Our Children the Future Inc. better known as OCTF is a nonprofit organization consisting of a small group of individuals committed to bring awareness and the need of assistance to the less fortune children both locally and internationally. OCTF home base is in the city of Inglewood California, but the communities that they serve includes but are not limited to Southern California, Trinidad & Tobago, Belize and Ghana to name a few. Their focus is making sure we take care of our future by trying to provide health care, education and finances to the children.  They believe that all children should be loved and never go without the essentials. Their belief is based on the African proverb it takes a village to raise a child.

OCTF was birth from the heart of one individual by the name of Ms. Joan Forbes. One whom never bore children of her own but have always had a heart and a personal conviction to fill the void of nurturing and caring for children and the elderly. In her younger years of living in Trinidad she often found herself in position of assisting and caring for the needs of both children and elderly in her family and her community. This heart of compassion followed her into adult hood, her marriage and her journey to Inglewood California. Once in California she decided to network with different nonprofit organizations and was proposition to serve in the capacity of President of a nonprofit group by the name of Citizens and Friends of Trinidad and Tobago. Their home base is in Los Angeles California. While serving in this honored position her heart became heavy because although this organization did service children in need it was not its main function. With this realization she humbly submitted her resignation to the group Citizens and Friends of Trinidad and Tobago. In 2015 she embarked upon her mission and started Our Children the Future Inc. What began as one person’s conviction has now blossomed into a thriving nonprofit organization that service the less fortunate both near and far.

The daily operations of OCTF consists of fulfilling their goal of helping the less fortunate. They put on events such as tea parties, dine in or take out fish fry, community outreach woman to woman, gospel jazz benefit concert, scholarships for high school seniors entering into college, school supplies drive for students of all ages, religious events and so much more. Most of these events are geared towards either raise money or receive donated items to help the fortunate.

The strengths of OCTF is there drive and determination to help those in need around the world. They are very resourceful and determine to be proactive when meeting the needs of those that may reach out to them.

The weakness of OCTF is one that could be found in many nonprofit organizations. The largest and most imperative weakness is the lack of community involvement and donated funds to compensate the needs of those petitioning the organization.

This Organization differentiate from other organizations through the people who work with in OCTF. They work hard to keep this organization running and believe in their mission. The people I have met that continuously gave their time and energy for the children are full of passion. Their eagerness to help those in need and put on events outshines and sets them apart from those who turn a blind eye or only give seasonally. The similarities that I have discovered from my engagement with OCTF as opposed to other nonprofit organizations is having the passion to show and help people in need and not be compensated for it. Any organization that are nonprofit and helps children, are full of people with a giving heart that genuinely want to help and make a difference in the world.

I worked OCTF toy drive that is held annually. OCTF partners up with a local store called Ace Hardware located in Gardena to make the event a success. My assignment was to set up and decorate food tables and to serve complementary refreshments to all participants. After we set up the area each of the volunteers were in charge of helping serve food and snacks. I was in charge of serving rice with beans, honey BBQ and teriyaki chicken. The employees of Ace hardware participated by giving away free hot dogs to the customers that patronized the store. Our biggest contributors came from a biker club called unleashed rydaz. According to one of the members of OCTF they donate thousands of dollars in toys every year in support of Our Children the Future mission. When the event was over I was then charged with helping to pack all the toys that was donated, breaking down all the stations that was have built and cleaning. I found myself to be very pleased and impressed of the job that they are doing serving the needs of the less fortunate in their community and aboard. My contribution to society I assisted in fulfilling the project goal of supplying less fortunate children with new toys for Christmas. By doing this I helped bring joy to children both near and far. I also served in the capacity of being a public spokesman of Our Children the Future Inc.

If I had the opportunity I would solicit more volunteers to help with the man power. I would beseech more donors who may not be able to participate physically but are willing to participate financially.

There are multiple theories that embodies the organization OCTF in different ways. The first theory that I can apply to this organization is the Religion/Divine Command theory. This theory states that God defines goodness with his will and his commandments. God also creates rules of morality and governs them in this life and the next. There are moral codes in this theory from certain religions such as the Code of Hammurabi, Hinduism, Ten Commandments, Buddhism, and Islam. All these religions have similarities when it comes to their principles of what I right and wrong. One of the good things about this theory is it gives many reasons to act within the lines of morality. Such as divine intervention and punishment in this life and in the afterlife. For instance, if someone kill or steal from someone their punishment could mean that they are going to hell or eternal torment. There are many philosophers who reject morality that is based on religion. Some of their rebuttal that they have made against this theory is that some may be an atheist and not follow the code of morality. Another rebuttal is that not all the religion applies the moral codes in the same manner. An example is the religion of Islam allows polygamy, but Christianity do not. The organization OCFT symbolize this theory in different ways. This theory closely relates to this organization through the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments is accepted by the religion of Christianity and Judaism. Christian belief that these Commandments was given to the people by God to live by and follow in death. Every member of OCTF is a devoted Christian that is born again, and pledge live by the word of God.  OCTF is ran on the principles of the Christian bible and the Ten Commandments. Although none of the Ten Commandments is about helping children and people around the world, it is a part of the teachings of Christianity by the way of the Holy Bible. Also, one of the commandments states love thy neighbor (not limited to someone in close proximity) as thy self, meaning the same compassion one has for thyself they should have for others. For example, if one would not allow thy self to go hungry then one should not allow thy neighbor to go hungry. Their belief of what is right and wrong fall in line with the Religion/ Divine command theory. The Controversies of Christianity such as frowning upon gay’s rights, abortions and capital punishment varies. First Christianity does not argue the rights of humans but argues the life style of gay living. Lastly the Christianity opposition of abortion and capital punishment coincides with the Ten Commandments of thou shall not kill.  This theory cannot improve the organization OCTF since they are governed by this moral code and utilized it as a gage to help those in need.

The next theory is the theory created by Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas is a Catholic priest who used some of Aristotle’s teaching to defend Christianity and created the natural law theory. The natural law theory derives from Christianity, which states that god is all good and he is the creator of the universe. This theory also states that everything has a purpose. According to Aquinas theory the highest constitution is the “Eternal Law”. This is the law of Gods rationale and his Judgment that rules over all of God’s creation. Then there is the “Divine Law” which is what everyone knows through the holy bible. This is supposed to help believers achieve salvation. “The Natural Law Theory is moral law revealed to us by reason”. Aquinas states that there is “Human Law” which standards are set forth by the government. He also states that since God is good and the creator of the universe then the universe is all good. He also goes on to state that people naturally live to preserve their selves. An example is seeking marriages and wanting to be happy. All of these things are all good because it comes naturally. When it comes to morality he believed that there is more to it and that logic set forth the least morality of natural law. Meaning that we all want to be happy and seek happiness through different avenues and it is good and natural, but nature don’t state what is morally correct. Aquinas believed that God implements morality through the reward and punishment system in this life and the next and that human nature was set forth by God, so the needs of our nature should be carried out. The things that Aquinas frown upon is everything that he believes goes against the natural process. He thinks that it is immorally wrong to go against this process. He said that murder and suicide is wrong because life is good and should be preserve. Also, things such as homosexuality, artificial contraception is immoral is wrong because it is not natural. Critics of Aquinas says that his theory of natural law has defects because of his views on sexuality and nature. Since Aquinas believe that peoples reproductive organs should only be used to reproduce, critics argue that it can also be for love and affection. They believed that there has been proof that homosexuality can be a biological or environmental problem instead of a sign of weakness. Lastly critics stated that the theory of natural law overlook the good of contraceptives and other unnatural resources that help the universe. OCTF can relate or agree with some aspects of this theory, but not support it completely. For instance, being that the organization is a Christian based organization. They agree with the natural law theory that God is the creator of universe and that he is good. Like the theory they don’t believe in abortion, murder and gay life style, but they don’t support that everything that is unnatural is immoral. For example, when it comes to artificial contraceptives I have found that they would not be in agreement with Aquinas and the natural law theory due to their belief in free will. This theory cannot improve this organization because this theory maybe narrowed minded in some of its belief. Although Aquinas and the natural law theory reasonable points the theory as a whole maybe flawed in its thinking of natural law.

The last theory that I will talk about in relation to the organization OCTF is Aristotle theory of ethics.  Aristotle was a pupil of Plato’s and studied under him for twenty years and ultimately started his own school. One can find some of Aristotle theory of ethics in the “Nicomachean Ethics” which is some of best work. In his life time he wrote over 200 treaties of which only 31 of them survived. He was also the first to classify areas of human knowledge into categories such as math, biology and ethics, some of which we still use today. He is known as the father of logic and developed a formal system for reasoning. Aristotle’s ethics theory was not so much religious but more so common sense. It was built on naturalism and self-actualization. He interpreted what was good not in the religious sense but in what satisfies our needs and desires.  An example of this is having the essentials we need in life like water, food, friends, and health. He then goes on to break down the different types of goods. According to Aristotle there are three types, instrumental goods, intrinsic goods and goods that are considered both instrumentally and intrinsically good. First, instrumental goods need something else to make it valuable. For instance, having self-control, being obedient and being polite are all examples of being instrumentally good. Intrinsic goods are what people want for themselves like wealth. According to Aristotle the ideal and ultimate good is happiness. He states that once all of our needs is met happiness is the highest achievement. Happiness includes everything that we want and leaves out nothing. Aristotle then went on to define that a good person is someone who acts like a person should and to act as a person should they should act according to what they do best. His theory of ethics contributed to so many other philosopher’s theories. A lot of people agreed with his viewpoints pertaining to happiness and behavioral traits of people. Aristotle believed that happiness is also showing high moral standards but needed more to be complete. All of this depends on our needs being met and the society we lived in. If the society that we lived in did not help us develop our potential, then we cannot fully be happy.  Although his theory made sense to many there were some people and philosophers alike that did not agree with his thinking. Some has argued against his views about human beings have a function because to them there is no God. They believed that if there is a God we would not be free to choose our own way of life or function. Some philosophers also claimed that virtues were too vague and not important to the moral system. Aristotle mind was great and helped mold the minds of a lot of philosophers that progressed today’s society.  The organization OCTF can relate to the teachings of Aristotle in a lot of ways. They do believe that people should be happy and ultimately fulfill Ones purpose on this earth. The difference between Aristotle and OCTF is there organization is based on the religion of Christianity. Under Christianity their purpose on this earth was mapped out by God.

The three theories that I have chosen to do my paper on was the religion/divine command theory, Thomas Aquinas natural law theory and Aristotle’s ethics theory. I believe a lot of the theories are similar, to the effect of having moral values that set human standards. First the Religion/ Divine command theory was about religious moral codes that each religion set forth such as the Ten Commandments and Code of Hammurabi. I chose this theory because it fit very closely to the organization OCTF. Since the organization is religion based and follow the Ten Commandments it was very fitting. Secondly Thomas Aquinas theory of Natural Law. This theory derives from Christianity and agrees that God is the Creator of the world. The natural law theory of morality wants someone to do good things and avoid doing evil deeds. Aquinas believe that what is good, and evil comes from the nature of human beings. I chose this theory because I believe that OCTF have some similarities to the organization in part that they believe God create in the universe and that everyone should do good deeds. Lastly, Aristotle’s theory of ethics. This theory is not based on religion. This theory was based on common sense and focuses on virtues and by living a virtuous life will ultimately lead to one’s happiness. I chose this theory in relation to OCTF because ultimately everyone wants to be happy. This group may not have a lot in common with this theory, but living a virtuous life is a standard that anyone can agree with. My whole experience with the organization OCTF was an experience I need to have. I learned a lot about this organization and seen how true of heart they all really are. I plan volunteer every year and help with this organizations toy drive. There are so many theories that one can live by, but if one can live a true and just life then one can be happy.

Sincerely

Jewel Baptiste/Friend of OCTF

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