I had a weird dream last night. I was visiting my high school (Yes, I have reoccurring dreams about school—you’d think at 31 these dreams would go away, but no. A few weeks back I dreamed about having to go to school with Yeshumnesh!) and while stopping by the room of a former teacher (who suddenly had a ginormous office complete with fire place) half of my graduating class showed up. It was some kind of bizarro reunion, but I was seeing all these people I hadn’t seen since high school (and I couldn’t remember half their names). Unlike most of my high school dreams this one wasn’t traumatizing—it was hopeful and uplifting.
Which is all very fitting because that’s pretty much what happened yesterday (not the bizarro reunion part, let me explain).
Julia Music is an old friend from middle school and high school. We were really just classmates back then, but today I consider her a friend as we’ve bonded over adoption and long waits. She’s been a big supporter of my book, Addition by Adoption, and even got an unnamed mention on page 50. She heard about the slow but steady pace of my effort to build a clean water well in Ethiopia through charity: water. A portion of the proceeds from my book go to the well and a lot of folks have donated above and beyond that. Since April we had raised $2,046 of the needed $5,000, which is pretty remarkable.
Well, Julia stepped in and decided to help me get to halfway in one day. That meant raising $454 in one day. She started bugging people on Facebook and didn’t stop. She posted well over 150 times on people’s Facebook walls, asking them to donate to my cause. Some people call that annoying. I call it life-changing. Because the money started coming in.
It was $10 and $20 at a time (and sometimes a little more) and it started adding up. Since launching the book and this campaign in April I’ve had 10 people make donations directly to my charity: water campaign. Yesterday 21 people donated. Many of them were people I went to high school with.
By midnight a total of $475 came in, putting the campaign at $2,521—just over halfway.
We’ve been so busy lately—busy with our second Ethiopian adoption—that I’ve hardly had time to think about promoting my book or continuing to beat the drum for clean water in Ethiopia. $5,000 was beginning to feel like it would take forever. And then someone else comes in and carries the load for a little while.
As Mark Horvath of InvisiblePeople.tv would say, I’m just wrecked. I’m humbled that my former classmates would rally like this. I’m full of gratitude and overwhelming thanks. “Thank you” hardly begins to cover it.
A class reunion indeed.
Only $2,479 to go until we can build a clean water well in Ethiopia.
Hi Kevin,
Long time no talk/see, but I just wanted to say that it’s been inspiring following what you’ve been doing. It’s nice to see that people from our high school are passionate about helping the world. I checked up on the donations page a bunch of times yesterday and was excited with you to see who was donating next.
And kudos to Julia for being a one woman pep rally. It’s funny, I don’t remember her being a cheerleader in high school.
See you at the 20 year reunion!
Had a blast yesterday. I really would like to see you reach the full goal. It is important that people remember that is only 1/2 way.
I am a numbers girl and I can’t help but notice but the new number ends in 79 the year most of us were born in. hummm….
Hendrick, I surely wasn’t a cheerleader. Pretty sure I tried to beat up a few though.
and with a donation from Jenny Shin (Rose) only 2,454 to go!
Kevin –
I think you would enjoy this article.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1686155/apple-itunes-do-fun-stuff-smith-magenis-syndrome