As I am here writing a letter, I was listening to the soundtrack to RENT. RENT is by far the most real, cool, energizing, eye opening production I have ever seen. Candidly, I have sent it over 15 times in various cities around the world. Each time, it opens my eyes to the “real world” where people need “real hope.” One of my favorite songs in the production is “Seasons of Love.”

So my thought for you is how do you measure a year? Did you know that there are 525,600 minutes in a year – if you do not believe me – figure it out. So at the end of the year, after the 525,600 minutes – what will you remember?

At our charity we give away a pair of shoes every 17 seconds. How many shoes is that? Over 1.8M a year. Candidly that is not good enough. As I write this blog there are 300 million children around the world that have no shoes. Add in the adults and that represents ¼ of the worlds population. Today, I reviewed the stats on Haiti and had to wipe my eyes when I learned that 60% of the children born die. The amount of poverty, in Haiti compared to wealth and the large % of people that live on less than $1.00 a day. Hurts. True. Real. How do they measure a year?

One of our huge MBO’s is micro enterprise. Over the next few months, we are going to shout to the world how your donated shoes are raising the level of poverty in developing nations by trading used shoes. (or American’s extras or garbage) Recycling shoes to us is keeping them out of landfills and using them to impact lives of people around the globe. So a used pair of shoes is marketed to these folks and they are trading them for shoes, food, animals, water and medicine. I was briefed this week on several test results and totally excited on the strategy. So in developing nations, this will expand big time, quickly! Stay tuned. So after a year living in a hut with no electric, water or bathroom – how will they measure a year?

At the same time, we have a huge committed to the US. I say often on interviews, “ Look around, open your eyes up – there is a natural disaster happening in peoples lives right in front of us.” I have seen this. Recently, a child had his front of the shoes cut out because mom could not afford a new pair! In America, not a developing nation. This is insanity! This past year and going forward we are distributing 55% of our shoes right here in the US. This is not enough and we will do more. We have to, these are our neighbors and our friends. I just wonder how that mom will measure a year?

So would we measure a year good if we gave away a pair of shoes every second – how many would that be”¦”¦ over 31M pairs in a year. While that would be a huge increase over our current rate at a pair every 17 seconds, but what will the gap be – remember the 300 million children that have no shoes. But how would we measure a year? I can answer that – good but lets close the gap.

Jonathan Larson wrote RENT and tragically died before the opening night. I believe that he measured a year by Love, Openness, Honesty, Dignity, Honor, Acceptance, Friends, Giving, Helping others and HOPE. Jonathan and I met each other while he was working on this awesome production and he inspired me to be open to the world, each other and myself. Thank you Jonathan for making a difference in my life many years ago! How did he measure a year?

Better yet – how do you measure a year? I found this video on youtube.com. Click on the link below.After watching this ask your self, how can you now measure a year?

Seasons of Love