When Raul Lopez first decided to check out the transcenDANCE cq Youth Arts Program in 2007, he was a teenaged dancer looking to sharpen his performance skills. He is now a 29-year-old real-estate agent who got so much more from transcenDANCE than a few new moves.
He became a whole new person.
Through transcenDANCE, the young man from City Heights learned how to interact with the public. He learned how to hold his own around donors and community movers-and-shakers. And when he lost the beloved great-grandmother who had raised him, Lopez was able to work through his grief by choreographing a dance piece in her honor.
“They took all of the things I wasn’t good at and they nurtured them,” Lopez said. “Without them, I don’t think I would have found my place in the world or what I was good at. I wouldn’t be as successful as I am now without transcenDANCE.”
On Tuesday, Lopez will be at the group’s new art studio in Lemon Grove for a special event that he sponsored to celebrate a special day. The event is a free community dance class in honor of Giving Tuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back to the causes you care about through donating your time, your money, your voice, or all of the above.
Like many organizations, transcenDANCE is also highlighting Giving Tuesday with a fund-raising opportunity. Now through Dec. 31, all donations made to transcenDANCE will be matched, until a $55,000 goal is reached.
And thanks to Lopez’s $5,000 donation, the giving is already off to a tremendous start.
“I have a heart because of transcenDANCE, so when I started making money, I wanted to give to the people who gave to me,” said Lopez, who now lives in Mission Valley. “They are such a giving organization. Nothing they do is based on money. They just focus on giving back to the community. I would give them more if I could, because I owe them the world.”
Launched in 2012 by the Belfer Center for Innovation and Social Impact at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Giving Tuesday aims a huge, international spotlight on the missions and accomplishments of nonprofit organizations and the resources they need to keep doing the life-changing work they do.
On the Giving Tuesday website (givingtuesday.org), you can follow live updates from organizations and donors and read uplifting stories from around the world. To give locally, start by checking the websites and social-media s of your favorite nonprofit organizations for matching-fund campaigns and other Giving Tuesday opportunities.
For instance, the Sahm Family Foundation will match all donations up to $50,000 to the San Diego Seniors Community Foundation‘s No Senior Alone Holiday Grants program. All donations to Jewish Family Service of San Diego will be matched up to $100,000 through Nov. 30.
At Feeding San Diego, the David C. Copley Foundation and Steve & Ruth Netzley will match every Giving Tuesday dollar up to $75,000. And an anonymous donor is matching all donations to the San Diego Botanic Garden up to $50,000 through Dec. 31.
And if you have a a ion for a certain cause, take a look at the San Diego Foundation‘s website, where you can donate to specific programs and funds or to such broader social-impact areas as arts and culture, housing and the environment.
Giving Tuesday is also a reminder that one of the best resources you can give is yourself. Charitable organizations always need volunteers, and your time is just as valuable as your money. And the dividends are pretty sweet, too.
“It’s so easy to do. You commit two hours or three hours, and you are helping so many people. If you can help meet that basic need for food, that person can focus on the rest of their life,” said Shelley Miller-Odelson, who is in her sixth year of volunteering with Jewish Family Service of San Diego‘s food-distribution programs, which are currently in need of volunteer drivers and people to work in the warehouse.
“And you realize after a while that you have to do this. You have to help people. What meaning is there in life if you can’t be good to other people?”
Also, the more you give to people, the better the community gets.
Over the years, donations to the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation in southeastern San Diego have fueled the organization’s business accelerator program, giving low-to-moderate income local entrepreneurs the chance to grow their businesses. They have helped the center provide services for youth in the community and give arts and culture groups a place to perform.
And as Giving Tuesday reminds us, that initial gift is usually the start of something big.
“When everyone is doing well collectively, things are better,” said Alex Waters, the center’s director of economic development. “If a business here does well, maybe it turns into a business with two or three locations. With arts and culture, being able to provide something that everyone can partake in, that is a really important part of what we do.
“Our focus is here in this community, but our connection is with all parts of San Diego.”
Giving Tuesday 2021 is on Nov. 30. Go to givingtuesday.org for information.
