By 12/25/09, I will raise $101K for a charity project called, “Raising Malawi”. This blog is my journey to make that happen. I know my goal is possible, only I have no idea how to meet it. The funds I raise will help build and sustain several Orphan Care Centers and provide the basic infrastructure the people of Malawi need to break out of poverty. As of 6/16/09, with your help, we have donated $51,134.68!
I saw that Mr. Bob Tse donated $50 bones to Raising Malawi and DIDN'T TELL ME! I just noticed his face among my Facebook donors. Here's Bob. I took this picture of him in Hawaii on his 40th birthday. He was my client at Novartis when I was a planner at Lowe before I got canned.
One thing I can say about Bob is that you can count on him through thick and thin. If he says he'll do it, he'll do it.
We used to hang out at DTUT, a coffee shop on the Upper East Side in NYC, and catch up on work on Saturday mornings. We'd do a lot of super geeky personal goal-setting, too. We still set goals and then mail them to each other for a POV (or ideally, applause). It's this kind of planning that had us run a marathon together in New Orleans. Me full, him half. He did however kick my butt in San Francisco (our first marathon - MY IDEA) - him full, me half. We are super-competitive with ourselves and each other. Even so, my 2008 goals are way better than his. Did I thank you yet, Bob? Small oversight. Many thanks for the donation on behalf of all the little 'Malawians'.
No segue into this next bit of thanks, which goes out to two of the girls from my Fundraising Malawi weekly brainstorming pow-wows.
Leah Reynolds donated $221 (here's her picture from our 'end of poverty campaign')
and Rivka (Meital) Levi donated $202
And so...a quick roll on the drum, we can add $473 from last week, which brings our total raised to date to:
A note from my friend Tamara Starke O'Shaughnessy:
"Hey, you can chalk up another $50 toward your fundraising goal. I just did an online donation to Raising Malawi. I attended an AMA conference this week on non-profit marketing and there was someone there from CARE, who mentioned her recent trip to Malawi and the work they're doing there. It reminded me of your cause and thought I'd give you a little help :-) Good luck!"
It's so nice to have friends who a) hear Malawi, b) think Julia plus one million little orphans and c) donate to Raising Malawi. It gives me such a huge sense of purpose in the world. Otherwise, there's a chance I'd just lay around watching a lot of trash TV and cuss at commercials. A small chance, but it could happen.
Tamara and I used to work together at a research company in Chicago. Some of our cooler projects had us going to Disney Epcot Center a lot.
Oh, and then there was the Norman Rockwell museum project in Stockbridge, MA that afforded us a stay at the ever-so-charming Red Lion Inn, built in the 18th century. I believe a squirrel in the attic kept Tamara up all night. I slept OK. (I'm more of a W girl myself, though). Anyway, all sorts of good memories of and with Tamara. For whatever reason, the one that really sticks with me is the one she used to tell about her conversations with her grandma. They'd go like this:
Grandma: What did you have for dinner, Tamara?
Tamara: I had [insert meal here]. What did you have Grandma?
Grandma: A really nice piece of fish.
That's it. It cracks me up. Evidently, every dinner her Grandma ate consisted of a really nice piece of fish. I still have Tamara's Grandma in my head whenever I eat dinner. As a fish-aterian for the past 17 years, I almost always have a nice piece of fish.
Oh, and then there's the time I crashed her and her sister's trip to Italy. Here's a :59 clip of that very extraordinary trip! (Note: I am passed out on the stairs in the opening scene, but I swear that is totally posed).
This brings our the total dollars raised to date (7/18/08) to $33,896.29.
Keep it coming, and thank you everyone for making a difference to not only end the horrors of extreme poverty, but for helping to build the systems to create prosperity in Malawi and the world over.
A few of us get together each week to kick around ideas for raising awareness and donations for Raising Malawi. I'm a marketing gal by education (Northwestern - MS, Integrated Marketing Communications) and training (PR, research, advertising, strategic planning), so I keep thinking I should be able to serve up the one big idea to bring all of our good intentions to fruition. I haven't even come close (yet), but recently started toying with the idea of The Long Tail.
You know the 80/20 rule, right? In business it translates as, "80% of your sales comes from 20% of your customers." It's also called the Pareto principle. I love this definition: for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. So, bottom line, as marketers, it seems to make the most sense to focus on that 20%. As fundraisers, it means, find your able donors and ask for big donations.
But our world is changing. We're in a new digital era, a la the Internet. Here's where the long tail comes in. It looks like this:
To the right is the long tail, to the left are the few that dominate (the 80-20 rule). Traditional models still hold (shoot for that skinny, blue '20'), but today, it's much easier to target and have a meaningful dialog with the '80' - the large population of consumers who represent small or niche interests that no one ever bothered to talk to; you just wouldn't get much return on your investment.
When I look at the long tail through a fundraising lens, it's clear to me that that's how I managed to raise $33,846.29 over the past two years. (My goal is $101K by Christmas). The long tail is represented by you. It's me. It's your dry cleaner. It's your babysitter. It's the 'little guy' with who-knows-what in his wallet. $2 bucks. Not much, no. But put 100,000 of these little guys together and they can really make a difference in the world. They're the ones funding Obama's presidential campaign. They're the ones who drive the success of micro-lending concepts like Kiva.org or Grameen bank. They're the ones who make marketing go viral.
So, last Friday three of us from my fundraising team (me, Meital AKA Rivka and Leah) executed a long tail concept to raise awareness and funds for Raising Malawi as it relates to ending extreme poverty. Our idea is to intercept 200 or so conscious/aware people to capture their perspectives of what the world might look like if we were to effectively eradicate extreme poverty, or more simply what comes to mind when they think about this possibility in the world. We will then cut these photos into a viral video to upload onto consumer activism and social marketing/cause related sites. We'll include the facts re: what's happening around the issue of extreme poverty and how Raising Malawi is helping to end it....but what's most inspiring is that we'll do it by showing the faces of the people who are behind the movement, in consciousness and donations.
To help our idea take off, we plan to conduct loads of man-on-the-street intercepts (Vox Pops).
This week, we hit the Grove. The first person we talked to was Kate. Actually, we first approached her friend who claimed to be too camera-unfriendly/about-to-barf-from-last-night at the moment to participate in our campaign. She looked WAY better than she described, but we didn't push it. Instead, we asked Kate across the table if she cared to participate.
Kate was an immediate yes -- all about ending extreme poverty and helping orphans and vulnerable children. She quickly wrote out her word and donated $10 to Raising Malawi on the spot. We were off and running.
The next seemingly conscious chap we see is Mark here. He's as Irish as they come. He participates without question and also opens his wallet to us, all apologies for not having more cash on hand. I laugh. I do the same thing. "Here's my donation. I'm sorry it's not more." Lovely.
Time to hit the insanely long line of captive consumers in front of the Apple store. The new iPhone 3G came out today. "Twice as fast. Half the price." We were quick with our pitch, but had to coach our buddy here a little. He was supportive of our idea, but kept insisting on writing "iPhone" on his whiteboard. Fortunately, he found a word and concept to work better with our campaign.
And then there's this word: Access. Access says it all.
We even got bilingual commentary - there's only one way to end extreme poverty: with real solutions. So tell me and then tell it to me one more time, amigo. I liked our new friend here. He lamented his daughter not being around because this is exactly her sort of movement.
All in all, we got lots of great photos for our campaign. But just when we thought our day was done, sure enough, the evil Prince from Hellboy II comes walking by. It's Luke Goss. Meital recognized him. The movie opened today (7/11) and is getting good reviews.
Luke in real life was positively polite and more than happy to partake in our campaign. His word: compassion. A world without poverty reflects a world of compassion. We couldn't agree more.
Perhaps you'll join our campaign. Just send a picture of yourself (julia.silka@raisingmalawi.org or jsilka@yahoo.com) with your whiteboard word/thought/phrase about a world without extreme poverty. It's a world I'd love to live in someday. And it's entirely possible. By 2015 to be exact.
Also, if you'd like to make a 100% tax deductible donation to this amazing charity, you can do that too. Just please let me know how much so I can count it toward my goal to raise $101,000 and acknowledge your donation on my blog. CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO RAISING MALAWI. Or, to learn more about their programs to end extreme poverty and help orphans and vulnerable children visit raisingmalawi.org.
Adding up our latest contributions from Friday with special acknowledgements to Leah Reynolds, Heather Lounsbury, Kate Palazzolo and Irish Mark, we raised an additional $436 pushing our total donated to date to $33,846.29!
I know this is a slight departure from my blog theme, but they ran this short clip on CNN last night and it's a quick followup to my previous post. In it, they mention Tom Janis (my dad's cousin). He was the pilot and fourth American/would-be-hostage had the FARC not murdered him at the crash site. Most of the news isn't covering that part of the story; probably just lazy research.
It was hard for my family to watch this. My dad said he feels sad all over again, but very happy for the other three guys who were rescued. We both agree it's amazing this happened on 4th of July weekend. And how's this for coincidence - July 4th is rescued hostage Tom Howe's birthday!! Pretty cool. Welcome home. And happy birthday!
I've been following this story (to the extent to which it's been told) for five years now. The American hostages were on an anti-narcotics mission in Columbia when their plane went down in rebel territory. Tommy Janis, my dad's first cousin (like a brother to him) was the pilot. He was executed along with a Colombian intelligence officer in the plane. Tommy's body was recovered and buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The three other Americans were taken hostage.
They all worked for California Microwave Systems, a unit of defense contractor Northrop Grumman that provides surveillance systems for the U.S. military. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) said on their website that they are extremely pleased to confirm the long-awaited news that all three of its employees -- Thomas Howes, Marc Gonsalves and Keith Stansell -- have been safely freed after more than five years as captives of the FARC. They were freed as part of a successful Colombian military rescue effort and have been transferred to the custody of the U.S. government in Colombia for return to the United States.
I guess it doesn't make sense for us politically to acknowledge in the story that Tommy, an American, was murdered. He was the first American executed by rebels in Columbia in almost forever. Back then I don't think we wanted to make an international incident out of it. Even in the stories coming out today, they only talk about the three Americans' plane going down and they were captured. No mention of the other two passengers.
Back to the good news. Fifteen hostages held by the FARC were rescued unharmed yesterday. Among the hostages was Ingrid Betancourt, the three Americans I just told you about and 11 Columbian soldiers. French-Colombian politician and long-shot presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was seized in 2002. She's been one of the world's most high-profile hostages. The three Americans (Howes, Gonsalves and Stansell) were captured in February 2003.
In October 2003, 60 Minutes did a segment on them, "The Forgotten Hostages". Here's their account of what happened and how my cousin was killed.
"To our country, we miss you and we hope we return one day. We're alive and well," says Keith Stansell, 38, a systems analyst.
"We expect to get out of here one day. We can't say for sure,” says Thomas Howes, 50, a professional pilot. “But our main concern is the welfare of our families."
"I'm a proud American,” says Marc Gonsalves, 31, also a systems analyst. “I look to you guys and I ask for a diplomatic solution to get us home safe, please."
A videotape of the three Americans - Stansell, Howes and Gonsalves - was made by Colombian journalist Jorge Botero. He made the trek deep into the jungles to a steamy, wooden shack.
Botero was escorted inside by a guerrilla commander, where he met the three Americans and recorded a tape to prove that they were alive and well – and ready to be traded for imprisoned members of the FARC Revolutionary Army being held by the Colombian government.
They are prisoners in a war most Americans don't even know is going on, even though the United States is deeply involved.
Stansell, Gonsalves and Howes are contractors, like some of the thousands of American civilians now in Colombia. Many of them were hired by the U.S. government to search for and destroy cocaine production.
Drying up the drugs will dry up a source of funding for the FARC, a highly organized guerrilla group now in its 40th year of war with the Colombian government.
The daily search for drugs turned deadly on Feb. 12. The three Americans landed in the middle of it, literally, when their plane crashed in FARC territory.
"We essentially crashed right into the middle of a big group of FARC,” says Stansell. “We had no chance to escape. We crashed right on top of them."
The three men, along with American pilot Tom Janis, and a Colombian military intelligence officer, took off for a routine flight over the jungle.
"I heard the engine make a sound as far as quitting. It just quit. It got real quiet,” says Stansell. “I looked at Marc, and Marc was looking at me for an answer, so I asked the pilot, 'What's going on?' The pilot, Tom Janis, said, ‘Sir, that's an engine failure.’"
"Tommy Janis, the pilot, saw out of his side of the aircraft a postage-stamp-sized open area of green grass," says Howes. "And he decided immediately that was to be the place. My feeling was that there was a good chance we weren't gonna survive the landing."
They hit the ground and Stansell says the airplane opened up as dirt and debris flew inside. The plane lay in pieces in a clearing, and Gonsalves and Stansell stumbled outside.
"When I first looked at the front of the aircraft, I saw Tom and he was unconscious against the window. If you can see on his head, he had large cuts on his head. He had a broken nose, broken teeth, he was covered in blood. I thought initially he was dead when I ran up to the front of the aircraft,” says Stansell.
"I leaned against the window and banged on the window. I thought he was dead. My fear was that the aircraft was going to catch on fire and they were going to burn to death. At the same time I exited the aircraft, I heard gunshots and the FARC were on the ground. They shot into the air and they ran up to us as I was trying to get the pilots out."
“I had blood dripping down my forehead from just above my eyebrow,” says Howes. “And one of the FARC soldiers with us gave me a bandana to keep the blood out of my eyes."
But the guerrillas could not be trusted. Before leaving the crash site, they separated the hostages.
“The last time that I saw the Colombian and Tommy Janis. When I looked back at both of them, they had their hands up, and they were being marched towards us, but they were still a long distance from us," says Stansell.
The bodies of pilot Tommy Janis and the Colombian military intelligence officer were found near the wreckage. They had been shot to death, execution style.
"We asked the leader of the group what happened, they explained to us that Tommy and the Colombian were dead,” says Stansell. “We didn't ask any more questions. We were in fear. We had nothing more to say."
But given this opportunity, the three Americans wanted to send a taped message to the Janis’ family about their murdered friend.
"To his two sons, your dad saved our lives. He did not panic, he was incredible, both pilots were,” says Stansell. "Neither of them panicked. They held together and they took the worst injuries in the impact."
The three Americans left alive marched on with the guerrillas, deeper and deeper into the jungle.
Howes said it ended up being a 24-day march on foot, on mule and on the back of trucks.
For months, the men had no outside contact – no word of the outside world – until late July, with the arrival of journalist Jorge Botero and his camera.
Botero brought the men magazines and news materials that they hungrily read, trying to catch up on lost months.
"I just learned that we invaded Iraq and I didn't know that because we've had no news. Nothing for five and a half months,” says Stansell. “We've known nothing. Imagine just sitting in a box for five and a half months, nothing, no news, nothing."
As they went through news reports about their own situation, they learned something heartbreaking -- that a friend of theirs had died looking for them a month later. Their plane crashed, killing all three men on board.
"This is the worst thing I've ever gone through in my life. I've never gone through anything worse,” says Stansell. "You sit, day in and day out, and I look at my friends here and at the end of the day here, we think to ourselves, ‘We're alive another day. We will be alive tomorrow? Do we have a future? Can we see our families?'”
So that was their story.
There are believed to remain about 700 people taken captive by the FARC, a four-decade-old insurgency which figures on US and European Union lists of terrorist organizations.
I combed the news for months looking for an update on this since it happened. I was on the treadmill this morning when I saw a short news clip about three American hostages being rescued from a Columbia rebel camp. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I knew it had to be them. And sure enough, it is! I'm so glad you're home, guys. You don't know me, but I've thought about you often and prayed for your safe return for years.
As for Tommy, something extraordinary came out of his death for me. When my family got the sad, terrible news that he was executed, I immediately reflected on the last time I saw him at my cousin Cathy's wedding. He was a Black Hawk helicopter pilot in the army. He promised to take me up for a ride someday. He was an honest-to-good, decent guy. So, why the senseless death?
Here's what I concluded. It wasn't at all senseless. He was living a life that made a difference for all of us. Before he was killed, I had no idea what he did for a living, other than fly planes with the military. But how awesome to discover that he lived a life of purpose - ON purpose. He died making a difference. What an honor. An honor I hope to achieve someday. I started looking for my own way to make a difference that very day. It took me a few years, but I set out on that journey for myself when I decided to help the women and children who need it most. That's what brought me to Raising Malawi.
It's all connected.
Tommy inspired me to fight the good fight. And I urge everyone to do the same, whatever that means for you.
My fundraising buddy Heather mailed off two checks yesterday from our silent auction at Kyle Mathis Hairdressing. One check was for acupuncture services, which she provides (winning bid $85) and one was for a treatment with homeopath and intuitive healer, Holly Sidell (winning bid $125). Here's a little about them:
Heather graduated from University of Maryland Magna cum Laude, with BAs in Russian linguistics and German literature. Throughout college, Heather worked as a vegetarian chef and studied abroad in her junior year. After graduating, her curiosity and interests led her to Los Angeles where she studied massage in preparation for acupuncture school. During four years of rigorous study at Emperor's College of Traditional Oriental Medicine, Heather held an internship at Daniel Freeman Hospital in the Chemical Dependency (AKA Exodus), Psychiatric, and Trauma units. She then graduated Summa cum Laude. Heather has over 14 years of experience working as a healthcare provider. Along with acupuncture, she is an herbalist, nutritionist, Reiki master, and massage therapist. At her clinic in Santa Monica she treats a variety of illnesses, but specializes in pain management, mental health/addiction, and stress reduction. Her patients range from newborns to the elderly, celebrities to college students. Because of her expertise, Heather is a frequently invited guest speaker at local colleges and health food stores. As a well-respected physician, Ms. Heather’s unique holistic approach to healing encompasses all aspects of a patients needs, allowing the best results possible. On January 25, 2007 she appeared live on KTLA's morning show discussing the benefits of cupping and acupuncture.
Heather is a leading healthcare advisor and acupuncturist who has worked with many award-winning celebrites over the past decade including Coldplay, Korn, Carmen Electra, Carmit of The Pussy Cat Dolls, Dave Navarro and James Black. She was featured as Best of the Best in Elite Traveler's 2006 Black Book. (http://www.breathebalance.com/)
HOLLY SIDELL A Los Angeles native, Holly Sidell began her work as a healer when she traveled to Glastonbury, England to do an intensive Intuitive Energywork and Hands on Healing training. She was privileged enough to be ordained a Reiki Master inside the circle of stones at Stonehenge, an honor which most do not get to experience any more due to heightened security and preservation measures. This was a turning point in Holly’s life, as she then decided to dedicate her life to healing, and to helping others realize that they do not need to live a life of chaos and suffering. She remained in England to attend the College of Practical Homeopathy in London and devote her time to learning this fascinating form of Alternative Medicine. Upon her return to Los Angeles, she interned with and trained under Dr. Stuart Garber, who is the first person in the U.S. to receive a PhD in Homeopathy. Now with her own private practice, Holly utilizes these healing modalities, along with other ones she has been guided to pick up and learn, to help her clients arrive at their rightful place of health and happiness. Every soul is unique and special with his or her own unique and special journey and process, and Holly gives every soul the personalized love and attention he or she needs.
Holly is a member of the National Center for Homeopathy, a member of the Holistic Pediatric Association, a member of the American Association of Nutritional Consultants, a certified Reiki Master through the International Center for Reiki Training, and is certified in Hypnosis through the American Hypnosis Association. She received her B.A. from Indiana University. (http://www.coutureforthesoul.com/)
One thing I can say about Bob is that you can count on him through thick and thin. If he says he'll do it, he'll do it. 
