The BNI Foundation Needs YOU!
As BNI grows and expands across every populated continent, our need for volunteers to serve in the BNI Foundation is also growing.
Do you have a heart for service and philanthropy?
Do you value the work of the BNI Foundation to improve tomorrow’s business through education today?
Do you have some time to donate to our cause?
The second school we visited in New Orleans was John McDonogh #35, a former charter school struggling to serve its students. McDonogh #35 used to serve students who have scored high enough on an entrance exam to be admitted as a college prep school. They are trying hard to maintain that focus and trajectory, but it’s more difficult now. And we encountered a metal detector at the front entrance through which everyone must pass before coming in.
I can tell you with confidence I have never been in a school that had a metal detector before. I knew they exist, but being up close and personal with that reality was sobering.
The Business Voices Team New Orleans
“We are going into the 9th Ward, Beth,” I was told two weeks ago while planning our first inner city school school visit to meet the students of some of our nations’ toughest schools in order to begin building relationships there. New Orleans was the destination and John H. Martyn Alternative School and John McDonogh #35 were our two schools. Yikes.
John H. Martyn Alternative School
I did not know what I did not know. I did not know that these kids have been moved to the John H. Martyn Alternative School as a last resort.
Recent events in Ferguson, MO, have really touched the core of my heart. Let me start with a little background.
I spent my junior high and high school years in rural East Tennessee, in Dayton. I rode the bus to high school that picked up the kids from the projects, as we called it, before it picked up me and my brother. Most of the students picked up from the projects were black students. I was one of the few white students who would sit with black students if there were a spot open on the bus. Most of my classmates stood, rather than take a seat beside one of them. You can just imagine the names I was called. I look back on my younger self and feel grateful that I was known even then for love.
The beginnings of Care4Kenya go back to the Summer of 2013. In my Sales Manager Moment during one a BNI meeting, I asked for an introduction to a hairdresser. My then-Chapter President, Kimber Lee, referred me to Judy Kasue. I had a 1-2-1 with Judy who was not a BNI member at that time. I was so impressed with Judy and her family as I learned about their humanitarian work in Kenya. When I mentioned that my teenage son, Dustin, was struggling with depression, Judy said, “Dustin should come to Kenya with us.” When our families met in the summer of 2012, Dustin learned that 40% of Kenyans (approx. 16 million Kenyans) don’t have access to clean water. For the first time in years, Dustin caught a vision of how he was needed and that he could make a difference.
The BNI Foundation co-founders, Beth and Ivan Misner, released a statement yesterday pertaining to the establishment of an emergency relief fund for the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The Misners will match the first $10,000 donated to the BNI Foundation and directed to Philippines Typhoon Relief. Please note in the Comments Field that your donation is for Philippines Typhoon Relief.
As Ivan and I travel around to many BNI regions all over the world, we are constantly amazed at how philanthropic our members are. I guess it should come as no surprise that business professionals who are drawn to an organization whose philosophy is Givers Gain® would be givers themselves.
We want to shine the spotlight from time to time on these members and tell you a little bit more about what they are doing that is having an impact on their own communities. Our first spotlight member is Jay Bell, a financial adviser for Northwestern Mutual in Maryland and member of the Baltimore B Chapter of BNI.
Imagine our great surprise and excitement when Jonathan Morgan Jenkins of Performance Production Services, a BNI member of the Platinum Coast Chapter in Orange County, CA, approached Ivan and me last year with his intention to do a special project for the BNI Foundation. Jonathan shared with us that he chooses one charity each year for which to do a feature film. Jonathan’s gift for bringing out the best of a company through video production has benefited numerous non-profit organizations. Now it is benefiting BNI’s non-profit!
We are making plans to hold the Second Annual Chocolates and Cha-Cha party for the BNI Foundation on February 8, 2014 to close out International Networking Week. This year there were two locations holding the Chocolates and Cha-Cha party, headquarters and Central Texas. Next year we hope that we can make this fun party a worldwide event!