Last week was an overwhelming week for me. The only question is, what will I allow to overwhelm me? The darkness or the light?

Allow me to explain.

I attended three fundraising dinners last week. Each of them hosted by an amazing non-profit combatting a societal problem facing today’s children.

Many of the stories were tough to hear. But these organizations are casting light into those dark places.

The first dinner was for the Adams Thermal Foundation. An organization that operates two K-12 schools for at-risk children in southwest Ethiopia. These schools also help women and mothers of students learn business and job skills so as to break the generational cycle-of-poverty and lift families out of despair and hopelessness.

The Foundation is making a giant difference, but there are still hundreds of children who need sponsors.

The second was the Cleaver’s Chef Challenge, an annual dinner that raises money for the Children’s Home Society of South Dakota. Some of those kids have been through unimaginable trauma.

The third was the Nurses Dinner hosted by the Jorgen Yde Foundation, a charity that raises awareness and funding for pediatric cancer research and leukemia research.

• Schools for Ethiopian children forgotten by their government.
• A home for South Dakota children suffering from abuse and neglect.
• Funding for kids cancer research.

Each an overwhelming challenge facing children. Each organization doing incredible work to address a challenge. I can choose to be overwhelmed by those dark challenges. The darkness.

Or, I can be overwhelmed by the work that each organization located right here in my hometown is doing to bring light to children who need it. The light.

I choose the latter and will do what I can to help those organizations succeed. Which will overwhelm you? The darkness facing children or the light people are bringing to it?