They Get It
Posted: Thursday, January 29, 2009 by Travis Cody inSometimes it can seem that the only thing we hear about collegiate athletics has to do with performance on the field, court, or pitch. Or we hear about negative behaviors.
And there can be extreme cynicism in the term student-athlete.
But I'd like to tell you about Alade Aminu, a 6'10" senior forward at Georgia Tech. He is from Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain GA. I was watching Georgia Tech play Clemson on Sunday, and I heard a brief mention of Aminu that had nothing to do with hoops.
Aminu has founded a non-profit organization called Brotherhood of the World. Together with his younger brother and some of his teammates, Aminu provides mentoring and tutoring to the youth in his community.
I took the mission statement directly from the website.
Brotherhood of the World was founded in March of 2008. Our mission is to tap into the generous spirit of athletes and other caring individuals by developing opportunities to give back to the community; through a volunteer program specifically focused on underprivileged youths and children. These programs enable us to interact with them to help provide them with the necessary skills, tools, and resources for conducting themselves successfully in life. We embrace family values as well as fellowship and camaraderie. Through these values, we want to help motivate the youth to set and achieve high goals in education, in the community and ultimately their lives. We understand that they really look up to us as positive influences and we hope to build bonds that will serve the young forever. While our primary target is the youth, we also advocate ideas and programs for combating homelessness and trying to enhance the lives of the less fortunate.
This foundation is rooted in Atlanta, but will have future partnerships and growth throughout the country and eventually the world.
I encourage you to go to the website. I searched through page after page and only found one mention of Aminu on the home page. This organization isn't the vanity of a star athlete. This young man has a genuine passion and commitment to service. I listened to him speak about his program here.
Something is going right. There are young people out there who get it. And they are dedicating themselves to their communities. By doing so, they pass on the spirit of service to the youth they mentor and tutor. And those youth develop that same sense of community service, first by emulating those who took interest in them.
Then those kids mature and take service into their hearts and minds, mentoring and tutoring a new generation. This is how we spread hope and opportunity. This is how we make life better.
This is how we enrich the world.
That's a pretty cool thing to do. Good for him! :)