“Where do you find the motivation?” is a question we get asked a lot; as if motivation is some elusive, rare object. Alternatively, sometimes we get asked, “How do you find the time?”.

Well, don’t we all have the same 24 hours in a day?

On My Team16’s volunteers and board members are made up of people who work 50 hours a week at children’s hospitals, attend college classes, participate in college athletics, work weekends, volunteer for other organizations, have families, and even full time jobs. Everyone is busy in their own way, some just choose to spend their “free time” differently than others, and we are lucky our volunteers choose OMT16 – just as any nonprofit organization is.

Everyone is presented with the same 24 hours, and the opportunity to make each day the best you can, filled with whatever it is that you might desire. Some might call that motivation – trying to decide what is important to you, and fit each one of those things into the 1,440 minutes you are granted on a daily basis.

However, it is not just motivation that has gotten OMT16 to where it is today.

What drives us, the people behind OMT16, is the strong desire to actually make a difference in the world. We want to use our time to impact even one child’s life; to make it that much better.

What drives OMT16’s sponsors and supporters, the generous individuals we are blessed to know, is their feeling of satisfaction and love when they see their money being used with purpose behind it. They are focused on making a child who is receiving cancer treatment happy, and excited about life again.

What drives OMt16’s athletes, the individuals pushing themselves to be the best version possible, is knowing that they are giving a child sitting in a hospital somewhere, a glimpse of inspiration and determination, to push themselves to beat cancer once and for all.

All nonprofit organizations have “their people”, and that is just simply because everyone has personal interest, investment, or a story that tugs on their heart strings. It is not because one is more important than the other, bigger or smaller, or “real” or “not real”. And while “our people” may differ, everyone affiliated with a nonprofit has the same goal – to make a difference.

What we have learned is that “people who really want to make a difference in the world usually do it, in one way or another. They hold the unshakable conviction that individuals are extremely important, that every life matters. They get excited over causing one smile. They are willing to feed one stomach, educate one mind, and treat one wound. They aren’t determined to revolutionize the world all at once; they are satisfied with small changes. Over time, though, the small changes add up. Sometimes they even transform cities and nations, and yes, the world.”

There is definitely something to say about the world of nonprofit organizations.

Here is a brief story shared by volunteer and Board Member, Bailey Milne herself:

“After yet another quarter life crisis about my place in this world and what my future entails, I received a text from the Founder of On My Team16 that made my “quarter lifecrisis” seem a little unwarranted, considering I have my dream job and am surrounded by very supportive friends, and family.

Seeing this card that OMT16 received from a child battling cancer, made me realize that we really are making a difference, and what we are doing is important. And, this is something that all of our athletes, supporters, and donors should also know – you really are making a difference!

On a day when I felt like doing very little, skipped my run, put on Netflix instead of picking up a textbook, getting this text changed my mood and reiterated to me why I wanted to become involved with this charity in the first place.

To know that we have helped just one person, is enough “motivation” to keep working hard, reaching out to more sponsors, friends, families, and spreading the word about why it is so important to join our fight, and if not ours, someone else’s, because we all can make a difference.”

In just 107 days, OMT16 has donated $7,138.39 to children and families who have been impacted by pediatric cancer. That’s nearly $67 a day. With a founding date of December 2017, this is just a testament of the fact that when people who have the drive to make a difference in the world, come together – it really can make an impact. Take a look at the numerous nonprofit organizations surrounding you on a daily basis, and we promise it will be hard to disagree.

What will you be doing with your 86,400 seconds today?