Founder's message

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My whole life I thought I knew what "poor" looked like, felt like, even smelled like it seemed. It was my story. It was food stamps, powdered milk, hard edged bread that had been frozen, bought on clearance, at the source, the day before they couldn't sell it to anyone else. Then I was corrected... I was "American" poor. 

No matter how many holes, the "American poor" safety net was always there ... no parents, no room of your own, no money, no love from even one "family" member ... NO PARENTS! WHAT IS POOR?!  Poor is no hope, no future, never ever having one person that will never let you down. I was not poor ... I was never ever poor ... I was disadvantaged ... I was challenged by life. 

Fast forward 40+ years and the same parents that I blamed for everything I didn't have in life are the same parents that took me to church twice a week, every week I can ever remember from my childhood. And they have passed at this time. I would give anything just to pick up the phone and tell them thank you one more time for what they gave me, rather than what they didn't. 

Then I decided to go to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for my 50th birthday ... and my life will never be the same. Picture this ... a young child in a newly formed orphanage in Moshi, Tanzania near the base of the mountain. She is still not poor, but she IS severely disadvantaged. I want to add my name to her mouth and the list of people she can call "family." I want to be that leg up, that hope, that chance to help the people in her future, because someone cared enough about her present. I want to make a difference in a region of the world that has forever changed my life for the better. I want to "give" the disadvantaged the gift my parents gave me: a heart ... a heart to help, a heart to pay it forward, a heart to find others with the same heart. 

Community, family, hope for all that comes after, even if your own bloodline has sometimes ended. Live beyond yourself alone. Find your passion and go go go! I want to be more than me. I could tell my "poor" story all of my life, or I can be the advantage to the disadvantaged. Legacy can mean many, many things. I hope mine blows me away ...