Income for Life

"Pssst....Let's Change The World. Pass it On!"

Image by VonCanon

Every once in a while someone pops up into your life that makes you stop and take notice.

Mike Desormeaux is one of those people.

He works with Income For Life Real Estate investors in the Greater Toronto Area. His work ethic is second to none, his desire to make others successful in their investments is unstoppable.

He's like the energizer bunny, no matter what obstacle pops up in his way he just keeps going and going.

Mike is the kind of guy that will take the shirt off his back and give it to you.

You know the type.

Then a few months ago he lets me on on his secret project to spread good cheer one tiny step at a time.

And I almost collapsed.

That's right, almost fell right over.

The idea was that good.

(Aside: I figure Oprah will be calling. Oprah if you are reading this Mike is available for on camera interviews ;)

It's not a new idea. Not by a stretch.

It's actually based on that movie, "Pay It Forward".

Let me explain....

Mike was out with a bunch of friends earlier this year and just as friends do when they get together a few of them were complaining about events in their life. People who had lied to them, cheated them, not lived up to their word. You know the type of conversation. It's the same one that's going on in your local bar or Starbucks right now.

Everyone talks about the same crap.

Mike walked back to his car that night and said to one of his friends that life shouldn't be this way. We should focus on good deeds, good talk, progress, support, encouragement, opportunity, possibilities.

It was too emotionally draining to do otherwise.

And then his friend shared a story that started Mike's "Chain of Action".

His friend's parents owned a furniture store years ago and one night they found someone sleeping in the doorway of the store. Instead of chasing the person away they offered to take them to their house, to enjoy dinner with them and to have a good night's sleep in a warm bed. The person took up the offer.

Wouldn't it be great if the evening news shared these kinds of stories.

The story blew Mike away and started a chain of action...

Mike was pumped up and decided to do something about it.

How do you keep these stories going? How to you create a tidal wave of action that has one person doing a good deed for another and then them for another?

How do you create a domino effect of actions?

He worked away for a few months and has now come up with his idea.

You can find it here: www.ChainOfAction.com

Here's how it works:

1. You do a good deed.
2. You pass on a special key chain that has a unique number on it.
3. You share your story.
4. You follow your key chain as it creates a "chain of action". Watch as the story you started unfolds!

And the neat part.....it's encoded with your postal or zip code so that you can see how far your key chain travels!

Your good deed at the Starbucks in your town may end up resulting in good deeds being done for someone else half way across the country!

And you can watch it happen!

Mike is paying for the start up of this with his own money. No sponsors, no help, nothing. He used eLance.com to help him build the website and that's it.

If you need a key chain go to: www.ChainOfAction.com and grab one.

And let's pass this story on!

Amidst all the chaos in the world right now let's grow Mike's idea on our own.

Let's take matters into our own hands.

Go to www.ChainofAction.com right now to get your key chain.

I have no idea how he is paying for the supplies (I assume it's from his own pocket) and I believe his family is helping him mail out the key chains, so be patient!

"Let's Change The World. Pass it On!"

Tom Karadza
Income for Life Toronto
"Doer of Good Deeds" (as inspired by Mike Desormeaux)
www.TheRealEstateRenegades.com

p.s. If you want to reach out to Mike leave a comment on this blog. Because the site is so new he hasn't even had a chance to put up his contact information yet!

Updated List of Donations for our Income for Life Preschool!

My last few posts have been about our Income for Life Preschool. Today, I wanted to list each person who has made a contribution towards our Income for Life Preschool. I am extremely thankful to each person listed in this post. They represent the spirit of what I'm trying to accomplish with Income for Life! We are lucky to have them as part of Income for Life!

Here they are:

Billy Harris - Income for Life, New Mexico $200

Mike Sivula - Income for Life, Ohio $400

Tom & Nick Karadza - Income for Life, Toronto - Canada $200

Richard Sander - Income for Life, South Carolina $200

Robin Latimer - Income for Life, Oregon $200

Josh Schoenly -  Income for Life, Pennsylvania  $200

Bob Mangat - Income for Life, British Columbia - Canada $200

Joe Mercadante - Income for Life, Ohio $200

Anonymous - Income for Life, Alabama $400

John Hill - Income for Life, Tennessee $200

Kevin Kohn - Income for Life, Colorado $200

Brian Beck - Income for Life, Ohio $200

Janet & Pete Vossler - Income for Life, Nevada $200

Bill Ross - Income for Life, Arizona $200

James Best - Income for Life, Virginia $200

Chris Curry - Income for Life, Florida $200

Bob Doig - Income for Life, Colorado $200

Frank Patrick - Income for Life, Missouri $200

Steve Kuenkel - Income for Life, Ohio $200

Robert Farney - Income for Life, Wisconsin $200

Shawn Feeney - Income for Life, Indiana $100

Edgar Irizarry - Income for Life, Connecticut $200

Travis Dyer - Income for Life, Maryland $200

Matthew Lee - Income for Life, Illinois $200

Karen Houston - Income for Life, Alabama $200

Marc Highfill - Income for Life, Virginia $200

John Bretthauer - Income for Life, California $200

Barb Minton - Income for Life, Ohio $100

Dennis Ames - Income for Life, Ohio $100

Jerry Quade - Income for Life, Ohio $100

Sarah Nye - Income for Life, Ohio $100

Buddy Blackman - Income for Life, North Carolina $100

Ed Sullivan - Income for Life, Ohio $200

Rick Sheehan - Income for Life, Ohio $100

Pretty long list! In fact, I'm proud to announce that we have raised over $13,000 including my donation! If you would like to help out some children in need and have your name added to this list, simply send me an email. Click the link next to my picture!

Thank you to everyone listed above. We couldn't do it without you!

Rob Minton

Your Turn to Vote on our Income for Life Preschool!

Well, did you decide on where you would like our Income for Life Preschool to be built? I hope so! If you recall from my previous blog posts, our two choices are Laos and Sri Lanka.

For information on Laos - click here

For information on Sri Lanka - click here

Now it's your time to vote. Simply click your choice below and your vote will be added. Here goes:

In my next post, I plan to list each person who has donated money towards our Income for Life Preschool. I'm truly grateful for these folks. They are helping us change lives for generations to come!

Rob Minton

The second location for our Income for Life Preschool

See the previous posts about our Income for Life Preschool at these links before reading this post:

The Income for Life Preschool

Where should we build our Income for Life Preschool?

According to the information I received from Room to Read, our second choice to build our preschool is Laos. Room to Read was established in May of 2005 in Lao. Laos is one of the least developed countries in Asia. Educational indicators in Lao PDR are dramatically low, and represent one of the main bottlenecks in sustainable development and poverty reduction. Insufficient classrooms, lack of text books, educational supplies, teacher's books and lack of libraries are the main constraints in basic primary education, and this leads to low access rate and low quality of education in the country.

Room to Read's programs are particularly applicable in the Laos context. Room to Read Laos partners with the Ministry of Education and the Department of General Education to ensure their work meets the educational needs of the country. They are running three programs, including building schools, establishing libraries and printing local language children's books in Laos.

Laos has a great need for new schools, as the educational infrastructure is very underdeveloped in the country. In 2005, Room to Read launched their School Room program by selecting eight communities to collaborate with for biding new schools and have since expanded their work.

An important aspect of their School Room program is the "Challenge Grant," whereby communities co-invest with them in each school project by contributing land, materials and labor. The communities average a 20% contribution to each school through the Challenge Grant. A Construction Committee is formed in each community to oversee the project and to provide full transparency of the construction budget. Room to Read Laos hires one or two technical persons in each community to manage the project and supplies all the necessary materials. A majority of the construction work is then done by local volunteers from the community, who take pride in building the school for their children by themselves. All schools are constructed using good quality construction materials, such as concrete, to ensure that they will last a long time. To ensure quality of the construction process, the School Room Program Officer visits the site regularly along with the staff from the government's education department to monitor the work.

Room to Read's plan is to build 24 preschools in Laos.

So far we have raised about $14,000 towards our Income for Life Preschool. We still need to raise more money to completely fund our project. We are about 70% there now. We definitely need your help to complete our Income for Life Preschool.

First, we need to choose a location for our Income for Life Preschool. Then we need to raise the remainder of the money required for completion. If you would like to make a donation, contact Trish in my office at 440-549-5942 or by email at [email protected]. Take a few minutes and think about the two locations for our preschool. You can read about our first location here.

In tomorrow's post, I'll give you a chance to vote on which location you would like for our Income for Life Preschool. Your vote definitely counts. Remember, the impact we will have together on children for generations to come.

Rob Minton

P.S. Later in the week, I'm going to post a video of the first part of my presentation titled "How to Teach Our Children to Be Financially Independent." You don't want to miss out on this video. Add your email address in the box on the top right hand side of this page to receive future blog posts automatically!

Where should WE build our Income for Life Preschool?

In my previous post, I announced the Income for Life Preschool Project. You can read this post here:

The Income for Life Preschool

Room to Read has suggested two locations for us to consider for our preschool. We need to decide which location to choose. The first location is Sri Lanka. Here is the information provided by Room to Read:

Room to Read launched its program in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the tsunami that hit the island on December 26, 2004. Forty thousand people were left dead with over a million people displaced and suffering heavy damage. Room to Read immediately partnered with Shiva Charity to rebuild preschools in tsunami-affected areas of the Ampara district on the eastern coast in late January.

Room to Read representative, Suba Sivakumaran, initially came to the island in February 2005 as a volunteer to help find partners, scale up and establish the operations. She became our first Country Director and is currently working on a master's degree at Harvard University. In 2005, Room to Read Sri Lanka became fully licensed in the country and accomplished an amazing amount of work. They started construction on 39 preschools across the island with over 8 partners; launched the library program with 27 new libraries in primary and secondary schools in the rural south; and distributed fifty thousand English books donated by Scholastic to 117 schools impacted by the tsunami.

Room to Read's commitment to Sri Lanka is long-term and we have plans to continue to grow and launch new programs for many years to come to assist in improving educational opportunities for the most neediest children on this beautiful island.

Program Coverage

School Room Reading Room Local Language Publishing Computer Room Language Room Girls’ Scholar-ships Cambodia X X X X X India X X X X Laos   X X X X(2007) Nepal X X X X X South Africa X X Sri Lanka X X X X Vietnam X X X X X X

Program Objective: To work with school communities to construct preschools and improve the physical condition and educational infrastructure of government primary school buildings.

The School Room Program was the first Room to Read Sri Lanka launched when we entered the country soon after the tsunami of Dec. 2004. In 2005 the program was operational in the tsunami affected areas in the North, Northeast and Sounthern Sri Lanka--some of the areas worst-hit by the tsunami. Today, Room to Read works in areas impacted by the tsunami as well as in other underdeveloped regions of the country. Sadly, however, due to political unrest in Sri Lanka, we have suspended our operations in Jaffna and the northeast area of the country.

Room to Read Sri Lanka works with a large number of local NGO partners to help identify communities that need new preschools and government primary school upgrades. They also assist us in implementation by assisting our in-country staff with monitoring project progress.

Our projects are based primarily in rural areas where there is a strong need for preschool construction and strong community support for the project. Much of the School Room Challenge Grant in Sri Lanka consists of large donations of land for the new preschool, with indicates a deep community dedicated to the project.

Room to Read Sri Landa supports the preschools we contruct by holding preschool teacher training workshops designed and faciliated by the Early Childhood Care Department of the Open University. The first workshop was held in Tamil for 34 teachers from our Jaffna and Ampara preschools in December 2005. Since then, we have conducted two teacher training workshops per year.

I'll include our second choice in my next blog post. Then I'll ask you to vote which location you would like to focus on for our Income for Life Preschool. The location with the highest number of votes will win! Stay tuned for our second choice within the next few days!

Rob Minton

The Income for Life Preschool Project!

In a recent Income for Life newsletter, I wrote about our special project to build a pre-school for under privileged children. We have actually been working on this project for several months behind the scenes. In fact, we are over half way towards reaching our goal! 

Here is the article that I wrote for our newsletter:

Let’s Help Children for
Generations to Come by
Building a Preschool Together

In this special article, I’m going to ask for your help on a very exciting project. We would like to build a small preschool for under-privileged children. For many of us, we are very lucky to live where we have running water, secure homes, schools, and public services. This not the same for others, and we can make a difference in the lives of many families by working together!

Income for Life would like to sponsor a preschool through RoomToRead.org. Here is an excerpt from the organization’s Web site:

“Adequate schools are often scarce in the rural areas of the developing world, a factor that contributes to continuing poverty and lack of economic development. It is not uncommon for young children to walk several hours each way just to attend school. Many of the schools that do exist are often ramshackle collections of crumbling bricks, loose sheet metal and dirt floors. Although these structures are no longer safe for children, they continue to be used because the community has no alternative.”

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Together, we can literally build a new preschool. According to RoomtoRead.org, a donation of around $25,000 would build small school in one of these under- privileged areas. I have personally pledged $8,000 towards this project. Many of the Income for Life real estate professionals have also pledged money to this project. As I write this article, we have already raised around $12,000 toward our goal.

We need your help to finish our Income for Life Preschool. Would you be willing to donate to have a small preschool built? How many lives could we touch through this project? Any donation amount would help!

Here is additional info from RoomToRead.org:

“Through our School Room Program, Room to Read partners with local communities to build several types of schools to meet specific needs of each village and culture …

One of our main focal points is to provide access to preschool. Educational studies demonstrate that early learning makes a significant and positive impact in the educational development of young students. In addition, preschools offer an organized learning environment in which small children can be nurtured.”

Imagine all of the kids we could help– together!

   

I really do need your help to make this dream come to reality!

Our first decision is where to build our Income for Life Preschool. Later in the week, I'll add a post with our choices. In this post, I plan on allowing you to vote for the location. The location with the highest votes will win! In addition, I hope to provide an updated list of folks that have helped out with a donation to our project. I'm very thankful to these folks for their help and support!

If you would like to make a donation, please Trish in my office an email! She can be reached at: [email protected]

Stay tuned to place your vote!

Rob Minton