The Affero Blog

A Random Facebook Message

By Beau Miller in News

Hey everyone, I hope all of you are doing well, and I apologize for the delay in getting this posted. Almost twelve hours late to be exact. Well, if blogging is anything like showing up to parties, this just means I’m super cool. I wish this were the case, but the truth is, I am filled with joy thanks to this post, while simultaneously dreading the fact that I’ve got to write it. I know this sounds rather contradictory, so I guess I’ll just have to start at the beginning.

I spent this past weekend on Lake Erie with my family. We had a great time – laughing, lounging and catching up with old friends. I even got a chance to get some important work done while sitting on the porch and listening to the waves crash less than ten feet away from me. The porch made for a sweet office until the tornado sirens went off, but that’s a whole different story. Anyway, I’m working on my computer when all of the sudden I see that I’ve got a new Facebook message. As someone who got about two pieces of mail throughout my entire childhood, a new Facebook message is like Christmas morning to me. Pathetic? Maybe. The truth? You bet. So I open it up and see that it’s from a really cool looking girl with funky red hair and sweet, artsy glasses named Taryn. Even cooler than her hair and glasses was the message she sent. Here it is:

“Hi Beau,
I don’t mean to randomly add you, though that’s what I’m totally doing. Ha! But, I saw the Affero Project [I’M IN] video you posted on Aaron’s page. Watched it, loved it, and now I’m a donor! I am so passionate about social justice and it’s so nice to see that other people are too! Anyway, I hope you’re having the best day ever!”

What an awesome message! I knew right then and there that I had to call Taryn and write something about her for the blog this week. So I did. We talked and then we ended up talking more, and it was cool, and it got even cooler, and she was sweet and got even sweeter, and she told some stories, and then they got funnier and more awesome. And this, my friends, is why I am dreading this post. I’ve got so much cool stuff to share, and I’ve only got about 1000 words to do it. Taryn has so much life to squeeze into a thousand words, but I’m going to do my best. Here’s the highlight reel from our conversation…

• Beau: So Taryn, tell me about yourself…
• Taryn: I don’t know what to say.
• Beau: Anything. Let’s hear the whole Taryn story. I’ve got time.
• Taryn: Well, I’m 22-years-old, I live in Phoenix and I work for Feed My Starving Children. Best job in the world!
• Beau: Sweet, tell me about it. What do you do?
• Taryn: Feed My Starving Children was started in 1987 when our founder went to Honduras and experienced all of the wonderful people who desperately needed food and water. He came back, called General Mills and Cargill and started collecting food. Today, we package fortified rice meals with volunteers that cost 19 cents each, and we send them out across the globe. We packaged 3 million meals in 2003 and we are estimating that we’ll do 127 million meals this year!
• Beau: Wow! That’s incredible. What a blessing you are to others. Tell me some more about yourself…
• Taryn: I’m studying nursing. Really love it. I think I might want to go back to Africa someday and help sick people there.
• Beau: Back to Africa?!?! Let’s hear about the first time.
• Taryn: I traveled with a music ministry called Youth Encounter for two years playing drums. The first year we traveled the east coast of the U.S., the second we went to Uganda and Tanzania. It was the best time! I miss it. I miss the amazing kids.
• Beau: This is so cool. So you’ve been to Africa with a music ministry, you’re serving the hungry right now and your heart is in medical missions. No wonder you joined The Affero Project! Tell me how it all comes together. You obviously find lots of joy in serving others.
• Taryn: Yes! I do. It bums me out when people think that there have to be specified times and places for serving and being charitable. I think that 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is a good time to be charitable.
• Beau: Haha, me too! Will you share a little about your dreams for the future?
• Taryn: Dreams… Well, if God says to stay in the U.S. I’d love to work in the ER with trauma patients, but I’d really love to live in Africa too. One of my biggest passions is working with women. I’ve met so many wonderful women living in oppressive cultures who don’t feel beautiful or significant. I want tell all of them how beautiful and precious they are. Just because God made them and loves them!
• Beau: This is beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing. How about your church?
• Taryn: I go to a non-denominational Christian churched in Tempe called Praxis. I love it there. They preach the gospel and live it out. That’s what matters…and 92% of our members are under 26, so that’s cool too.
• Beau: Sounds like a great place. Hopefully I can visit someday. Do you like music?
• Taryn: Yes, I love it. Listening to The Civil Wars a lot lately. You’ve got to check them out. They rock.
• Beau: I certainly will. I feel like I could talk to you forever, but it’s getting late and I have family members screaming at me about how much time I spend on the phone and how they want me to play cards, so I’m going to have to wrap this exploration into awesomeness up. (Note – “exploration into awesomeness” is even lamer when you type it out!) But before we go, tell me something crazy about yourself…
• Taryn: Well, I don’t know about crazy. A lot of stuff I do is crazy!
• Beau: How about something embarrassing?
• Taryn: OK. Here’s one for you. I’m a life-long Phoenix Suns fan, and when I was like 6 years old I would lie in bed every night and sing the national anthem before I went to sleep. My dream was to sing it at a Suns game. Long story short, I never thought anyone heard me, until I grew up and my mom let me know how funny and cute it was to hear me sing every night!
• Beau: That’s funny. Did you ever sing at a Suns game?
• Taryn: Nope.
• Beau: There’s still time. I’ll be calling the Phoenix Suns and we’ll see what we can do…
• Taryn: Don’t! Haha.
• Beau: OK, I won’t. But I am going to share it in my blog.
• Taryn: It’s cool.
• Beau: This has been great. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me. I’m filled with joy and really inspired.
• Taryn: Me too. Have a great night Beau. I’m so glad we’re friends.
• Beau: Me too. Talk to you later Taryn.

And that’s the condensed story of Taryn. An extraordinary young woman with a huge heart for Christ, justice, and a beautiful singing voice too. I did my best to keep it short, but we passed 1000 words a long time ago and I’m totally cool with that. Taryn, thanks for being who you were created to be. Every time I talk to people like you and all of our other unbelievable Affero members, I am inspired beyond compare. Keep on rocking and singing your song…you’re so darn interesting I’m sure we’d all love to hear you sing from the phone book. Until next week everybody…

Peace,
Beau

P.S. What made you smile today?

Famous Photos, Fast Cars & A Friendly Heart

By Beau Miller in News

Affero Member Profile:

I had the pleasure of meeting Georgia Durante on one of my business trips to LA earlier this year. A few us were headed to the west coast to shoot a marketing video and when we were looking for homes to rent we stumbled across a really cool place called The Enchanted Manor. A place which I later learned was owned and operated by Georgia. While we ended up staying in a home closer to where we were shooting, fortunately for me, we still got to meet Georgia. And believe me when I tell you, I had no idea how fascinating our dinner together would be!

To say that Georgia has lived an wildly interesting life would be a total understatement. If I were to tell you that she became “the most photographed woman in the world” in the summer of ’69, as the beautiful “Kodak Girl” in the blue polka dot bikini would you believe me? Well, it’s true. That was her on the thousands of cardboard cut-outs in stores across the globe. And what if I told you that shortly after her very successful modeling career she became Hollywood’s leading female precision stunt driver, a status she held for decades? This is also true. And if this isn’t enough for you, how about the fact that she got her education in driving fast as a getaway driver for the Gambino crime family in New York. This may sound a bit outlandish, so before you call me a liar, let me tell you that you can go ahead and check out her best selling memoir “The Company She Keeps,” where all of this can be substantiated. Surprise, surprise, Georgia is an amazing author too. I don’t know about you, but I think that if this blog post ended right here it would definitely fulfill the criterion of profiling a member of The Affero Project community in an interesting way. But the truth is, this is just the tip of the iceberg with Georgia. I haven’t even got the chance to tell you about how loving, generous and brave she is, and that’s what matters most. Georgia’s heart is really what makes her, well…Georgia.

When I decided that I was going to start blogging about Affero members each week, I checked the member list and wasn’t surprised at all to see that Georgia had joined the movement. I didn’t even have a chance to call and tell her about it, and she had already taken the initiative to read about Affero on Facebook and join the community. No pitch necessary, no clarification needed. When I called her tonight she summed it up really quickly when she said, “Beau, I am always willing to help with a good cause, and this is really something special!” It meant a lot to me to hear her say that, and Georgia, I’d like to say this in return – you are something special. The hospitality and love that I experienced when Georgia invited us into her home for dinner was really beautiful. We felt like family and forged a friendship that will last for many, many years. Beyond that, we got to meet a very special 4-year-old girl named Angela, whom Georgia lovingly adopted as her daughter a few years ago. Knowing Georgia, and what a great mom she is, it came as no shock to learn that her experience with adopting Angela inspired her to take action and give back by serving on the board of Grandparents As Parents, an organization committed to providing programs and services to meet the urgent and ongoing needs of grandparents and other relative caregivers raising at-risk children. This is just who Georgia is. A loving and compassionate person with a real heart for others. As you can imagine, throughout her life Georgia has had multiple brushes with death, and has lived to share her story. And I, for one, am thankful that she did. The way her life has changed, the ways she serves those in need and the stories she’s been able to share have been a blessing to me. There is no question that Georgia has helped to make the world a better place, and I’m proud to call her a friend and a fellow member of The Affero Project.

Peace & Polka Dots,

Beau

P.S. Grandparents As Parents is putting on a cool event at the House of Blues in California this September, so if you are in the area be sure to check out their website for more info.

Are you in?

By Rob Harvey in News

It’s been said that many hands make work light. That’s so true.

Anyone who knows Lucas knows he has a heart for justice. He goes into schools and churches sharing how young people can make a tremendous difference in our world. He offers engaging mult-media presentations that challenge us to tackle problems facing humanity such as poverty, human trafficking, child soldiers, famine, disease, clean water and more. How can you not love this guy?

As I type this post, I’m reminded of an African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, take someone with you.” The Affero Project is a team effort. Already, a community of talented and inspired people are lending a hand and leading the way forward. If you are reading this post, you are a part of the team.

Welcome aboard! And don’t forget to share with others what you’ve found. Tell your friends about The Affero Project. We are community against poverty and injustice, committed to bring hope, sustainable change, and empowering communities all over the world.

Thank you for joining the movement. We are going far together. You have already lifted a hand in significant ways. God bless you!

David and Amanda Rodriguez, owners of Guaranteed Gutter & Siding in Nashville, approached me about a year ago and plopped down the initial seed money to develop afferoproject.com. Without their early vision and generous gift, where would we be?

Ben, Josh and Shannon at Mellowtown navigated Lucas and I through the various twists and turns of taking our ideas and putting them into a well developed and functioning website. It’s beautiful, don’t you think?

Have you seen our introductory video donated by StoneKap? Or the “I’M IN” campaign video? Incredible. My wife caught me watching it over and over yesterday. It’s phenomenal. It captures so well the heart of what we’re doing. I LOVE IT!

When in Ohio making a presentation, Lucas met Joe. Then Beau, our very own Chief Affangelist, reinforced the tie with the StoneKap team. Soon after, the entire crew of this full service production company jumped in with both feet! I’m blown away by their inventive and creative direction. Thank you Chad, Tom, Shelvia, Dave, Joe, John, Derek, Kevin, Beau, Kevin D., and Robert for your creative work and for your generosity.

This is a blog post and not War and Peace. So I’ll sign off now. Thanks for checking in and watch for more posts to come. Don’t forget to share Affero with your friends and don’t forget to sign up and say “I’M IN!”.

Peace.

What a week!

By Affero in News

Wow, we’ve had an exciting week!

We will be giving over $500 away in April! Not bad for being just over 2 weeks old! If you follow us on Twitter or are a fan on Facebook, you heard that last week David Hasselhoff wrote a blog post and Tweeted about us being the “Next Big Thing”. We were greatly honored and quite frankly stoked that The Hoff himself would give props to us! We have over 800 facebook fans and our site www.afferoproject.com went international with donors from Australia and New Zealand! Wow!

For now though, help us reach our goal of giving away $1000 a month by telling your friends and family about The Affero Project and get them to join us. Remember, the power is in community – “its not one person doing something GREAT, its ALL of us doing small things with great love.” (Mother Theresa)

You Give + You Vote + You Decide

The Affero Team

What People Are Saying

By Affero in News

We wanted to share what people are saying about The Affero Project so far! Visit www.afferoproject.com/community to leave your comments and read others. Be inspired! Ordinary People, doing Extraordinary Things!

Beau Miller

This is pretty darn exciting! I am getting so much joy out of this community. 32 members and $168 already – pretty darn good. Can’t imagine what it will look like when Affero really catches fire with all of the people in our world who want to do good for others.

Mike Coates

After I voted for Human Trafficking, I was reading how they need $100,000 to build restoration houses in the US. I realized how sweet it was to think that we could be giving $100,000 a month to them. That’s insane!

Steven McLaughlin

I can be a bit cynical when it comes to giving, but this is definitely something I can get behind. Let’s keep it going!

Thomas Kruse

Let’s do this. Activate.

Why This Is Pure Awesome!

By Affero in Articles,News

The power is in the community. We will give more money and support the work of more organizations than ever dreamed possible. Building hospitals, schools, providing clean water to communities, vaccines, medicines, food and much more – all with small monthly donations from ordinary people. Each year the American people give over $308 billion to charitable causes worldwide and online giving has grown at a rate of 50% each year. People today want to give to causes which change lives. The Affero Project is a one stop shop for giving! People give to Affero, and together the community funds hundreds of projects each year, on every continent, to the tune of millions of dollars! Whats impossible for one person, becomes possible, when we all work together.

What Is The Affero Project?

By Affero in News

In Short…