Do the Right Thing awarded $1K grant for rewarding local youth
Do the right thing. We hear this simple plea all the time. It's a healthy reminder that we all have choices in life. As the poet Robert Frost wrote:
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
Yes. Two roads. We all have choices. And those choices and the ones we choose to make do make all the difference, especially in young lives when youth are presented with so many options — many of which are not healthy or wise.
"Supporting and encouraging our youth to do the right thing was the inspiration and purpose of my creating this nonprofit," says Terri Ketover. "I created the first Do the Right Thing back in the '90s in Miami when I witnessed a young man making a good choice by returning a firearm he had found to the local police department despite his friends telling him to keep it. That really moved me."
Do the right thing.
In April 2023 Ketover started the DTRT initiative here locally in partnership with the Palm Springs Police Department. Our local school districts, Boys and Girls Clubs and other youth organizations have eagerly gotten involved. KESQ came on board as a media partner, and the Walter Clark Law Group joined in to help with funding as well as many generous locals wanting to help celebrate young people making good choices in our valley.
Each month four to five local young people are honored at a ceremony at the Palm Springs Police department with many local luminaries, school officials and families of the honorees in attendance. Each awardee is recognized and receives certificates, a plaque and numerous gifts from the community. It's a very moving ceremony as Ketover describes the good deeds and good choices the youth have made.
To date, as Do the Right Thing begins its second year, more than 500 youth have been nominated and more than 60 youth have been honored in our valley. The program will continue throughout the summer and nominations are open every month.
Police Chief Andrew Mills says: "This program has made a big impact in our community. Young people need to be recognized for doing good deeds and making good choices. We are very happy to be part of this great program."
It's for this important initiative that celebrates and honors youth doing right that we award Do the Right Thing this week's Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation Power of Community $1,000 grant to help in its mission to honor local young people.
Do the right thing.
It may sound easy but for many local young people, it's a challenge. It's a reality where choosing between the proverbial "two roads" is often a struggle. To be recognized and honored and awarded and celebrated for making the correct choice is often all it takes to make the difference between right and wrong.
Bravo to Ketover and her excellent team that are making a huge difference for young people in our valley.
As you honor exemplary youth every month, you are exemplifying the very concept of doing the right thing! Thank you.
Sandie Newton is an award-winning broadcast journalist who began her career in Los Angeles as cohost of the nationally syndicated show "PM Magazine." She went on to host many local and national shows like "Hollywood Insider" before becoming one of the original anchors for E! and a regular on Hallmark Channel's "Home & Family." In 2017, she moved to the desert, creating and hosting NBCares for six years. She is currently the host of "Desert Chat," a half-hour lifestyle show spotlighting all the good people, events and news in the Coachella Valley. Watch it Sundays at 6:30 p.m. on KESQ, at 10:30 p.m. on FOX 11 and noon Mondays on CW5.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Do the Right Thing awarded $1K grant for rewarding local youth
