The Power of Awesome

During the post-pitch session of last night's Awesome Kingston  pitch night I was asked, "what makes an awesome idea?"

I mumbled something about making a positive impact on the Kingston community. Well, I suppose I did do more than mumble... the three projects we've funded so far share an outlook of improving life in Kingston in small, yet exciting ways:

• Orchestra Kingston needed new timpani to help fill our town with good music (P.S. isn't Kingston's local music scene one of our best quality-of-life strong points?)
• HIV/AIDS Regional Services can now offer laundry facilities to their community thanks to our grant. Clean clothes! They're not a small thing in the scope of individual happiness. 
• And, just last night, "CRAFT Kingston received $1,000.00 toward creating a “Farmers Forum” improving the ability of 12 farms and their communities to share knowledge, pool resources, and unearth new ways to collaborate and grow." Good food grown locally... another of Kingston's quality-of-life gems.

As a trustee, I am amazed by how much impact three grants of $1,000 have already achieved. What's also awesome is that it just takes a few people to get together and commit to supporting positive change in our community to see it occur. Visit Awesome Kingston and Awesome Foundation for more ideas and information, or follow Awesome Kingston via Twitter -- @AwesomeKingston #aweygk.