Creating a Ripple Effect in Your Community

The ultimate viral element is giving of yourself or your resources because it creates a ripple effect, said Brady Connell, who was the keynote speaker at the District’s Foundation Dinner on November 14. “It is a great feeling to learn how volunteering affects you when you change the lives of other people. In fact, there is a double win: as you change others your life is changes as well.”

 

Connell was the executive producer of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC. The program ran for nine seasons and each show attracted 500 to 13,000 volunteers in the communities they visited to participate the Makeover projects as his team moved across the country. The largest number of volunteers was in Joplin, MO, shortly after the 2011 catastrophic EF5 multiple-vortex tornado devastated the city.

 

In seven days his team of volunteers built seven homes from the ground up. People came from 42 states to lend a hand. Materials and labor for this and all the homes built by Extreme Makeover were donated. In demonstrating the impact of the ripple effect, Connell said that today 350 homes surround those seven. “All we did was plant a small seed of hope and others took action based on what we did.”

 

Over the programs run, 212 homes were built and 204 of original owners still live in them. The mortgages of nearly half of the homes have been paid in full. One of the homes that was remodeled was for Matt Kiefer, a gymnast who broke his neck and was paralyzed from the neck down was dependent on others for his care. Now he is able to move around the home in his wheelchair and do many activities himself, which gives him a sense of independence. In addition, to building homes, Connell established a $2 million scholarship fund to assist those who did not have the resources to attend for college.

 

Connell’s interest in Rotary was sparked when he read a story in Marina del Rey’s the Argonaut about the Westchester Club’s makeover projects. “I knew I found a home for myself and joined the club,” said Connell. Currently, the club is working on its fifth project which is renovating the Westchester Senior Center. “This creates a hands-on project that will bring our entire community together to work shoulder to shoulder to improve the lives of our seniors,” said Heather Martillo, the club’s immediate past president

 

Connell would like to see the efforts of the Westchester club duplicated across the 62 other clubs in District 5280. He is planning to hold a workshop in January about how to do makeover projects. There also will be a workbook that will show all the necessary steps.

 

“Helping one person or family serves as a focal for your club,” said Connell. “It is a story about hardships and how your club helped the people to overcome them by addressing their needs.”  Once the club decides the type of project it will do the next steps are to recruit volunteers and solicit donations of materials. “You’ll be surprised how you can galvanize the energy of your community.” It will be a story that would be fitting for your local newspaper to cover. (In the above photo Connell is with Cindy Williams, Rotary District 5280 Foundation Celebration Chair)