Why Do We Want To Change 250 Lives?

While I have always given back to society in some fashion, it was in February 2005 that I had an experience that caused me to take steps to fulfill this mission. I was attending the Keller Williams Realty Family Reunion in Las Vegas, specifically the CEO's Inspirational Breakfast, when the means to fulfill our mission became clear to me.

As you might imagine, the CEO's Inspirational Breakfast is an exceptionally empowering event. Even though there is seating at the breakfast for some 6,000 people, there were long line-ups to get in as early as 2 a.m. (for a 7 a.m. start!). The CEO of Keller Williams Realty is an amazing lady by the name of Mo Anderson, and I have to say a huge Thank You! to Mo for allowing me the pleasure of attending the event; it truly was life-changing for me.

The first inspirational guest that day was Oral Lee Brown, a Realtor from Oakland, California who had made a pledge a long time ago. This wonderful lady had promised an entire Grade 1 class that if they stayed in school and met certain grade requirements, she would pay their entire college tuition! I won't tell you the whole story here but if you visit this site, you can read all about her.

The next guest was a young Marine, the nephew of Mo, who told the heart-wrenching story of how he had to one day explain to his young daughter he was going to Iraq to help other little children enjoy the same freedoms that she enjoys. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house as we could all relate to the feelings to some degree.

The third guest was from a real estate company that had decided to sponsor needy children around the world through World Vision. In 2004, this company had sponsored 53 children! What an incredible story this man had to tell. Again, it's not likely there was a dry eye in the house as people were awed at what this company had done.

The truly big breakthrough for me came when a 13 year old boy from Kemptville, Ontario was welcomed to the stage. Apparently, it was not his first visit, and Mo welcomed him as her own son. This boy was, of course, Ryan Hreljac. Ryan told the story of how he had first learned that there are people in the world who don't have fresh water to drink without having to walk for miles. I won't tell you Ryan's entire story, which you can find on his web site at http://www.RyansWell.ca but for me, it was the most inspiring time of the entire morning.

Once I returned to Milton, I couldn't get this experience out of my mind. I knew that I was helping some people through my various volunteer efforts, but I also knew there were other ways to help more people. I thought about things for a month before deciding that we would adopt all of the ideas from the Inspirational Breakfast and also add a Canadian aspect to things. I talked about my idea with my family, and we decided that we should sponsor some children in different parts of the world, but we should also try to help needy children right here in Canada. I was so thrilled to see that World Vision has programs already in place for that, and we decided that the Utshimassit Breakfast Program would be perfect. We further decided that I would continue my volunteering efforts along with the food and toy drives we organize every year in support of local families in need.

We were so excited that we had made our decisions, but then we were struck with a dilemma: how do we let people know what we are doing, so they can help too, without it seeming like a publicity thing? We wrestled with this for a couple of days, and I had some meetings with some colleagues who do a lot of similar work through their real estate business, and this web site is the result.

In the future, we will be bringing our message to local schools and community groups through educational tools provided by the organizations we sponsor.

Thank You for visiting our web site.