Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara Meyers.
Hi Tara, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
As a family, we’ve been traveling and serving the communities we would visit, primarily internationally as part of service excursions we organized for cruise travelers. We saw a gap in opportunities to volunteer as a family with young kids so we took matters into our own hands and started World Share, an organization geared towards making serving simple.
So, when COVID shut down the cruise industry, and ultimately our service work, we decided to pack up our essentials, buy an RV, and hit the road with a mission to make an impact wherever the road could take us.
We’re now on a nearly year-long trip across the U.S. on our Driven By Purpose Tour, with the goal of sharing hope and encouragement to kids in underserved communities. To date, we’ve distributed nearly 3,500 Impact Kits that we’ve assembled with the help of volunteers across the country. These kits are designed to provide kids with resources, tools, and encouragement to help them Grow, Play and Share.
Each kit contains a booklet we produced that features personal messages and tips from professional athletes and a celebrity chef, healthy snacks from GoGo SqueeZ and Bitsy’s, and a handwritten note from one of our volunteers.
We want people to know that making a difference in this world doesn’t have to be extensive and complicated to be impactful. You just need to get started with something.
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road for us as we started World Share has most definitely not always been easy.
Almost immediately after launching World Share, we found ourselves navigating a global pandemic that shut down our ability to travel and serve. Seeing the impacts of the ongoing pandemic on the mental health and well-being of youth, especially in underserved communities, we knew we had to find a way to make a difference and spread hope to kids who need it most.
Having never RV’d before, or let alone towed anything, we had a pretty steep learning curve just to hit the road, but we had some pretty incredible friends and mentors come alongside us and we’re so grateful for the RV community!
We’ve learned to be extremely flexible – constantly adapting to health and safety precautions, shipping delays, and a vendor de-prioritizing our work because we’re small. It can be a lot to manage at times, but every time we deliver an Impact Kit and put a smile on a child’s face, it’s 100% worth it every single time.
As you know, we’re big fans of World Share. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We established World Share to make it easy for individuals and families to get involved, give back, and make an impact wherever they are.
World Share is a for-purpose organization dedicated to removing barriers and inspiring people all over the world to take impactful action in the communities they live in and travel to.
For people who want to support our mission, donations can be made on our website. 100% of all donations go directly to the production of the Impact Kits.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I graduated high school early and went on tour as a professional figure skater with Disney on Ice. I toured all over the U.S, Canada, Central, and South America for several years.
I got to see and experience a lot during my travels and it really shaped me in so many aspects of my life. That experience fueled my passion for putting smiles on kids’ faces. We may not speak the same language but a smile is universal.
The world needs a whole lot more of that, especially after the past few years we’ve had! Getting to start World Share and be able to continue to travel and make an impact on kids and communities is such a blessing and an incredible opportunity.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.world-share.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldshare_org/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldShare.Family
