April 27 going to the Rick Hansen movement and charity in Kelowna, defiantly being the high light of my day, meeting so many people, so many inspirational people, a lot of them being in wheel chairs really put a lot into perspective for me. Making me so appreciative for how lucky we are to be able to go for a run and to go out for a hike up the mountain to swim, ski, bike, and do all of our day to day activates as we do, without effort. You just don’t think about it and how wonderful and how, almost spoiled we are to have life this way to have the freedom to be able to do all of these wonderful fun things that make life all the better. It’s horrible how much of it we take for granted not knowing how lucky we are and what it really is that we have until it is gone.  For a lot of these amazing people it is gone, but they still live their lives to the fullest. Living each and every day to the fullest that they can, not letting their disability hold them back from achieving anything that they want to do. Truly great people and even with this disability they are out playing their favorite sports, one of which I had the opportunity to play myself, but with no advantage, none at all, sitting me in a wheel chair they taught me how to play basketball but not just the game we all know and love but basketball in a wheel chair?! Not as easy as it looks – that’s for sure!

It is truly amazing to see how these people even though they are disabled, even though they have lost the use of there legs, that they have lost that part of there lives. They continue on living a happy life and living it to the maximum that they can taking limitations that they have been given, pushing them up and beyond what was thought  possible. Meeting Rick Hansen on top of this great opportunity, the man who started it all, the man in motion, the creator and motivator for numerous charities helping fund research for paraplegics all over the world. A truly inspiration man, not only giving hope to the ones in the same seat as himself but inspiring many others around the world to live their lives to the fullest, to never let any bump get in your way no matter how big it may be. We are all the same on the inside with hopes and dream to be someone one day, to do this and do that, and to live it up to the fullest, live, love, and experience life the way it was meant to be with a smile and a never giving up adittuide.

Not truthfully taking all this in before, truly thinking about any of this. Taking a closer look at the world and trying to see it through a different set of eyes, makes this so much more amazing, seeing all of these people doing what they are doing, and doing it so well, doing things that even me as an able bodied young girl could ever dream of doing. They have gone the distance they have shown the world that just because you are faced with such a harrish crack in lifes mirror, that you can keep on rolling forward that you can keep on fighting for what you know, what you want, and for everything that matters and makes your life your own. I believe that we should all take a moment to stop and think about what we have in this life and what it all means and think to ourselves, do we really appreciate everything that we have in this life? For thoses who have nothing they appreciate everything, no matter what it may be that they have. They are gracious for that they have and for what they don’t have. So we should also be thanking all of these men and women out there that rise above all the rest to show us that even with so little we can have it all.

So thank you Rick Hansen and to everyone else, you are all a true inspiration to me and the rest of the world around us!!!

Today I was at the Upper Room Mission in Vernon, handing out food for the less fortunate, giving a little bit of hope with each and every meal; I have to say that this was a great learning experience, and actually a lot of fun.

In the late 1970’s, a drop-in coffee house ministry was established by Bill Huston. It later became the Upper Room Mission in the 1980’s. The Upper Room Mission is sponsored by the government. Major Companies, and Superstores, alongside the community, are supporting the upper room mission with donations of food and other much needed supplies, helping them to help the homeless and the needy.

Beth, one of the managers of the upper room mission, is always doing her part to help as much as she can, helping the homeless get back on track with their lives, supplying them with accommodations and food. Helping them to find a job, and most of all helping them to gain there independence back.

While I was there, I was able to befriend a middle aged man, who told me that he had come to the Upper Room Mission two years ago in need. He didn’t have a job, a home, or friends who could have helped him out. The Upper Room Mission helped him to get back on his feet. He is now a staff helping, for those who are in the same shoes that he was in two years ago, now working part time, at the Upper Room Mission Thrift store, giving all the proceeds from the store to the Upper Room Mission its self.

I arrived there with my crown and sash at eleven o clock, Beth had told me that we are going to BBQ some sausages and Sauerkraut. I was able to help on the assembly line with putting the sausages, buns, and the sauerkraut together in a lunch box. All of us were packing about 300 lunch boxes within the 1 hour that we had for the lunching. We then prepared all the tables and where finally ready to let the people in. I am still blown away by the sheer numbers of people that had come to get a meal, all of those people who have gone for a day or maybe more without a real meal.

This experience has been a real eye opener for me, seeing all the poor souls that have nothing more than the clothes on their backs, to be able to sit one to one with some of these people and hear their stories, and how they ended up like this hits close to home, making me truly thankful for what I have and to live in such a wonderful country the beautiful Okanagan, makes me proud to call myself Miss Teen Okanagan World 2012, and even more so to be able to do something good with my title and as a person, truly a great day all in all.