Charity Stripe: Dickson assists disabled
March 13, 2012
John Dickson loves his cousin. He loves her more than most anything.
Dickson, a member of the Sacramento State men’s basketball team, is passionate about helping people with disabilities. His cousin has Down syndrome and the junior forward counts it as a personal responsibility and joy to support the cause of people like her.
To that end, Dickson spent a good portion of Monday afternoon doing pushups for charity so people with disabilities will not be overlooked and will not go without a voice.
“I really want to help them out,” Dickson said. “Others look at them and basically think they’re not able to do the same things as everybody else, but they are.”
In order to spread the message, Dickson joined Pi Kappa Phi. The fraternity holds the distinction of being the only one in the country to own and operate its own service organization, Push America, which was started in 1977 with the express purpose of helping people with disabilities.
“I was looking for a group of people who want to help others, and not just say that, but actually really do it,” Dickson said. “They help a lot of people with disabilities, so that hit home with me.”
During this event, Dickson and other members of the fraternity are doing 10 push ups for every dollar donated, but the organization provides other services as well, such as personally renovating structures to provide better accessibility.
Brett Haro, a leadership consultant for Pi Kappa Phi, said Push America is about redefining what it means to be part of a college fraternity.
“We’re not your typical frat boys,” Haro said. “Our focus is on others and building others up, so we can build ourselves up as well.”
Pi Kappa Phi is new to the Sac State campus, and Haro said having a student athlete like Dickson play an active role has been crucial to the organizations early success on campus.
“John signed on about two weeks ago,” Haro said. “He is what we call a founding father. He is helping build this organization – setting up the foundation for future students to come.”
Matt Costa, another leadership consultant for the fraternity, said Dickson’s passion and dedication adds a tremendous amount of vigor to the group as a whole.
“Having a guy like John and his drive is amazing,” Costa said. “The other guys just feed off of it. It’s an amazing experience to have him on board.”
Prior to his involvement with Pi Kappa Phi, Dickson had previously taken part in breast cancer walks, Alzheimer’s walks and other charitable events. He said his desire to help others is a result of his mother’s good influence.
“My mom is real big into that type of stuff, giving back to the community,” Dickson said. “Anytime she ever sees somebody in need, she always stops to give them something.”
Dickson said he hopes his efforts will inspire other students to get involved with charitable causes if they have not already.
“You know, (doing) something is better than (doing) nothing,” Dickson said. “My mom always taught me that it’s better to give than to receive.”
David Somers can be reached at [email protected].