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Independence Day

July 6th, 2010 by DreamsforKids | 9 Comments | Filed in Tom Tuohy |

The United States recently celebrated Independence Day, in honor of the Declaration of Independence, which officially declared our countries independence from Great Britain. Of course, we have since become great allies. It begs the question – isn’t this what we all strive for? Independence, our freedom to be who we are is what allows us to truly come alive.

Whether at home, work or play, don’t we all crave a sense that we truly are not dependant on another and that we can survive on our own and, indeed, thrive? The irony is none of us can go it alone. We know this; we just don’t want to be controlled, and to lose our identity to another. The strongest relationships are those among strong independents, sure of themselves and trusting of their partner to allow them to be just as certain of who they are. Together, their individual skills can complement one another and they can create something greater than the sum of the parts.

Its takes trust to allow someone to be who they are. Some parents struggle with letting their children be who they wish to be, and on their own terms. Spouses and partners too often control the magic and love right out of the relationship. Business collaborations can become anything but when one or both attempt to control what is theirs, share less, and take more. Teachers fail when they attempt to mold a student into their own image.

Independence is really about letting go. As with all greatness, it is only when we let go, that we have a chance to experience all that is possible. The greatest love, the astounding partnership, the brilliant student, the accomplished artist, the world class organization; all of them require independence to succeed. Trust your heart, believe in who you choose to work and play with in life. Let them go, allow them to be – and you will be rewarded beyond measure.

Why Wouldn’t I be Happy?

June 17th, 2010 by DreamsforKids | 1 Comment | Filed in Tom Tuohy |

Quincy lives in the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education, (ICRE), a state facility for young people with physical and or developmental challenges. Quincy was born with cerebral palsy.

I love Quincy’s infectious enthusiasm and the way he just puts his head back and yells, “Yeah!” He doesn’t need a reason to do it, He just does it. He is happy. He loves life. He loves people.

Kristen, one of our avid supporters and engaged volunteers, was making one of her frequent visits to ICRE and was chatting with Quincy. As they were chatting, Kristen asked Quincy why he was always so happy. Quincy thought for a minute and said, “Why wouldn’t I be happy?”

Recently Kristen told that she can’t imagine her life without ICRE. Like all others who are making a difference, Kristen just chose to show up one day. She took the effort to do something that mattered. Kristen found out what we all do when we give to others – it comes back to us in ways that enrich our lives beyond measure. The very act of giving returns to us rewards which elevate our lives and increase the joy in everything we do.

We all have a choice: To be unconditionally happy. Often we forget how. More importantly we lose sight of the way of being that brings us our greatest joy – being generous. We all have something to give. Life gets in the way sometimes. We are fooled into thinking we don’t have the time, we don’t have the money. We have too many responsibilities. We have to take care of ourselves. We have a family. We will do it later. Some day…

If we knew we were actually cheating ourselves. If we could be reminded that, right now, today, we have something to give, and there is someone we could help to enjoy a better day and the hope of a better life. It begins with saying Hi to the guy who parks our car, the lady standing next to us waiting for the bus, or the kid who looking at us, hoping we are the hero they dream about. It is the sum total of every conscious act of engagement and generosity that gives us the greatest joy in return. If we all knew this, that is what we would choose.

I wish everyone knew Quincy. They would know that he gets it. “Yeah”, Quincy, if we all realized how you looked at life and how we could too. If we knew we had something to give and we could give it to the world right now. If everyone realized they had that choice…

Why wouldn’t we all be happy?

Spring Rebirth

April 11th, 2010 by DreamsforKids | 2 Comments | Filed in Tom Tuohy |

We spent Easter Saturday with Clara at Clara’s House Shelter. Whatever your religious belief, Spring is a time of rebirth. Spring is a time to begin anew. It is a time of Hope. Whenever we begin again, we do so with the hope of infinite possibilities. However, we should never forget where we began. Remembering where it all began is a reminder to be grateful and it is a time to reflect.

For Dreams For Kids it all began on 12/24/89, at Clara’s House Shelter. Spending time with Clara on Easter Saturday was a gift. It was a reminder of where and when the spirit of Dreams for Kids was born. Sitting in front of the same fireplace of 20 years ago where Santa brought hope for 54 kids who would never have known it was Christmas, had we had not come, Clara shared from her heart about, what the last 20 years has meant to her. It was an emotional experience. Clara spoke of the “working poor.” She said, “We had nothing. No money, no experience, and we had never even been inside a shelter. We still had something to give to those in need. And so we did.”

I realized the very mission of Dreams For Kids was born in that room. The world is listening now, and it is the working poor of the Southside of Chicago who made it all possible. Dreams For Kids is creating an unprecedented global movement of youth empowerment and it was born in a tiny shelter and sustained by the passion of a generous people how never gave up. They had little of their own, yet gave to those who had less. They may live in poverty. However they are not poor. They are rich in generosity, passion, and inspiration.

Spring is in the air. Will this be the time of your rebirth? If you have suffered adversity or loss, embrace this time as one of hope and begin to live once more. Each of us has something to give. Let’s take our stand for those who have less.

“Dreams are Made if People Try”

February 13th, 2010 by DreamsforKids | 4 Comments | Filed in Tom Tuohy |

As we begin the Winter Olympics in Canada, my thoughts are on Vancouver native Terry Fox. Since 1982, I have had a photo of Terry on my desk. It is a small photo that I clipped from a magazine. He is running. It is the most inspiring photo I have even seen.

Terry Fox was young athlete in 1976, a lot like most high school athletes around the world, “just a very ordinary kid,” according to this mother Bette.

His world would change that year when he was diagnosed with cancer and have his right leg amputated. Terry would choose to not only fight his cancer; he would wage a war against cancer. He had one goal: run across Canada, on one leg, and raise a dollar for every person alive in Canada ( 24 million) in order to find a cure for cancer.

According to Terry, “I could have sat on my rear end. But dreams are made if people try. How many people do what they truly believe in? I just wish people would realize that anything is possible, if you try.”

Terry would run a full marathon, every single, day for 143 days in a row. The photo shows Terry on the road, running on one powerful leg, blood on his shorts, pale determination on his face, which could only say one thing , “I will never be stopped.”

Terry could not complete his race. After running 3,339 miles, his cancer returned and he was forced to stop. However Terry Fox was never stopped. He could never have been stopped. He believed in his dream, gave everything he had, and was living for something greater than himself. As Isador Sharp said at the time, “Terry did not lose his fight, perhaps he finished all he had to do. Terry is like a meteor passing in the sky, one whose light travels beyond our view, yet still shines in the darkest night.”

Terry Fox would live to see $24.17 million dollars donated for his run. Since that year, over $400 million dollars has been raised for cancer research from the annual Terry Fox Run, which today is held each September in over 53 countries, with 2.5 million participants.

What is your dream? What do you believe in that is bigger than you? What will your legacy be?

Dreams are made if people try!

TERRY FOX

Thanks Tyler

December 6th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 1 Comment | Filed in blogs, Tom Tuohy |

As we give thanks for all our gifts, I find myself reflecting on special moments that remind me of what is most important. One of those moments occurred during Dreams for Kids recent 20 Anniversary event in Chicago as the Adler Planetarium. During the program, we highlighted our Extreme Recess program with a video featuring some of the thousands of kids who have participated in our adaptive sports program.

At the end of the video, we froze the frame on a photo of Tyler Woodworth, grinning ear to ear, green goggles and all. Tyler was getting ready to say to the driver of the boat, in his words, “gun it.” For the first time in his life, Tyler was about to be a water skier.

As the video froze on the Planetarium screen, Tyler rose from the audience, all goggled up, with a microphone in his hand, to tell us, live and in person, what it meant to have this opportunity.

A friend, who had flown in from LA for the event, would share with me later, “Tyler gave me one of the greatest gifts of my life. We he began to speak, I grabbed the edge of the table and said, ‘Please God let this boy be understood.’ Then I suddenly became present to the fact that this is exactly what I have thought every time my father has begun to speak since his illness. I realized I had been judging my father, who is the same person he always had been. He is my father. He is communicating now in the only way he can. The tears ran down my face and I bowed my head and asked my father to forgive me. I also pledged to never again judge another person. I lifted me ahead and listened. Something remarkable happened. I understood every single word that boy said…”

I suppose Tyler has some kind of disability. I don’t even know what it is, because it is not important. What Tyler cannot do pales in comparison to his extraordinary abilities. His speaks in a voice uniquely his own. He lights up a room and he captivates you with his personality and his presence. On an October evening at the Planetarium in Chicago, Tyler reminded us all how important it is to look past our judgments and to really listen, to accept, and to appreciate each other for who we really are – and to see the gifts right before our eyes.

Thank you, Tyler.

It Is Who They Are

October 30th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 7 Comments | Filed in blogs, Tom Tuohy |

The day after our event, a friend asked if she could be honest. I responded this is all I ever expect and this is what has sustained our organization and its growth for 20 years. It is a collective voice of honesty and commitment to the truth and to possibilities.

Our event began with the famous Shannon Rovers Bagpipe Band leading a group of our youth Dream Leaders into the room. They were all dressed in their finest, and they were carrying the colors – The American Flag, and the Dreams for Kids, United Nations, and Chicago Blackhawks flags. It was pure pageantry and a moment to treasure. At least that is what I thought everyone else felt.

My friend said she felt we used the kids for “marketing purposes.” The kids she referred to, some of them were in wheelchairs, some walked with difficulty, and some spoke in a voice uniquely their own.

I was taken back at first and then thanked my friend for her honesty and for her sharing. Then I suggested that what she saw was born of a generation that I too grew up in. It was a generation that was segregated from one another and taught “not to stare.” It is a generation that lacked understanding and vision because of lack of opportunity. As a consequence, it is a generation that can view each other as “different,” particularly those with visible disabilities.

I shared with my friend that some of the kids told us it was the proudest moment of their lives. I then reminded her that this is how they talk, walk, and roll, every moment of their lives. This is who they are. And no one ever asks them to carry the flag.

We do not all talk or walk the same, do we? Some of us do not walk or talk at all. However each one of us has the ability to be extraordinary. Inside every one of us beats a hopeful heart. It is with all of that heart that we believe in ourselves, in our dreams, and in the possibilities of our lives. We believe, as we all should, that we are equal to any person, that we have a ”voice” which deserves to be heard, and that we can and we will make a difference in the world.

Imagine the difference in the world if we all had the vision to see each other that way.

Where did it go?

October 27th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 5 Comments | Filed in blogs, Tom Tuohy |

Have you ever lived through a period of time in your life and wondered – How did that go by so quickly? As the years march on, we all know how each day and every year seem shorter. It never seemed that way in our youth.We just could not get to the next year fast enough. Now, if only we could slow it down! The lesson for us all is that every day is precious and the only time to live is now. Could it possibly be 20 years ago that a dozen of us were standing in Clara’s House Shelter on December 24th singing Holiday songs to 54 kids who never would have known it was Christmas had we not shown up? One year led to the next and here we are. Holiday for Hope will spread the gift of hope to kids in over 50 US cities and 50 countries this December. Extreme Recess is 10 years old, and thousands of kids have been able to show off their abilities and now are in the game. We discovered a generation of young voices waiting to be heard, and the Dream Leaders were born. With deep gratitude in my heart for each person who took a stand during the least 20 years, lived in the moment, believed in the possibilities, and helped create Dreams for Kids, I thank each of you for your time, your passion, and your resources. Together, we did it! Today, we are standing at the door of history. A generation is waiting for us. What we do to empower them will completely transform the world. On October 16th, 2009 at the historic Planetarium in Chicago, we will celebrate the past. We will also commit to the next 20 years and help create the future of our dreams. Will you join us? Let’s change the world together.

Bring Him to Us – We will Help Him…

September 7th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 1 Comment | Filed in blogs, Tom Tuohy |

On a recent Thursday I was enjoying a highlight of my week, the several hour phone call I am honored to have with our magnificent consultant Kevin McFarland. Kevin’s life story is the stuff of legends.

Twenty six years ago, Kevin had completed his MBA at Stanford and was studying for his PHD. He was talking to a young girl, who, in one moment, changed his life. While listening to Kevin share his plans for his life and career and all he was going to achieve so that some day he could make a difference, the girl stopped him short. She said, “You don’t have to do any of that. All you have to do is care – and do something.” I was reminded of the power of youth. It was a moment that changed everything for me,” said Kevin. That moment also would change everything for millions of people all around the world.

The next day, Kevin stopped studying for his doctorate, and he founded a youth organization, Manna International Relief and Development Corporation. Over the next quarter of a century, the organization would coordinate humanitarian emergency response and community based development initiatives in over 30 developing nations throughout Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Thousands of wells would be drilled to bring clean drinking water and hundreds of thousands of people would be given food and shelter. MIRDC would become one of the vital organizations that delivered on the ground coordination and support to the last twenty three global disaster relief operations, from Ethiopia to New Orleans.

Spending time with Kevin is to know you are blessed to be with a humanitarian of the highest order. His words and his actions are completely consistent. He could have pursued a path of that brought him vast material wealth. However his life’s work is not based on personal gain. Rather, it is dedicated to the advancement of the human race. He could have had a career that earned him several million dollars. Instead, he changed the world.

Recently, Kevin told me that being with people who have lost everything and with those who live in poverty which threatens their daily survival, reminds him of the deep strength of the human spirit, and the life changing generosity that is within us all.

One of many unforgettable moments occurred when Kevin was working on a relief effort in El Salvador. Tens of thousands of people had lost their homes because of earthquakes and flooding. Many thousands had lined the sides of the railroads tracks, for miles, leading into the capital city. Like most displaced people in the world, they lived in cardboard and tin shacks. Inside the only place they now know as home, people who have lost everything place the pages of magazines on their walls. Seeing the pictures serves as both decoration and a link to the outside world. It is dignity and it is hope.

One day Kevin was saying goodbye to the people in one such encampment. A nine year old boy asked Kevin why he had to leave. Kevin was on the way to Ethiopia, which was suffering from the effects of one of its devastating famines. Kevin explained to the boy he had to go because people were starving in Ethiopia. Hearing this, the little boy said, “Wait right here.” He ran down the railroad tracks and disappeared into one of the shacks.

When he returned the little boy was holding a page from a magazine with a picture of a starving, skeletal, infant in Ethiopia. He handed the picture to Kevin, looked up at him and said, “Bring him to us – we will help him.”

Twenty six years ago Kevin McFarland learned more than he had ever imagined possible simply by listening to a young person. Then he followed his heart. Millions of people are alive today because of that choice. Along the way, in the poorest places on earth, Kevin found the true meaning of fulfillment and discovered the greatest lessons on generosity and compassion.

Kevin McFarland continues to make a profound impact far and wide and has been instrumental in helping Dreams for Kids chart an historic course as we plant the seeds of a movement which will unite a generation to each other and empower the most isolated kids in the world. While Kevin’s legacy continues to endure, he freely admits it is also the legacy of a 15 year old girl whose voice was heard and who proved, once again, it is the young people of our time who will lead us to the world of our dreams.

I’m a Water Skier Mom!

July 10th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 16 Comments | Filed in blogs, Tom Tuohy |

“I’m a water skier, Mom!” With his arms raised high and a smile from ear to ear, those were Matthews words as he sailed back to the pier in his adaptive ski chair on Bangs Lake in Wauconda, Illinois.

Ron Richards was awake at 1:56 a.m. on Thursday, July 8th 2009. He could not sleep and spent the morning looking out over the lake he grew up on. It is a lake which had given him a lifetime of memories and his youth was spent boating, waterskiing, fishing, and, well, just plain having fun. Ron knew what this day would bring. He had volunteered for our 20th Anniversary Holiday for Hope celebration and had read Kiss of a Dolphin. His wife Liz had done the same. Fueled by inspiration, they seized the moment by declaring it was possible to bring Extreme Recess to Wauconda. Why not? Then Liz did what comes natural to her. She made a call to action and she organized. She enrolled her friends and neighbors. She created a plan. Hearing the possibility of what could occur on their lake, each of the Richards’s neighbors and friends and their kids heard that call and each one answered. In their answer came the simple words which have defined Dreams for Kids for 20 years – “I can do that.”

At the same time, all across Illinois, from the Southside of Chicago to Lake County, there were 50 kids who did not know their lives were going to change in a few months. Each of them lives with a different ability and, like the rest of us, each of them lives with a disability. Expect, unlike many of us, each of their disabilities has led them to be classified as someone other than just a kid. Cerebral Palsy. Spina Bifida. Autism. These are words which society has imposed on them as limitation rather than possibility. To them they are just words, like the word disability. They know these words do not define who they are. They know how the world could be. However every day they are reminded how the world is right now. So they live with the pain of isolation. In their dreams, every kid lives in the same world. It is a world of possibility. They believe in special days. They see a future which brings them happiness. In their dreams, they are all smiling.

In today’s world, the reality of poverty and physical and developmental challenges have taken a toll on our kids. Almost 60% of the future of the world – 6 out of every 10 kids alive today – are poor or have a disability. And they are not even in the conversation. These kids have not lost the ability to dream, nor have they lost the ability to live an extraordinary life. However, their voices have fallen silent. Their dreams remain hidden, deep inside of them. They have become afraid to believe their dreams can come true. They fear their voices will never be heard. On Thursday, in Wauconda Illinois, time stood still, and a lake called Bangs became larger than life. On this special lake, dreams were lived, voices were heard, and lives were changed.

At 10 am that morning, Ron Richards put his arms around the first kid off the bus and sat him into his adaptive water ski chair and guided him into the water. However, at this moment Matthew was consumed with fear, rather than excitement. His first words were, “I am not going. I can’t do this.” Having spent his young life with his dreams hidden from view, and no opportunity in sight, Matthew was afraid. As Ron reassured him, that, yes, he could do it, and that he would have the time of his life, Matthew held on tight and trusted that this all could be

possible. The ski boat pulled away and Matthew disappeared onto the lake, into a world only he could describe, and one we could only imagine as we watched from the shore. When we saw him next, Matthew was transformed. No one will ever forget his smile, and his voice rang proud with words of pure joy – “I’m a water skier Mom!”

Bangs Lake has always been a lake of dreams. Even for me. When I was 4 years old, this was the lake we traveled to from the Northwest side of Chicago to capture a day at the beach. I had not been back since that time. My memories existed only from the imagination of a 4 year old. On Thursday, that imagination proved to be accurate after all – Bangs Lake is indeed larger than life. Next Saturday, in Virginia and Washington DC, this special day of dreams come true lives again. On August 11, in Wisconsin, it will rise once more. Somewhere in every community, there are kids who dream today. Do you believe in what is possible? There is a powerful, unstoppable, movement growing. You can enroll your community into the magic and into the possibilities. Not far from your home, there is a small voice waiting to be heard and a powerful dream awaits its day. Will you help us change lives? Will you help us empower a generation of youth who have been ignored for far too long? Contact us today and let’s get started.

NFL Players Step up for Dreams for Kids

June 25th, 2009 by DreamsforKids | 2 Comments | Filed in blogs, Tom Tuohy |

I am so ridiculously grateful from the support Dreams for Kids is getting from all directions! I want to give a special shout out to our Associate Board and our friends in the NFL for hosting a fundraising party for Dreams for Kids this Saturday, June 27th at the Stone Lotus on 873 N. Orleans in Chicago. Don’t miss out on getting to party with New Orleans Saints running back Pierre Thomas, wide receiver Lance Moore, defensive end Rob Ninkovich, along with Minnesota Vikings wide receiver, Nick Moore & Washington Redskins linebacker, Al Fincher!! You guys are amazing!!