As youth navigate a sea of selfies and Snapchats, the Boy Scouts of America’s national honor society Order of the Arrow (OA) tasks Scouts to find ways to promote good turns on social media.
On Wednesday, Aug. 5, during the National OA Conference at Michigan State University, OA Chief Alex Call (the org’s top youth leader), introduced an idea to 15,000 guests and staff members in attendance. The premise of Call’s mission was simple: Individual, small acts of service when added together, can change the world.
“Each day, opportunities to demonstrate unselfish service present themselves,” Call told the conference.
That idea has since turned into an invitation to the entire country to do one small, kind act of service daily. Dubbed the #DareToDo initiative, the challenge also encourages kids and adults to question, “What if I use social media to help someone besides myself?”
Now, good turns are shaking up social media, from Facebook to Twitter to Instagram.
Days 48 – 49: Provided a listening ear to the tailor yesterday when I picked up clothes and we talked all about life….
Posted by Raymond Cheung on Saturday, September 26, 2015
#DareToDo: taking 15 cases of unused binders from my work study office to their new home in the local public schools! pic.twitter.com/ACkds09wpp
— OA National VC (@OANationalVC) September 25, 2015
Marching band! Freshman @bailey_rez22 needed help with her dots after recovering from a leg injury! So I came in an hour early to help her! #DAREtoDO A photo posted by Frank Joseph Pendowski (@the_unstoppable_frank) on
How to Participate in #DareToDo
A month after the campaign launched, this movement is spreading across the globe, with millions of people seeing #DareToDo on social media, billboards, and television. Thousands of posts show users taking advantage of the opportunity to do a good turn daily – a longtime mission for all Scouts.
The #DareToDo challenge asks participants to complete one act of service each day for 100 days and, then, share their good turn on social media, calling others to join in on the good deeds.
The acts of service don’t need to be monumental (see some participants small but meaningful examples in the social media posts above). The reach and depth of #DareToDo builds off the culmination of posts circulating online.
For more information on the #DareToDo challenge, check out dareto.do, and like/follow the project on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
