholarship Essay

Four years ago, I began my volunteering journey at Hope For Three, a local autism charity organization. I worked in administration and events and was able to get experience with both autism and fundraising. Volunteering at Hope For Three and interacting with families with autistic children showed me the lack of awareness about autism that there is in the general community. It also made me realize the immense living and treatment costs for children with autism.

The awareness I received from my time spent volunteering at Hope For Three influenced me to develop an autism awareness organization at my high school. Therefore, in 2014 I co-founded a club called Team Hope: Autism Advocates at my high school.

With a help of a vibrant and dynamic team of students I was able to spread awareness and fundraise over $1,000 in funds for autism research, support, and services in the Houston area. Through Hope For Three, we were able to volunteer with autistic kids and experience the wide range of the autism spectrum as we met children from both extremes.

We threw ourselves into planning and we were soon able to host a speaker event with our Science National Honor Society chapter and begin our first fundraiser, selling Christmas cards designed by autistic children and quickly raising more than $200. We expanded our outreach across cultures through a 30 minute radio segment with Masala Radio, the most popular South Asian station in the Houston Metropolitan Area. We reached the business world through collecting sponsors such as Momentum BMW, Sterling McCall Lexus, and Texas Instruments.

In addition to these, we did 15 more events in less than three months, including selling socks for autism, booths at local events, autism drives, partnerships, and even meeting Grant Manier, a phenomenal autistic artist and entrepreneur, and Temple Grandin, arguably the most famous person with autism in the nation.
I developed partnerships with a large number of organizations through the course of our project, including but not limited to Hope For Three, Masala Radio, Sterling McCall Lexus, Clements High School, Eclipse Soccer, and the Goddard School.

I truly believe that on both a statistical and emotional scale, my project was a grand success. I was inspired by the people I met and the knowledge I gained to continue to learn and grow and play an active role in the battle against ASD.

To this day I remain invigorated to the purpose of this cause and strive to represent all my autistic loved ones.