ORGANIZATION FOCUSED ON YOUTH TO HOST VIRTUAL FUNDRAISER

Be the Miracle is a non-profit organization that seeks to empower young people to change their communities. The organization will host a virtual event. Photo courtesy of Be the Miracle
Be the Miracle is a non-profit organization that seeks to empower young people to change their communities. The organization will host a virtual event. Photo courtesy of Be the Miracle

Organization focused on youth to host virtual fundraiser

BY TIA CAROL JONES
    Be the Miracle is an organization co-founded by Hassahn Liggins and Kristen Perteet. The mission of the organization is to rebuild communities and end the cycle of violence in the city of Chicago.
     Due to COVID-19, their annual Changing Seasons, Changing Lives fundraiser, will be a virtual event. It will take place on Saturday, Nov. 14.
Liggins and Perteet started Be the Miracle when they decided to throw a party with a purpose and raise money to give to another organization that would help stop the violence.
     At first, they started giving money to Ceasefire and Father Pfleger, but wanted to have a bigger impact. Consequently, they formed a non-profit to give of their time and their resources.
    “We created this mission where we really wanted to empower the youth and our young people and for them to be able to pay it forward. So, whatever we teach them or whatever we instill in them, their promise to us is that we’ll help you reach your goals,” Liggins said who added that they wanted the young people to come back to their community in Chicago and instill those goals in their peers, and maybe people even younger.
     Jhaianne Cooper is a good example of how the organization is empowering youth and how those young people are inspiring others. Cooper is the organization’s first Be the Miracle Scholar. A graduate of Chicago High School for the Arts, she attended Alabama State University and has started her own non-profit, Radiant Souls Community Service Organization.
     Liggins said they have grown since and awarded scholarships to other students. They have also expanded into more programs – financial literacy, community empowerment and mentorship. They are developing a new program, Be Empowered, for young women. “That’s kind of the premise of Be the Miracle, uplifting, empowering our young people to help stop the senseless violence in Chicago by giving them the tools they need to be great and in turn, they can be great for somebody else,” he said.
      Liggins said the organization thought about not hosting the event this year, but didn’t want to stop the momentum it had going. So, they decided to do a virtual experience. It will include highlights from the Man Up Program, entertainment, Jhaianne Cooper will speak and a mixologist, showing how to do a drink demonstration with Uncle Nearest, a Black-owned Whiskey company, will also be featured. The night will begin and end with DJ Emilio Buss.
      Liggins said it is extremely important for non-profit organizations to host fundraisers during this time, even if they are virtual events. “The fundraising is so important because that is the main component of how we get funds in order to create these programs, in order to give a scholarship to a Jhaianne, in order to give a scholarship to a Sebastian Ortiz, in order to fund Man Up,” he said. “The funds go a long way. It funds our programs. It helps us to do things off the cuff—like we still contribute to other organizations helping to stop the violence. So, if we see somebody doing something like what we’re doing and we’re aligned, we’ll definitely even donate to other non-profits because we know we can’t do it by ourselves.”
     For more information on Be the Miracle, visit bethe-miracle.org. To participate in the fundraiser, visit https://btmchangingseasonschanginglivesvirtualfundraiser.eventbrite.com.

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