Doing Good.

I saw Les Miserables on New Years day and it was fantastic. Please be advised that this movie is not a Disney movie, and it is rated PG-13 for good reason. The casting was perfect and the performances were Oscar-worthy. I highly recommend this movie based on the book by Victor Hugo. (Parents may want to be familiar with the story line before taking your children)

In his book, Victor Hugo writes, “Slavery still exists, but now it applies to women and its name is prostitution.” While this was not a shocking statement to me, it served as a reminder that there is so much work to be done in our own backyard and around the world to fight injustice.

Note: This post is not a political blog and has no opinion on the role of government. This post, rather, is an expression of our passion in decreasing the effects of injustice and for ‘doing good’ whenever and wherever possible and feasible.

When Hugo’s quote came across my Facebook feed, every part of me wanted to go tell everyone I know about a non-profit that fights to abolish human trafficking in the 21st century. I wanted to run into my boss’ office and demand that we partner with this group, donate tons of money, and suggest to everyone to do the same.

I clicked over to our website to see where we might be able to fit another partner organization. I clicked on the ‘About Us‘ page, scrolled down, and saw the handful of partners to which we donate and support on an ongoing basis. The list includes World Vision, Mercy Corps, Graceworks, Dream Foundation, and Plan USA. (If you have stayed with us recently, you may have noticed the kids and projects that we currently support on our lobby walls)

Then it hit me.

There are a lot of organizations doing a lot of good work locally and around the world. Most readers of this post do not know my boss, but he donates to our partners because he cares and believes that the work they are doing is making a positive change in this world. He gives generously and often without fanfare.

Also, if you have stayed with us in the last couple of years, you have been presented with an opportunity through Plan USA to donate a dollar and that we, as an organization, will match. Our staff rallied around the effort, and the result has been an amazing success story; so much so that my boss has donated a lot more money than he initially expected to. It was a joy for us to watch him back up his promise. To this day you, our guests, have donated approximately $600 a month to this organization and their projects. We are very appreciative of your contributions.

Yet not everyone needs to support all the non-profits that we, or I, believe in. Maybe everyone just needs to find something they can support for themselves. Something they can get behind; something that makes a tangible difference in the world.

I have mine. Our organization has theirs, and over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing with you some of our amazing partner organizations and what they do. They may not become your cause, but the hope is that you’ll find one, if you haven’t already. The hope is that you’ll know when you choose Ramada Maingate at the Park, you too are helping support good works being done in and around the world.