Devin D. Thorpe:  Championing Social Good

Devin D. Thorpe thinks he is the luckiest person alive. After being “let go” from the best job he’d ever had—as the Chief Financial Officer of the multinational food and beverage company MonaVie—he and his wife ended up living in China for a year where he wrote Your Mark On The World and embarked on the career he’d always wanted yet hadn’t dared dream.

Now, as an author, a popular guest speaker and Forbes contributor, Devin is devoted full time to championing social good. His current life isn’t much like his past.

As an entrepreneur, Devin ran—at separate times—a boutique investment banking firm and a small mortgage company. He served as the Treasurer for the multinational vitamin manufacturer USANA Health Sciences years before becoming CFO for MonaVie. Over his career he led or advised on the successful completion of $500 million in transactions.
Devin squeezed in two brief stints in government, including two years working for Jake Garn on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee Staff and another year working for an independent state agency called USTAR, where he helped foster technology entrepreneurship during Governor Jon Huntsman’s administration.

Devin is proud to have graduated from the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, which recognized him as a Distinguished Alum in 2006. He also earned an MBA at Cornell University where he ran the student newspaper, Cornell Business.

Today, Devin channels the idealism of his youth with the loving support of his wife, Gail. Their son Dayton is a PhD candidate in Physics at UC Berkeley (and Devin rarely misses an opportunity to mention that).

Mary knew what was coming as she approached her 13th birthday.  And she would have none of it.  In a place where babies aren’t recognized as people until they are three “moons” old, because infant mortality is so high, Mary was lucky to have arrived at the ripe old age of 12. Mary didn’t stick around to be mutilated and married off like so many of her elder peers had been.  Instead, Mary ran away to create for herself a different life, one where she could make a real difference to her people. Female circumcision is still widely, though not universally practiced by the Maasai people in Kenya, according to Wikipedia.  It is against the law, but still viewed as essential, even by some girls who may be viewed as unmarriageable if they aren’t circumcised.  Most commonly, an outside practitioner using knives and blades fashioned by a blacksmith performs a clitorectomy.  The procedure not only leaves women scarred, but also may adversely affect their ability to urinate. Life for a Maasai woman is not easy.  Being seminomadic, their homes are not permanent dwellings.  Built by the women on a frame of sticks; mud, cow dung and human urine are used to complete the circular or star shaped homes, called Inkajijik. Shosho, once Vicki L. Stone, the American founder, of Africa is Life Changing, found Mary in school, living with a Christian religious leader.  She was one of only three 8th grade girls in a school with perhaps 100 boys.  Shosho challenged the three girls to do well on their final exams, promising that the girl who had the highest score would receive a scholarship to attend the new Africa is Life Changing boarding school for girls, St. Catherine’s School.  Having interviewed the three, Shosho anticipated that Mary would be the one who would make the effort to have the highest score. In fact, Mary earned the highest score on her exam and earned that scholarship spot in the new school.  There, she excelled in her subjects and demonstrated her leadership ability.  Whenever a teacher asked, “Who would like to…” Shosho says that Mary’s hand was up before the teacher could finish the sentence. Mary graduated from the high school and went on to college.  She has now completed nearly two years at the university and is majoring in education.  Shosho says that Mary’s desire is to “Influence her people in many different disciplines.”  (Her choice is no doubt a result of the great education she received.) Africa is Life Changing is an organization that is working to empower women and children in Kenya, battling the AIDS epidemic there through education, medical treatment and community action. Mary is seen in the photo with Shosho and Africa is Life Changing founder, Sana (Gloria Terry). Learn more about Africa is Life Changing here.  Mary will leave her mark on the world.  Will you?

Mary knew what was coming as she approached her 13th birthday.  And she would have none of it.  In a place where babies aren’t recognized as people until they are three “moons” old, because infant mortality is so high, Mary was lucky to have arrived at the ripe old age of 12.

Mary didn’t stick around to be mutilated and married off like so many of her elder peers had been.  Instead, Mary ran away to create for herself a different life, one where she could make a real difference to her people.

Female circumcision is still widely, though not universally practiced by the Maasai people in Kenya, according to Wikipedia.  It is against the law, but still viewed as essential, even by some girls who may be viewed as unmarriageable if they aren’t circumcised.  Most commonly, an outside practitioner using knives and blades fashioned by a blacksmith performs a clitorectomy.  The procedure not only leaves women scarred, but also may adversely affect their ability to urinate.

Life for a Maasai woman is not easy.  Being seminomadic, their homes are not permanent dwellings.  Built by the women on a frame of sticks; mud, cow dung and human urine are used to complete the circular or star shaped homes, called Inkajijik.

Shosho, once Vicki L. Stone, the American founder, of Africa is Life Changing, found Mary in school, living with a Christian religious leader.  She was one of only three 8th grade girls in a school with perhaps 100 boys.  Shosho challenged the three girls to do well on their final exams, promising that the girl who had the highest score would receive a scholarship to attend the new Africa is Life Changing boarding school for girls, St. Catherine’s School.  Having interviewed the three, Shosho anticipated that Mary would be the one who would make the effort to have the highest score.

In fact, Mary earned the highest score on her exam and earned that scholarship spot in the new school.  There, she excelled in her subjects and demonstrated her leadership ability.  Whenever a teacher asked, “Who would like to…” Shosho says that Mary’s hand was up before the teacher could finish the sentence.

Mary graduated from the high school and went on to college.  She has now completed nearly two years at the university and is majoring in education.  Shosho says that Mary’s desire is to “Influence her people in many different disciplines.”  (Her choice is no doubt a result of the great education she received.)

Africa is Life Changing is an organization that is working to empower women and children in Kenya, battling the AIDS epidemic there through education, medical treatment and community action.

Mary is seen in the photo with Shosho and Africa is Life Changing founder, Sana (Gloria Terry).

Learn more about Africa is Life Changing here. 

Mary will leave her mark on the world.  Will you?

Comments

Right now you can have a meaningful impact on your favorite cause with just $5.00.  Skip the rest of this post and do it now!

While living here in China this last year I’ve been working on my new book called Your Mark on the World, to empower people to do more for their chosen causes (charity, not-for-profit organization or social venture) both in terms of time and money.  

Your Mark on the World will include stories about more than a dozen different causes and the people who are working to make a difference in the world.  You will be touched by the story of Mary, a young Kenyan girl who ran away from home to avoid the traditional mutilation that girls receive when they reach puberty and are subsequently married off.  You will be inspired by the Smith family from Idaho that is traveling around the world right now doing service, like providing loving care for leprosy patients  near Chennai, India.  Your heart will break with mine as you read about Amanda—who devoted her life to care for cast-off children in China, those born with a variety of birth defects—as she battles stage four cancer.

In order to give more causes an opportunity for exposure in the book and to bring attention to all of the good things going on in the world to inspire even more good, I’ve launched a fundraising campaign at StartSomeGood.com.  You can pledge $5.00 to receive a digital copy of the book as soon as it is published in July.  For that small gift, you’ll also get to name your favorite cause and have your name listed in the acknowledgements, along with your cause.  If you are passionate about a cause, you can pay more to give your cause more exposure in the book and receive other rewards as well.  

You can also help determine what I write about.  I will finish the book after the campaign ends, so the last chapter I write will be about the most often sponsored cause among all the donors to this campaign.  So, if you are passionate about helping your cause raise money and get more attention, invite your friends from that cause to join the campaign, too.  

It is important to understand that I will devote myself full time to promoting this book for at least six months.  Lots of people will read it.  It may not ever be a best seller, but I’m convinced that we can get the book into the hands of tens of thousands of people and spread the ideas about service and philanthropy even further!

Please, help me start some good today by clicking here to give $5 for your copy of Your Mark on the World!  What is your favorite cause?

Comments

On Friday, I had the privilege of visiting the CICFO orphanage here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  CICFO is the only orphanage in Cambodia that is registered with the Department of the Interior—because it is the only one run by Cambodians.  All the others are registered with the Department of the Interior.

The kids here are absolutely wonderful; they are happy and are all getting a good education, living in a safe and clean environment and above all, they are being loved.

You may remember that the Smiths first introduced me to Botevy, the founder of CICFO.  She is a delightful woman who over the years has used her modest personal resources to support the orphanage when fundraising efforts run short.

It was wonderful to spend time with her and her kids!

Botevy is especially remarkable in that she survived Pol Pots killing fields in the 70s and has become a wonderful, giving person in spite of it (or could it be because of it?). 

You can donate to support CICFO here (be sure to select CICFO as the recipient of your donation).

Don’t forget, you can still support the Your Mark on the World project at StartSomeGood.com by sponsoring your favorite cause.

Separately, I bought some bracelets to support CICFO.  I’m giving them away in my raffle here where you can also win a $100 donation to your favorite cause. 

Comments

Sally will die while you read this post

A little girl like this one, let’s call her Sally, will die of starvation while you read this post.  

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Sally has probably never had enough to eat, but war, famine or flood has recently cut her off from food altogether.  She hasn’t had anything to eat in days and couldn’t eat anything now if she had the food to eat.  In all likelihood, a fungus has grown behind her esophagus, making it too painful for her to swallow.  

As she has approached death in recent weeks, her joints have become weak and painful.  In her present condition, she no longer feels thirst and whether or not there is water available, she hasn’t had any today.  She’s completely dehydrated.

She’s no longer conscious so she is unaware now of what is happening as she breaths her last shallow breaths, but earlier today she knew what was coming.  She’s watched family members and friends die recently so she knows what to expect; she won’t wake up from this nap.  The apathy she feels at her own death and even the death of her family members is a symptom of her condition; she is literally too weak to care.

On average, almost 700 people, mostly children, die of starvation every hour; about six million every year.

Sadly, even mentioning these statistics will make you less likely to do anything about this tragedy.  If you knew Sally, if you could help Sally, you would feed her.  If it were too late for that, you’d take her to the hospital to be nursed back to health.  Sally, you would help.  In fact, if Sally were real and you knew you could save her, you would do almost anything for her.

Don’t let the fact that Sally is a fiction and the statistics are real stop you from doing something.

The World Food Programme is working to end global hunger.  Visit www.wfp.org to learn more.

Comments
Done by rcrworld.com | Valid XHTML 1.0 | CSS 2.0