The Air Force encourages volunteerism, so when my colleagues asked me to join their Relay For Life team, I could hardly resist. We had so many team members that we needed to break into two teams, and I was asked to captain the secondary team. Instead of a bake sales and car washes, I came up with a unique idea: raise donations in the virtual world of Second Life, and then convert the virtual currency into the real money that would pay for cancer patient programs.

It was a wildly successful idea that my friends and I continued to build upon.  The following year, we created a stand-alone virtual Relay For Life event. The year after, we had so many virtual volunteers, we had to form teams.  To date, the event has raised more than $1 Million. Each year, hundreds of volunteers sign into Second Life, organize virtual fundraisers with their teams, collect donations, and celebrate hope at the culminating event during which avatars walk for hours around a virtual track.

American Cancer Society sent me to conferences to speak about our success, and I met my future wife at the Second Life Community Convention. At the time, she was working for Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life. We had met online and were friends in the virtual world, so she knew who I was. But this was our first time meeting in person. She was slim, with short brown hair and glasses, and dressed professionally. The sexy librarian look. The first time she saw me, she pinched my cheeks and remarked about how cute I was. Embarrassing! Four years and four conventions later, I asked her to marry me. 

I developed a reputation in Second Life as a successful community organizer and was hired by a number of development companies who were  pitching the use of virtual worlds to their clients. I had the opportunity to work on lots of exciting projects, including a Super Bowl commercial for Two and A Half Men, which was created using Second Life as a video production platform. Not only had volunteerism introduced me to my wife, it sparked an exciting career on the cutting edge of social media, and before long, I was making a lot of money for someone with only a high school diploma.

As volunteers, we try to give of ourselves and make a difference in our world. But sometimes, volunteerism gives back.

When I was fourteen, a teacher at my high school had noticed I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the summer “vacation” at home on the family farm, and she was able to pull some strings to get me into the counselor-in-training (CIT) program at Camp Mokule’ia on Oahu’s famous North Shore. The greatest hurdle was convincing my parents to let me go. My family was counting on me to work in the crops that summer on the farm. Not to mention my folks hated the idea of me travelling halfway around the world by myself. I cried and begged and pleaded with them for weeks to let me go, to no avail. So, it was nothing short of a miracle when my teacher was able to persuade my parents to let me go.

It was a sweet deal, too; I would volunteer as a camp counselor for six weeks, and everything else would be provided free of charge. My fairy Godmother must have been looking out for me.
It was a summer adventure that transformed me and changed my life forever.

For six weeks, I got to experience a brief taste of independence, meet fascinating people from all over the world, experience Hawaiian culture, and have fun working with kids. Camp Mokule’ia is about an hour from Honolulu and is far from the bustling tourist beaches and honeymoon spots that you see pictured on the cover of tourist magazines. The camp had quaint little seaside cabins and a pristine coastline. Right off the bat, I fell in love with the natural beauty of the place, the people, the local folklore, the wonderful food, and especially the friendly, live-and-let live attitude that most people I encountered there seemed to have. At the camp, weekdays were jam-packed with typical summer camp activities like capture the flag, arts & crafts, swimming, kayaking and snorkeling. The coral reef that shelters the camp is home to colorful fish and sea turtles, and it was here that I discovered how much I love the ocean.

And there was a boy.

Masi was the same age as me and was also in the CIT program. I felt a connection the instant we first met. I don’t know how else to describe it other than to say he had the most striking warm brown eyes, and even though we were complete strangers, I felt oddly comfortable in his presence. At fifteen, I was ordinarily awkward and clumsy and self-conscious (heck, I still am most of the time!), but with Masi it was very different and unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. When we met, I felt as if I’d known him my whole life. He had a very calm, serene demeanor and intelligent eyes that seemed very wise beyond their years. He was a talented surfer, an athlete, and the star of his high school paddling team. He played the guitar and ukulele. And he was really, really good looking. And, I couldn’t believe it but he seemed to like me, too!

In the evenings, the nighttime ritual was for the children and camp counselors to gather around a campfire and listen to stories told by locals in their funny pidgin dialect. Lights out was at ten o'clock. After we were certain the children were sound asleep, the CITs would go hang out at the boathouse. Masi and I would usually sneak away, sometimes to talk, but more often than not we’d find a quiet place on the beach just to look up at the stars. With him, I never felt the pressure to maintain a conversation. It was a comfortable silence. I remember feeling a tingly rush the first time he reached out to hold my hand. I was completely smitten.

As I got to know Masi better, he told me about his childhood in Somoa and how he came to be adopted by a family of Christian missionaries. That’s something I encountered a lot when I was at the camp; there were many kids who were adopted or who were being raised by friends or extended relatives. The concept of family seemed to be more loosely defined there, often referring to close friends and caregivers as family. In fact, before long many of the little kids began to refer to me as “auntie” and to each other as "seestah" or "cuz".

Each Saturday, the counselors would gather to say goodbye to that week’s group of campers, and there were a lot of hugs and tearful goodbyes. We exchanged addresses in order to keep in touch. There were a few children I became especially close to. I remember there was an eight year-old girl named Alana who told me about her mother’s drinking problem and she was worried her parents were going to get a divorce. For about a year or so after that, Alana would send me cards and pictures she had drawn in the mail. I really treasured those little cards, and when I see them in my scrapbook it always makes me smile.

After six weeks when it came time for me to return to the small farm where I was raised, I came back a changed person. I came back to North Carolina more determined than ever to work hard, study and put myself through college so I could travel the world one day, so that I could expand my horizons beyond the small town where I was from. At fifteen, I knew that there was so much more to life than I’d ever experienced before, or could even imagine from reading a book. And I discovered how much I enjoyed volunteering and especially caring for kids.

I only heard from Masi once after I came back to North Carolina, but I treasure the memories of the brief time we spent together.

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I suppose I should have seen my love for the cause of child welfare coming from a mile away, but if you’d asked me a few years ago if this would be my passion, I wouldn’t have guessed it. I suppose that’s how all good love stories happen though.

Before college, I loved caring for small children, and had my sights set on a nursing career in the neonatal unit of a hospital. But after freshman year proved that I wasn’t cut out for advanced science, I switched my focus to the humanities, eventually majoring in English and Spanish. Still, I kept volunteering with youth-oriented programs, such as inner city tutoring and summer camps.

College ended, and my career took on a marketing spin, but then I started volunteer teaching Junior Achievement classes, which help prepare students for the business world.

After moving from Tennessee to North Carolina, changing jobs, and finding Activate Good, I unknowingly landed what has become something of a dream job. I now recruit volunteers for the North Carolina Guardian ad Litem program, an affiliate of the national child advocacy association, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates).

When I applied for the position, I’d never heard of a guardian ad litem or CASA, but I did, of course, know that plenty of children throughout the country suffer abuse and neglect and end up being shuffled from home to home in foster care. Even though I’ve only been recruiting for the program for a few months, I’m fairly certain that I’ll always be interested in child advocacy, no matter what job I have next, or what state I move to. Securing the best interests of children everywhere will always be a cause worth fighting for, and I’m proud to say that I’ve truly fallen in love with cause. I’m also terribly lucky to get paid to work for a program that I sincerely believe in – so I’d say my love story has been a major success.

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In September 2004, I set off on a two-and-a-half month road trip across the country with my best friend, Heather. Our goal was to volunteer and conduct acts of kindness across the states, learn a thing or two about community and social change from nonprofit leaders in many cities, and come back with stories to tell about our adventures. Setting off on the trip, I had one of those feelings that the journey would change my life. Certainly, it did. But I couldn't have imagined that finding love on the road would be one of the monumental ways my life would change.

A few weeks into the trip, during a stay in Chicago, I met Shane. He joined us during our volunteer activities in the windy city, and Heather and I told him about our cross country journey and our mission. Inspired by the idea of the trip, Shane quit his job, packed up his things, and came with us on the road! We continued our volunteer adventures across the states, experiencing volunteerism with a number of causes and meeting plenty of other do-gooders from Seattle to New Orleans. By the end of the trip, our little group was inspired to promote volunteerism back at home in North Carolina. And Shane and I had decidedly found romance. Valentine's Day this year will be our seven year anniversary.

I hope you enjoyed my story, though I am not competing for the contest prize! (Activate Good board and committee members may post entries, but are ineligible to win the contest prize.)