UF graduate leaves corporate world to help community: United We Serve

The Obamas volunteer together at a United We Serve
event (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

In a courageous move, University of Florida graduate Jared Paul left his “well-paying corporate job” in San Francisco to form a nonprofit organization called A Good Idea (AGI), which organizes monthly events to help the homeless, "Intentional Acts of Kindness" gatherings, meditation pot lucks, and other initiatives to help the community. The organization is working to put spirituality into practice through kindness.

Paul, who has a Bachelor’s degree in business administration, describes his inspiration for founding AGI as follows:

Coming out of a breakup, I began questioning what I was doing. I felt I was living by societal norms. I started getting in touch with my spiritual side.

Paul’s move to put spirituality into practice is fully in alignment with recent statements from the White House encouraging all Americans to get out into their local communities and do what they can this summer as part of United We Serve. Not everyone will be able to quit their job and found an organization such as AGI, and not everyone will feel compelled to don a costume and join the real-life superheroes who (per CNN) are actively helping their neighbors in these difficult economic times. But every American can go to Serve.gov or All for Good to find local opportunities to help. Following Paul’s example, we can each find our own way of putting spirituality into practice by being kind:

• “What this world needs is a new kind of army - the army of the kind.” - Cleveland Amory
• “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” – Seneca
• “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” - Plato
• “Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” – Mother Teresa
• “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain

Making a difference does not require a sacrifice such as the one shown in the inspirational video below – just the smallest act of kindness can send ripples of joy and hope throughout a troubled world. Peace!