I wish I had more updates on a weekly basis, but at this point the name of the game is simply steady progress. We have made more progress, and actually are all but an official non-proift organization. We are excited to have our 501c3 application completed, a functional website, a fundraising event planned, and many great connections made in the non-profit sector. I feel like in the past 6 months we have gone from two young guys with an idea to an organization with widely recognized huge potential. Having others with vast experience in this type of work affirm our idea and progress is really exciting and motivating. We are able to see how many people are just as fired up as we are about making a difference in the lives of those who would otherwise have no one giving them a chance. I hope that after years, even decades, involved in this work, we continue to find more and more energy and enthusiasm for our work.
The pressure of my journey is becoming greater by the week, but so is the excitement. In about six weeks, I will be leaving Seattle to move all my belongings (the trunk-full that I have) to my parents house in Salem. At that point I begin the final preparations, physically, psychologically
and emotionally, to get on the plane to New York and begin my journey. One of the biggest pressures I am feeling is still the fundraising, but I am really trying to trust that if we do everything we can, we will be provided for. I have canceled two of my weekend trips in order to have more time in Seattle and enjoy time with those people here whom I can't imagine life without. That is emotionally the most difficult part of preparing to leave because I just picture how different all of our lives will be for the year while I am gone. When I return, I hope that I will be able to pick up right where I left off with everyone, despite the fact that I will have had a vastly different experience than them all.
If anyone has anything that they would like to donate to be auctioned off at our event at the SAC next month, please contact me as soon as possible at jbates@eracepoverty.org. I'm hoping that with a few items, services, or anything else available for auction at the event, we will be able to bring in a bit more money and get to our goal of $30,000. Anything will help, so please let me know if you have any ideas. I don't think there is much else to share from this week, but thanks again to everyone for your support thus far, I am so honored to be sharing this whole experience with you all.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
It's Summer
Does Summer affect everyone else the same way it does me? I feel like I have come out of hibernation to see this beautiful world that hasn't shown itself for months, and I couldn't be happier. There are music and Summer celebration festivals seemingly every weekend in the Seattle area, and everyone is out and about with smiles on their faces. This is the kind of thing that goes missing in Southern California because sunshine is a given. Does it make the brutal other nine months worth it? That a question that I am still searching for an answer to.
Now to tell you about the developments with ERACE. First of all, I can finally officially say that I will be working with Center for Family Life in Sunset Park in Brooklyn to kick off my journey in September. While I'm there, I will spend time with all of their varying programs to get a broad view of how different programs are making a difference in struggling communities. Following that, I will be off to the Toledo district of Belize to work with Sustainable Harvest International. I am really excited to get to know the families in Belize and help them by building solar latrines, wood conservation stoves, solar dryers, and setting up organic school gardens. Both of these organizations are doing amazing work, and I am honored to be working with them and learning from them. Also, I would like to personally invite everyone to be involved in a major fundraising
event that we have just confirmed. The staff at the SAC, where I work as a trainer, have been gracious enough to host a jog-a-thon and party for us. On August 21st, myself and a lot of the other staff at the SAC will do a 12-hour relay jog-a-thon in an effort to raise money for the launch of ERACE POVERTY and my journey. Following that, we will have a Q&A social party in the cafe from 5-7pm so everyone can visit with Tyler and I, and get a feel for our vision. I hope everyone will come and bring others with them.
I had a certain feeling for the first time since all the planning for ERACE and my journey began.
I started to wonder why I feel I need to put my life, a life that I thoroughly enjoy, on hold for a year, with no thought to where I will go or what I will do when I get return. It seems somewhat maniacal, doesn't it? This has been a bit of an internal battle for the past few days. My excitement has given way to nervousness and fear a bit more as my departure date rapidly approaches. The good thing is I am surrounded by people who have more than enough excitement on my behalf to overcome. I am asking now, and will continually ask, for your prayers for proper preparation and total trust as I begin and carry on my journey.
Thanks for checking in and I will be back next week with what I expect to be more exciting updates.
Now to tell you about the developments with ERACE. First of all, I can finally officially say that I will be working with Center for Family Life in Sunset Park in Brooklyn to kick off my journey in September. While I'm there, I will spend time with all of their varying programs to get a broad view of how different programs are making a difference in struggling communities. Following that, I will be off to the Toledo district of Belize to work with Sustainable Harvest International. I am really excited to get to know the families in Belize and help them by building solar latrines, wood conservation stoves, solar dryers, and setting up organic school gardens. Both of these organizations are doing amazing work, and I am honored to be working with them and learning from them. Also, I would like to personally invite everyone to be involved in a major fundraising
event that we have just confirmed. The staff at the SAC, where I work as a trainer, have been gracious enough to host a jog-a-thon and party for us. On August 21st, myself and a lot of the other staff at the SAC will do a 12-hour relay jog-a-thon in an effort to raise money for the launch of ERACE POVERTY and my journey. Following that, we will have a Q&A social party in the cafe from 5-7pm so everyone can visit with Tyler and I, and get a feel for our vision. I hope everyone will come and bring others with them.
I had a certain feeling for the first time since all the planning for ERACE and my journey began.
I started to wonder why I feel I need to put my life, a life that I thoroughly enjoy, on hold for a year, with no thought to where I will go or what I will do when I get return. It seems somewhat maniacal, doesn't it? This has been a bit of an internal battle for the past few days. My excitement has given way to nervousness and fear a bit more as my departure date rapidly approaches. The good thing is I am surrounded by people who have more than enough excitement on my behalf to overcome. I am asking now, and will continually ask, for your prayers for proper preparation and total trust as I begin and carry on my journey.
Thanks for checking in and I will be back next week with what I expect to be more exciting updates.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
This is Life
Happy 4th of July Everyone! This is exciting to have a real blog page; I have to say I never saw myself being the kind of person who would be blogging on a regular basis, if at all. I hope people will follow along and stay involved with ERACE and myself as we launch my journey and what we hope will be an organization involving thousands in positive change.
Let me first catch you up on my triathlon last weekend. I will first say that nothing humbles me quite as deeply as when I get passed by a 50-year-old man late in an endurance race. Last week, I mentioned how I was looking forward to the added challenge of 100-degree temperatures and lower oxygen levels due to greatly increased elevations. That added challenge turned out to be a lot more than I could handle, and I missed my goal finish time by well over an hour. The bottom line is that I finished, and while that does offer only a small condolence, it is the most important thing. As I was in the heart of a sun-drenched, severe leg-cramp-ridden half marathon that represented the final leg of the event, I was constantly considering how this race was a microcosm of my life as a whole. In complete honesty, and without an ounce of bitterness, I can say that I have never really been great at anything. With that said, I do feel like I have excelled in many areas of my life, but not due to amazing natural talents. Obviously I have been given, and am thankful for, many gifts and natural abilities. As I have grown, I have found things that I enjoy and/or see as important (basketball, school, relationships, and most recently endurance events and social justice), and put everything I have into those things. This has allowed me to get the absolute most out of each and every one of those things, and consequently allowed me to give the most I possibly could of myself to each of them.
Enough of me and my pedestal, let's get you caught up on recent ERACE activities. Ty and I did a lot of work on the website, and we feel pretty good about how it looks and feels now. Having this blogspot page will be really nice so that I can easily write down my thoughts and upload photos and videos of my experiences along the way. Things are almost squared away in New York and Central America, and I will post the information about the organizations I will be working with in each spot once I get all the pieces put together. Other than that, we are just waiting to finalize everything with the 501c3 application and send it to the IRS. I personally am getting much more comfortable talking to anybody about our organization and my journey, and as a result am getting continued positive feedback. I will give information about a few upcoming fundraising events once they are finalized, as well. We have a lot in the oven right now, so to speak, and I just can't wait to take it all out, piece by piece, and share it with everyone.
Let me first catch you up on my triathlon last weekend. I will first say that nothing humbles me quite as deeply as when I get passed by a 50-year-old man late in an endurance race. Last week, I mentioned how I was looking forward to the added challenge of 100-degree temperatures and lower oxygen levels due to greatly increased elevations. That added challenge turned out to be a lot more than I could handle, and I missed my goal finish time by well over an hour. The bottom line is that I finished, and while that does offer only a small condolence, it is the most important thing. As I was in the heart of a sun-drenched, severe leg-cramp-ridden half marathon that represented the final leg of the event, I was constantly considering how this race was a microcosm of my life as a whole. In complete honesty, and without an ounce of bitterness, I can say that I have never really been great at anything. With that said, I do feel like I have excelled in many areas of my life, but not due to amazing natural talents. Obviously I have been given, and am thankful for, many gifts and natural abilities. As I have grown, I have found things that I enjoy and/or see as important (basketball, school, relationships, and most recently endurance events and social justice), and put everything I have into those things. This has allowed me to get the absolute most out of each and every one of those things, and consequently allowed me to give the most I possibly could of myself to each of them.
Enough of me and my pedestal, let's get you caught up on recent ERACE activities. Ty and I did a lot of work on the website, and we feel pretty good about how it looks and feels now. Having this blogspot page will be really nice so that I can easily write down my thoughts and upload photos and videos of my experiences along the way. Things are almost squared away in New York and Central America, and I will post the information about the organizations I will be working with in each spot once I get all the pieces put together. Other than that, we are just waiting to finalize everything with the 501c3 application and send it to the IRS. I personally am getting much more comfortable talking to anybody about our organization and my journey, and as a result am getting continued positive feedback. I will give information about a few upcoming fundraising events once they are finalized, as well. We have a lot in the oven right now, so to speak, and I just can't wait to take it all out, piece by piece, and share it with everyone.
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