Let’s Change the World!

We’re blessed. Despite all that is wrong with life in our first world lives and culture, we’re so very blessed.

It’s easy to forget just how good we’ve got it under the constant barrage of “First World Problems”, to lose perspective. We complain when our latte isn’t made just right when there are people out there who don’t have access to clean drinking water. We’re upset because we had to work late when in some places, children work grueling hours in unbearable conditions for almost no pay to try to keep their families alive.

When I open my eyes wide to the hard facts of life for people who don’t live such blessed, easy lives as we do, it makes me want to do something about it. We enact genuine change in this world by making life better for our fellow man.

I know that I can’t change life for everyone suffering around the world. I can’t fix it all, all by myself, or even with the help of my wonderful family, my hardworking Holmies, or my generous friends. My limitations won’t stop me from making what impact I can.

I can change life for some of them, make it better, less harsh.  After seeing what life was like for the people of Haiti, the children particularly, I got involved the non-profit Haiti180.  If you know me at all, I’m willing to bet you’re well aware of my passion for helping the children of Haiti. I’ve been at it for ten years and it means the world to me to be able to help those people who don’t have the tools to help themselves.

We started the Promo180 brand not only to sell promotional products, make jobs, and support our community at home, but also to give to Haiti180. In fact, 10% of the brand’s profits go straight to the foundation.

Now, our mission at Haiti180 is to give the villagers supported by Haiti180 the means to help themselves. How can we do that? A little thing called the internet.

Step One: Get Internet Access to Haiti

The internet absolutely changed my life. It helped me, just a Rockstar marketing guy with a gleam in his eye, to help Holmes Custom grow from a $1mil company to a $20mil company. Without the accessibility and innovation brought to us by widespread internet use, we’d have been stuck trying to sell our products through the yellow pages. I wasn’t any different than my dad or Mr. Holmes who founded Holmes Customs and ran it from 1954-1998; I simply had the desire to leverage the internet’s new-fangled potential.

The internet is an incredible tool. It puts the vast majority of information at the tips of our fingers. You can learn almost anything from the internet, no charge. It provides us the opportunity to communicate instantaneously with people across the globe. It provides people with entrepreneurial opportunities that they wouldn’t otherwise have.

I wanted to give those powers to this village in Haiti where our non-profit operates.

Last week, we were able to write a really special check, one that might have the power to change life there for good. I handed a $13,200 check over to Sean and Haiti180’s other fearless leaders on the ground in Haiti that will go towards the infrastructure needed to provide internet access to the village.

In about a month, people who have never had internet access will have the same power that helped me build this company into something great.

Who Will It Help?

This internet access will be a game changer for so many in the village.

It’ll serve the orphanage where 40 kids and staff members live and work, plus up to 1,000 missionaries who visit them every year. It could allow these kids to find permanent homes by allowing for more effective communication.

The internet will help the school there, 400 kids and 25 staff members. Think about how that will change the way kids are educated. The teachers there will be able to educate themselves better so that they can then better educate the students. They’ll have access to curriculum and texts they’d have never even thought to use.

The medical center will benefit a great deal, as well. That means up to 20 staff members will have access to critical information so that they can more effectively help the people there. They’ll have the ability to talk with other medical professionals across the globe to consult on difficult cases or to get ideas for how to run the clinic more efficiently. It’ll make ordering supplies easier, as well. We expect the center to serve between 1,000 and 1,600 patients in the first year, and every one of those people has the potential to benefit from this new access to the internet.

Oh, The Places They’ll Go

The potential impact stretches far beyond this initial accessibility. With knowledge and connectivity at their fingertips, I can only imagine what the people in the village will be capable of.

Improving Education

We know that lack of education holds people back. It keeps them in poverty. Statistics derived from the U.S. Census and interpreted by U.C. Davis support this idea here at home and it’s true around the world. The less education people have, the more likely they are to live in poverty, and that’s cyclical. When one generation is too poor to provide an education to their children, their children are then likely to be poor, as well.

According to Global Citizen, lack of funding, lack of teachers or untrained teachers, no classroom, and and lack of learning materials are some of the main barriers to education around the world. Haiti180 is working to fund education in the village and they provided the classrooms when they opened the Immaculate Conception School. The internet can help break down the other two barriers listed: untrained teachers and lack of learning materials.

This new internet connectivity can create opportunities for education that most of the people in Haiti wouldn’t even dare to dream of. The teachers at the school can get the training they need to effectively teach the kids and provide quality educations for the kids in the orphanage and in the rest of the village, as well.

When you’ve got textbooks, learning websites, video lectures, and tons of other learning materials available on a computer for free, the lack of learning materials issue is shored up, as well. Some colleges even provide all their coursework online absolutely free, meaning that while those who utilized those materials might not get a diploma or a formal degree, they could obtain all the knowledge you get from a university education.

I know it’s totally cliché, but knowledge is power. It’s the power to lift themselves from oppression, to make life better in their communities and their entire country.

Entrepreneurial Power

Just like the internet and my own entrepreneurial spirit helped me grow my company, it could help the people there start businesses.

For example, a woman makes jewelry now and sells it to tourists to feed her family. Imagine if she could sell her one of a kind pieces all over the world. She could sell more product for more money, all because she harnessed the power of the internet.

It has the power to help the entire community. In poor areas of Haiti like the one we serve, they make the most of what they have. They take care of each other. If just a few people there are driven enough and innovative enough to find a way to use this connectivity to improve their lives, there’s not a doubt in my mind that life will get a little better for everyone who lives there.

Step Two: Provide Tech so They Can Use the Internet

Of course, our mission doesn’t end at Step One. Once we get the infrastructure in place, they’re going to need devices with which they can access the internet. Haiti180 and its supporters will come through again.

I Get by With a Little Help from My Friends

When Sean and Manno, called me about getting funding for this project, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that we’d be able to make it happen. Between the funds raised by Promo180, my own family (thanks, honey, for always being willing to oblige my crazy schemes!), and gifts from several of my friends, the foundation is bringing the internet to Haitians.

I’d like to give my sincerest thanks to everyone who helped make this crazy plan a reality: The folks at Fisher, Tousey, Leas, and Ball, Sandpiper Asset Management, Corporate Traffic Logistics, Holmes Custom, Applications Consulting Training Solutions, Landmark Title Insurance, Phoenix Wood Products, and Promo180. Your generosity and willingness to help our fellow man has made this whole thing possible.

If you’re interested in learning more about Haiti180, donating, or even taking a trip to help Haitians in need, feel free to reach out to me!