On any given Tuesday, many LZHS students are wrapped up in sports practices, music lessons, dance classes, club meetings, keeping up with friends, and completing piles of homework.
But on Tuesday, February 19, one senior was participating in something much bigger than herself. Sam MilBourn spent her Tuesday evening giving a presentation to Ela Town Hall on her ultimate mission: to empower the world’s most impoverished.
For about a month now, Milbourn has been working towards the necessary steps in order to start her very own nonprofit and make her ambitious dream a reality.
“My original idea was to start an organization [funded] by people simply getting every person to donate one dollar per person,” MilBourn said. “And then, with that money, my organization would set up research teams that would find the country’s most impoverished areas, starting in the U.S, and there would be volunteers to go to this area and offer housing help and classes teaching the importance of education, how to maintain oneself, and other work that would help build a new lifestyle.”
For MilBourn, the first step to reaching her goal involved looking to start a nonprofit organization. This process involved 60 pages of paper work in order for the secretary of state and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to officially recognize MilBourn’s idea as a fully functional, nonprofit 501c (3) foundation. When MilBourn realized these delays to jumpstarting her work, she improvised.
“That’s when I realized a lot of what I wanted to do was similar to Habitat for Humanity, so I could team up with them,” MilBourn said. “I still have to meet with the overseer of Lake County’s habitat for humanity, but I want to pitch my main idea of getting every person, starting in Lake Zurich, to donate just 1 dollar to something as big as poverty.”
While pursuing this idea as a senior may appear to be an planned act of inspiration, MilBourn has been waiting to do something big to help others for years.
“[I was really inspired] by my best friend’s mom who had this ‘open door’ policy where she let anyone into her home because she cared,” MilBourn said. “We are all built the same. It doesn’t make sense to not care about those who suffer around you, because there is no guarantee that it won’t be you tomorrow.”
In order to empower the impoverished, MilBourn wants to begin by meeting their physical needs so that it is also possible to repair their emotional health.
“Everyone’s going to have their financial issues and struggles no matter what we do, but I want everyone to feel safe and content and be able to have a place where they say ‘This is my home” Milbourn said.
However, Milbourn is aware of the possible difficulties. According to Charity Net USA website, there are multiple steps in creating and running a successful nonprofit.
“Starting a nonprofit or charity can be very rewarding but very complex as well,” states the Charity Net USA website. “Donations do not come easily, and the odds of failing are high, therefore planning and working with an experienced team is essential.”
Although MilBourn recognizes there are skeptics who may think her plan is too ambitious, particularly in her ability to get everyone in Lake County to donate, she is confident that raising one dollar per person will be a success.
“I personally think it’s possible. I think the problem with a lot of organizations is people don’t know how much to donate or they don’t because they don’t feel connected. But one dollar, especially in certain areas, seems very doable to people,” MilBourn said. “Just because [some administror] says ‘no’ to my idea does not mean I’ll stop. I’ll find a way. Eventually someone will say ‘yes’.”