We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on. We are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech ... - Nikki Giovanni, VA Tech University Distinguished Professor, poet, activist

Everyone at some point in their lives will experience a mini-Katrina. The question is what do you do after the storm? This week that raging storm hit the quaint collegial community of Roanoke, VA – home to Virginia Tech. Our focus should be on healing, supporting and reflecting how do we plant seeds of hope to prevent violence. The storm was building overtime within the young man who committed this violent act and expanded into other peoples worlds.

Following Hurricane Katrina, the Plant Hope project was created with the focus on how do we help and give hope to other people everyday such as the quiet person. With the recent passing of my father, a retired Corporal of the Oklahoma City Fire Department for 26 years and was commended for his volunteerism while off-duty during the Oklahoma City Bombing, I rededicated the project in his honor.

So this Saturday, April 21st, we kick off the Plant Hope initiative at McKinley Tech High School in Washington, DC for National and Global Service Day, which youth and adults to come plant hope in the community and the Gulf. That day youth will create postcards and poetry of hope for VA Tech and the Gulf showing the value of art for healing and public service.

Also the community can join in the are encouraged to plant hope on April 29th at the Kogan Plaza on the campus of George Washington University from 2-4pm with Creative Cause, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Chapter of GWU, Influence PR (Public Relations Student Society of America Chapter). The community will have a chance to make postcards of hope for VA Tech and the Gulf.

In a society that’s always on the go, sometimes we need to step back and take time to plant hope from what we say to people in the morning. Give a smile, a hug, or a thank you will do to your neighbor, child, parent, teacher or co-worker. That’s on an individual level. An on a societal /policy/media level, we can plant hope by strengthening youth programs in our communities giving youth creative outlets and mentorship to give them a sense of purpose.

Also we plant hope with images in ad campaigns and media with positive personal stories to inform and inspire all people to feel like they can make a difference in the world and starting within their life. We each can do our part in building a better community together and that involves planting hope. First we all should start with ourselves because we cannot give what we do not have. And this young man did not see hope. And when there is no hope there is no future.

Why do I know you need to plant hope? Because I had no feeling of a future as a child while growing up in Oklahoma City living through the OKC bombing and formerly worked on youth trauma programs in mental health; and now my future is full of hope because my community and I planted hope in me.

–Tambra Stevenson, Creator of Postcards from Katrina, a program of Creative Cause

Let me know how you planted hope today! Email me at tambra at planthope dot org.