Last weekend, at DreamBuilder LIVE, something amazing happened:
Our participants banded together to lift 1000+ people from poverty and desperation into hope, abundance and joy!
There’s an amazing story behind that moment… and it all started with a crushing betrayal.
The betrayal
Before I knew my friend, Cynthia Kersey, her husband left her for another woman. She was deeply hurt, and her therapist told her that to get through the pain, she would also need to work through her anger.
When Cynthia asked how long she would need to stay angry for the wound to heal, the therapist said it would probably take at least six months.
A better way
Shortly after she began to practice being angry, Cynthia talked to our mutual friend, Bob Proctor. When she told him what she was doing, he gave her a piece of advice that would change her life:
“You could spend six months being angry, or you could find something you cared about that was bigger than the pain you feel.”
Cynthia agreed that channeling her pain into something positive was much more appealing than burning with anger for half a year. So she called Millard Fuller and asked him,
“What are you doing with Habitat right now?”
He answered,
“I’m taking a small group to Nepal. We’re going to build a house there.”
Cynthia decided to go with him. While she was there, she met Nepalese women who had lost their husbands or been divorced.
In that part of Nepal, when you’ve lost your husband, you are not part of the community anymore.
Cynthia wanted to help these vulnerable women, so she thought,
“I’m going to build a house for a woman.”
But almost immediately, she realized,
“That wouldn’t take away my pain. How many houses would I have to build? Five? No, that is not enough. Ten? No, I would still feel pain.”
Then she decided:
“If I build a hundred houses, that would be bigger than the pain I feel.”
She’d never raised money for a cause before.
But when she found out that each house would cost $2,500, and there were plenty of volunteers who would help, she became determined to raise $250,000.
It took her a year, but she got it done – and in the process, she got more than that.
She got her heart back.
Growing bigger
After she’d gotten her hundred houses built, and after we became friends, Cynthia got a speaking opportunity in Africa.
While she was there, the local women told her,
“Our children don’t get educated. We have dirty water. We don’t have medicine. There is no hope and we have to marry our daughters off at the age of ten or twelve, because the family can’t survive. We need help.”
Cynthia was so moved that she said to herself,
“I have to do something.”
So on her 50th birthday, she held a party and asked that instead of bringing her gifts, we should make a contribution toward helping these precious, struggling people.
In a single night, we raised enough money to build a completely self-sustaining village, with its own power, water, health and education.
That was the birth of the Unstoppable Foundation.
Cynthia went on to start working in that organization full-time, and I became her first monthly supporter.
And let me tell you, when I fully realized the impact my donations would have – because of me, children would receive food and education that would change their lives – I felt wealthy beyond the thousand dollars per month I was donating could have ever bought me.
Studies prove that for every year a child goes to school, income potential increases. Girls get married later. Early pregnancies decrease. Health and nutrition is elevated for the entire family.
Every time a child gets an education, we all benefit. And to know that I was a part of that was uplifting beyond words.
I had to share that experience.
At DreamBuilder LIVE last week, I gave the participants the opportunity to feel the same abundance I experienced, by working together to change lives.
They met and exceeded my hopes: together, we raised a total of $111,200, which is enough to build 4+ villages with approximately 350 people in each village, accounting for roughly 70 children as well.
You don’t have to be a millionaire to be a philanthropist. One dollar is enough.
And as you give, you heal your own heart, and you open the door for the universe to give back to you.
Make “giving” a part of your life. Whatever you can give, will produce two results. It will allow you to feel abundant and give an opportunity to someone else to feel the same way.
If you’d like to give to the Unstoppable Foundation, use this link.
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