The Story of LEAP

 I'm sure everyone knows the gist of it by now, but it is important to know where we come from as an organization to know where we go from here. LEAP began as a week-long conference held in early 2011. The point of this conference was to increase student awareness about poverty, especially poverty in Macon. We had speakers, panels, and even a poverty simulation. Personally, I remember aiding in the poverty simulation as an "illegal activities person". Basically, I was a thief, a gang, and a jailbird for most of the simulation. I stole things from houses, bullied people into trading them in for money for me, and things like that. I had a toy gun and got "arrested" on several occasions by a police officer who was acting as, well, a police officer.

So we had the panels and simulations. We learned what was going on in Macon. And we committed 10,000 hours of community service in order to make a difference. And the LEAP we know now was born from those hours. Originally, LEAP stood for Local Engagement Against Poverty, but we have grown beyond our 10,000 hour goal and our own name. Though we want to get 10,000 hours, we do not want to stop there. Ten thousand hours will not eliminate poverty in Macon, and we do not want to leave a job undone.
Now, we are an organization putting forward service Saturdays, hoping to get the entire campus involved in community with Macon. It is about working together to make Macon a(n even) better place to live.

-Bailee Kitchens, Director of Marketing