Whenever I approach individuals or businesses to discuss The Pledging Tree Foundation, I’m asked one question almost every time. In fact, I expect the question to be asked in first few minutes of our conversation. The most common question I’m asked is: how and where did you think of the idea for The Pledging Tree? I try to explain it best I can but sometimes it comes off as unbelievable, simply because most people feel that such a project cannot be accomplished, especially at my age.

"Ideas" or "Concepts" are so innocent that they can form in anyone's mind, irrespective of age, color, race, national origin or any other factor. But what really counts is when a person can look at the bigger picture and see how a small “idea” can bring about an impact. And , of course, you can’t do without a team of dedicated people who can bring your ideas to reality.

The Pledging Tree Foundation was founded as a result of two sources. The first was from one particular English class and the other, quite interestingly enough, was from speech and debate tournaments that I would compete in. One day, I was in my English class and we were discussing Coatesville and my teacher raised an interesting discussion on how the town had reached its current state. When I came that afternoon, I pondered about how I could improve the situation of the people living in the town.  But this wasn’t the first time I had thought about bringing about change. Quite often, I would have to prepare and deliver speeches on topics related with the socio-economic factors such as "growing personal debt in American families and its solution". During the competitions, I would formulate my speeches and deliver them but after the competitions were over, the topic would still loom in the back of my mind.

There are few ways to help financially challenged families. One could be to simply provide them with one-time financial help to solve a specific problem. I believe that financially challenged families, and for that matter, any family, should be part of a long-term solution. They need to bring a change in themselves before others can help them. It is matter of changing the mindset so that the problem does not occur once the given resources have been depleted. This is the very basic premise that The Pledging Tree Foundation upon which was formed. The only assumption that we made was that those families enrolled into our program should be willing to pledge for the change.

The Pledging Tree may not show a visible impact in short term but it certainly will have impact in the long run. Of course, the question arises: Can we change the attitude of every family enrolled into the program? Probably not but even if we manage to change  75% of enrolled families, I believe that our program will be successful.

Everyone has the potential to bring about change in his or her community. Can you be part of this endeavor and do your part to help your community? Absolutely yes. If you are an individual, you can contribute through several different ways. You don't need a whole lot to contribute. If you’re a corporation, small donations can bring a long-lasting impact in your local communities. If you believe in the Pledging Tree Foundation, please join me in this endeavor and together we can make a definite change in our local community.

With Warmest Wishes,

Prerna Singh

President and Founder of The Pledging Tree Foundation