Years ago at the dawn of my engineering career in Detroit, I had this passion to make the world better ( I still have it today). A story broke one day of a young male Detroiter who survived a tour of the Persian Gulf war only to arrive back home to be killed. During a conversation about the tragedy, a few friends and I set a goal that we would do something to make the world a better.

We began by tutoring young African American youth on Detroit’s Eastside helping them with homework and general life issues. In our group of twenty-somethings were electrical, chemical, mechanical engineers, and accountants with degree levels up to Ph.D. We broke every stereotype molded and fashioned for African American men: no one had every been arrested, no one had experimented with drugs or alcohol, no one had multiple out of wedlock children, and despite our beliefs – none of us could dance. The following year we set a goal to push further into making the world better and we gave free financial planning workshops to adult men living in a drug rehabilitation center. They had lost everything and we gave them skills to be better stewards of their smaller finances. Both were amazing experiences.

The third year, we raised the bar and set out to change lives again by penning an even more challenging goal. We developed and delivered a custom designed workshop for young African American males that had no father living in their home called “The Making of an Eagle.” The two day workshop centered on giving the boys key life survival skills that would help them develop into strong responsible men. The free workshops were a success and attracted boys from single parent families, social services, and even the court system. We even wrote a book of the event called appropriately…The Making of an Eagle ( available on Amazon).

The fourth year, it was discovered that citizens living in a community in the South were excluded from the best jobs in the community because they could not pass a math and science aptitude test required to just get an interview. Discussions abound about lowering the test score requirement. Instead, we agree that we do something to life the community. A fellowship hall was borrowed for two nights a week and math and science was taught free of charge to anyone that attended. Almost immediately, the previously denied population started earning the right to an interview.

We are all now older in very successful careers and living in different parts of the country and we continue to set goals goals that will make the world better. Thirty2give is a result of the same goal that we have to make the world better. You probably have a list of things that you would like to accomplish this year and my hope and prayer is that on your list is at least one thing that you will do to make the world better in 2020.