The Voice of the Silent

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Lexie Cargile

Our UNICEF group made and presented this video over Gender-Based Discrimination at the United Nations General Assembly and the National Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2011. UNICEF actively seeks to give a voice to the silent who are just another statistic and work to provide a valuable life for these victims.

We had 100 female students take a vow of silence and walk around with statistics written on a piece of paper hanging around their neck the entire school day. The annoying, bold, degrading paper was symbolic for the many people who suffer such terrible lives that they have to live and go through everyday.

It really opened our school’s eyes to happenings outside of Argyle, TX. Not only did we get the word out about UNICEF but had the opportunity to speak for these victims who have been silenced for too long. Many are so ignorant to things outside of their “bubble” that they never even realize that this effects people every single day.

http://storify.com/lexiecargile/believe-in-zero

Believe In Zero http://t.co/pFtYVkOOha #storify #believeinzero

— 𝚕𝚎𝚡 (@lcarg_) December 10, 2013

What if that were you? Or your mother? Or your sister? You wouldn’t stand for it.

Every day, 18,000 children under five die from preventable causes. UNICEF believes that number should be ZERO.

They die of diseases that can be stopped with a simple vaccine. They die of illnesses that can be prevented with clean water. They die because they don’t have a $3 bed net to protect them from mosquitos carrying deadly disease. We believe that the world can bring that number to ZERO.

Katy Perry Named UNICEF’s Newest Goodwill Ambassador (popwrapped.wordpress.com)
Let us find our voice in silence and aloneness (nectarforthesoul.wordpress.com)
“All Rights For All Children, Worldwide.” (obervatoriorrii.wordpress.com)

An App for Charity

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Lexie Cargile

*This is a specific post for an assignment* Updated December 9, 2013:

I believe an app that could provide local charities, or organizations based on your interests and talents would be extremely beneficial to volunteers. Especially volunteers, like me, who have recently moved and aren’t familiar with where the local charities are at near them or what organizations there are (or aren’t) on campus or in their community.

The app would first provide an option to choose between court-ordered community service, or personal community service, based on your selection the app would require you to complete a basic questionnaire (different for court-ordered and personal). The court-ordered questionnaire would ask the following: citation issued, city issued in, the municipal court and judge, and how many hours of community service needed for citation, and any other extenuating circumstances. The personal questionnaire would ask a series of questions to achieve a better understanding of your talents, general interests, and goals for personal volunteering. The app would then provide a list of organization(s) and a brief summary of what they stand for, contact information, and their website based on what suits you best, or are acceptable by the court, based on your questionnaire answers and proximity.

I think this would be extremely helpful to volunteers everywhere who don’t know how to get involved, or what their interests and talents are best suited for, but are still interested in getting involved.

This app could possibly eliminate people who want to get involved but don’t know how because they don’t know what organization is best for them based on their interests and talents. It could also potentially eliminate many people who are given court-ordered community service for a citation and don’t know which are acceptable, non-profit organizations.

People, myself included, would want to use this app because it makes it easier to determine what organization(s) would be the best to volunteer for and then provides the exact addresses and contact information. This would make it far more convenient for the volunteer to get involved and less time consuming than searching google and researching organizations all day until you find ONE that you like. It would also be easier for current volunteers who are interested in expanding their horizons and joining other organizations, in addition to the ones they are currently involved in. It would provide the best organization join (that may or may not be similar) based on your current organizations they are involved in.

To my knowledge, this exact app does not exist (unfortunately), so I have provided a few links to websites with tips to choosing the perfect organization for you in hopes of making it easier for you!

Tips For Choosing a Charity | Choose Your Charity | Browse For a Cause |Charity Challenge | 10 Tips For Being The Best Volunteer You Can Be

I hope this helps!

How To Evaluate A Charity (live.wsj.com)
How to Find Volunteer Opportunities This Holiday Season (foxbusiness.com)
10 Charity Apps You’ll Want On Your Homescreen (huffingtonpost.com)

My Trip Back Home

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Lexie Cargile

Recently, I made a trip back home to Dallas, TX to visit family. Well, what started as a family visit ended up in a family volunteering weekend. My little brother, Jon Ross, took on a leadership role in UNICEF (the same group I founded with friends my junior year in high school) naturally, I was ecstatic to be able to help them in any way I could! In Texas, it is a huge Homecoming tradition to have large, over the top mums and garters! Every year, the Argyle UNICEF group has been making these gorgeous mums and selling them to help fundraise for events and trips to New York where the UNICEF corporate office is located! It took over our entire game room. It is not as easy as it looks, after many hot glue gun burns, ribbons, scissors, and teddy bears later they have successfully put together over 20 of these beautiful mums and garters to sell among the high school students, and 5 mums for the special needs children. They will be crowned these sometime during Homecoming week! Last year they raised $5,000 and I know this year they plan to raise even more. Attached below are some of the pictures from the mess and fun experience I had!

If you are interested in starting your own UNICEF club please email me at Lexie.Cargile@aol.com and I would absolutely love to help you get that started or answer any questions!

Argyle Community Civic League: Tour of Homes

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Lexie Cargile

Though I live in San Marcos now I am still actively involved in the Argyle Community Civic League back in my home-town. Thankfully, my mother is one the groups volunteers and keeps me up to date on all the happenings and events currently going on. Their most recent and most successful event I had the pleasure of helping with was the Tour Of Homes! The ladies went around to community members with beautiful homes asking they would be willing to participate! Most agreed, and those who didn’t decided to donate instead. This fundraiser was a huge success; they were able to raise $5,235! This was the first of many more tour of homes to come. For everyone back home, be on the lookout for Tour of Homes: Christmas Edition!

CCL T-Shirts

I wasn‘t hands-on too much with this particular project but I did design the t-shirts for ACCL and that was more than enough for me.

If any of my followers happen to live in the Argyle or Denton area they are always welcoming volunteers! Check out their facebook for information to get involved!

Thanksgiving dinner group looking for help (poststar.com)

New To Town

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Lexie Cargile

Hello, everyone!

As I have been getting acclimated to the San Marcos and Austin area I have not forgotten to be on the lookout for any type of way to get involved in the surrounding areas. It took a little bit of searching but I have been volunteering the first and third Wednesday of every month for M.A.D.D. (Mother’s Against Drunk Driving), which isn’t usually what I get myself involved in but I do appreciate the change. I have had the pleasure of helping the setup and helping the attendees in the class. It is a one hour class that shares a very personal story of a mother who lost her nineteen year old son to a drunk driving accident. As stated, it’s not my usual line of volunteer work, but it has truly opened my eyes to some scary facts. They are always looking for volunteers and young faces to get involved!

Have a great day and try to find YOUR best way to “be the change”