Madi Rogers and Bella Brown are two of the 10 winners of 2018 DRI Challenge. They were invited to share about their respect projects with the Home Builders Association of Davie County on 4/25/19. The Home Builders Association made a grant to Bella's project of starting a Cam's Coffee Kiosk at Wake Forest Baptist Health-Davie Medical Center. Not only was a grant for materials provided, also Brad Rogers Construction Inc volunteered to build the coffee cart!  Madi's project of Banishing Bias Bingo cards where the players must meet others who are different from them has had amazing responses/ results from all 3 Davie Middle Schools. 
If You or your organization would like to hear a presentation or learn about ways to support respect projects initiated by the DRI youth, please let us know by writing to respectinitiative1@gmail.com.

​"I've come to understand that I can disagree with someone's opinion or life choices and still treat them respectfully."
​~Isabella Brown (2018 DRI Winner)~

Inspecting the word “respect”
It may be fun and interesting to consider how the word “respect” is formed. The “spect” part means “seeing,” as in the word “inspect” or “spectacles.” And the “re” part means “again,” as in the words “recalculate” or “relocate.” So, putting the two parts together would result in re-spect, or “see it again,” or “see it anew.”

And that is where the word gets interesting. Because sometimes we may see someone or something, and we don’t see anything positive about them. But the word  respect reminds us to “see it again,” from a more positive point of view. 

Respect is Positively Contagious
When someone does a random good deed for us, we are probably disposed to do the same for others: we let them pull into our traffic lane, or we speak kindly to someone.
The DRI probably works this way as well. Seeing or hearing about our respectful Davie youth can inspire each of us to do the same for others; and those in turn, pass it on, or pay it forward.  Who knows, an entire ripple effect might be in the making, right under our noses.   
 
We may have seen videos, like these, in which this ripple effect is shown.  Enjoy!

​"Respect is shown by being mindful of others, or of objects, and as you would expect to be treated yourself."
~ Kaylee Lanning (2018 DRI winner)~ 

​Enjoy this inspiring video, made by Bella Brown, one of the 2018 DRI winners. It was a part of Bella’s application for the 2018 DRI Challenge, where she presented an idea of opening a coffee house that would primarily be staffed by young folks, who are “differently-abled”: with challenges like autism, attention deficit disorder, and more. This was inspired by Bella’s witnessing her brother being involved with an innovative program in Winston-Salem called Cam’s Coffee.
 
Progress update, spring 2019: Bella has all the pieces in place for the Cam’s Coffee idea to manifest in Davie County. Now it’s just a matter of helping the Cam’s Coffee folks raise capital to open this second location. Bella says that she had ideas before about helping people but didn’t really think she could actually do it. She’s learned that if you care enough and work hard, you can actually do things that make a difference. If you’d like to support this venture, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll gladly connect you with Bella.

​Welcome everyone, to the DRI Blog! We are a few local Davie County volunteers who have been super eager to support this amazing initiative and are inviting y’all along for the ride. Please share your own observations of Respect in your everyday life, as well as thoughts you’ve had about what RESPECT is. This will be fun and inspiring, we believe, for all who visit the website... maybe making more people want to  be respectful to set that example for others. Thanks for being part of making Davie County an awesome place to live! Can’t wait to hear your stories and thoughts. You can even submit an article ~ that would be welcomed.

Some musings from one of DRI friends:
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the second annual Davie Respect Initiative Challenge (DRI) and wondered ‘just how respect could be witnessed in Davie County’? So decided it would be fun to be on the lookout to see what could be observed. These might be little ways that people showed respect in everyday life. Maybe folks do it without even realizing they are, or maybe it’s a conscious act – but could I spot  respect in action?

​The first example blew me away. A substitute postman had delivered a package to our neighbors and found their keys in the front door. He knocked on the door, thinking they might be home, but there was no answer. So, he came to our house and asked if I knew how to contact them, explaining what had happened. First, I sent my neighbors a text, then went next door, removed the keys and locked them in their house. I thought, how beautiful and caring this young man was, showing respect for someone he didn’t even know. When I thanked him for his extra effort – he just simply replied, ‘it was the right thing to do, and I’d want someone to do that for me. Glad I could help.’

​Manager’s Message – Davie Respect Challenge Update

​See the original here.

​Last November my wife and I attended the Awards Celebration for the first annual Davie Respect Initiative (DRI) Challenge.  The projects shared by the 10 winning applicants, who ranged in age from 13 to 21, were inspiring and all were designed to increase the amount of respect shown in our community and across Davie County.    Each of the ten winning applicants received $1,000 and the opportunity to put their project idea into practice.   Last week a few members of the DRI team met with me to provide an update on the status of some of the projects.   Madi Rogers, a 13-year-old winner, has distributed Banishing Bias Bingo cards in the three county Middle Schools and many of those have already been returned.  Each box on the card requires meeting someone who is different from you in some way.  By getting to know more about each other we form respectful relationships with people we might not have known at all before. Kayla Roscoe and youth from her church are volunteering to do yard work for elderly who are unable to do this themselves.   These are just two of the ten winning project ideas being put into action.   We should all be proud to live in a community where young people are taking an active role in increasing respect.
And now the Davie Respect Initiative is accepting applications for the 2019 DRI Challenge.  If you are between the ages of 12 and 21 with an idea for increasing the demonstration of respect or if you have children or grandchildren, let them know about this awesome challenge where they could do positive things for our community and win $1,000! Groups and clubs as well as individuals can enter.  Go online to www.davierespect.com and enter the challenge now.