By Kayla Honeycutt

Special to the Salisbury Post

I have been blessed to grow up in a community that has taught me the importance of serving others. Many people in my life, including my parents, teachers, and coaches, have inspired me to make a difference in my community.

When reminiscing on past experiences, a few exposures to poverty come to mind that have helped me realize that my biggest purpose in life is to help others. I spent my elementary years at Overton where many students came from difficult backgrounds and dealt with poverty in a real way, yet many of them were eager to learn just like me. I’ve also seen local poverty while serving at Rowan Helping Ministries. One of my most impactful exposures to poverty came while I was building houses as a volunteer in Costa Rica. The homes we built were absent of running water and rest rooms. The Costa Rican children we served barely had what they needed to survive, much less what they needed to learn and become educated.

My experiences taught me to take a closer look at the issue of poverty in Salisbury. With this issue heavy on my heart, I founded a school supply program at Salisbury High called S.O.S. (Supplies Offered to Students). To ask for help with supplies, I presented my project to Sunday school classes, mailed letters to family and friends, participated in a church yard sale and delivered grocery bags to my neighbors who generously filled them full of the needed supplies.

I also tied my supply project into my graduation project and was very pleased when I had the privilege to interview Dr. (Latoya) Dixon, the co-principal at Knox Middle School, about my topic, “Overcoming Poverty Through Education.” She talked about the importance of that one person in her life, a teacher, who helped her believe in herself and overcome poverty. That interview inspired me to expand my school supply project to Knox and Overton to give those students the same chance at a success story.

I have had some neat experiences through my school supply project. One night a teacher was at the store about to buy school supplies for 10 of her students but remembered my project and called me. On another occasion, I provided school supplies to the assistant principal at Salisbury High for 50 underprivileged students attending a back-to-school pool party. As I prepare to leave for college, I am happy that my younger sister will take over the S.O.S. project.

I wish every student could have that one person in their life to encourage them to overcome their difficult situation and rise above it to succeed. I believe education is the key to success so I will continue to help students, and I encourage each of you to help others too.

Kayla Honeycutt is a senior at Salisbury High School.