Look At These Four Members.

“Impact Venture Capitalists!”

Morning Team…

Did you “enable images?” If not, do that now. You’ll want to see this. Done? Ok, see all that blue text above? That is the power of just 4 people’s voice, that quite literally took them less than 5 minuutes of effort.

And from that, read my comment to Amanda:

(In case that image doesn’t display)

It reads:

“True to my belief. ‘Your voice is more powerful than your money.’ If just 5 of those friends are inspired to join us, just think about it. You, Amanda, just had a $500 impact on the community ($100 + 5 members) each quarter. Or, said different, a $2,000 impact per year. That is the power of your voice. And it’s free to use. :-)”

Thus, it comes as no surprise (at least to me) how the tiny little community of Cookeville, TN is in the running for the the largest first Event donation. Their first event is July 11th, 4 days away, and they sit at 147 members.

Historically, based on last-minute sign-ups, they’ll be close to the record…

Which is $18,200 – by Frederick.

And Temecula was the previous first event record holder at $18,100.

Both Frederick and Temecula though, are both two to 3X the size of little ‘ole Cookeville.

They got that mentality.

“I think I can…. I think I can… I think I can.”

Watch Video

StoryEngines: Make It Personal

With the expansion of Impact Club and how fast it’s growing – because of committed and passionate Impact Venture Capitalists, like yourself – I unfortunately can no longer make it to every Event.

But I do still send our production crew, because capturing these stories – to learn from them – is what Impact Club is about: Building StoryEngines that not only connect and resonate, but inspire people – regardless whether you’re a charitable founder or a parent. A teacher or own your own company.

The ability to convey a message that inspires – is a universal need.

Hermine Bernstein did just that.

Members voted.

And she walked away with a donation promise of $23,200. (Which some Frederick members still haven’t followed-through on their commitment, so please…do that right away if that’s you. If you’re not sure, just let me know, or I can publish the list – to make sure we fulfill our commitment.)

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There are 2 ways to fulfill the donation:

1-Mail a Check Made out to ‘Blessings in a Backpack’ to: Eric Verdi c/o Impact Club 3295 Prices Distillery Rd. Ijamsville, Md. 21754

Or 2 – Click on this link: https://www.biabfrederickmd.org/donate (in the ‘Leave a comment section’ put ‘Impact Club’) to donate to Blessings in a Backpack. If you have any questions, just hit reply to this email.

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But back to the lesson…

Hermine’s StoryEngine for Blessings in a Backpack, was powered by one core principle: Make it personal.

In the video, and in the transcript below, notice her opening words, she asks a question then puts context to her question in her following statements, as she painted a vivid picture of what hunger is like.

65+ hours… no food… imagine that were your child…

Here’s the transcript:

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Hi. My name is Hermine Bernstein and I’m the Program Manager for Blessings in a Backpack. Thank you. On behalf of the children I’d like to thank you for this opportunity. I want to ask you a question. Have you ever been hungry? I mean have you ever really been hungry? If you’re like me and my kids and my grandchildren, you may have felt hungry briefly, but you’ve never really been hungry.

I want you to imagine for a minute that you’re eight, 10 years old, or maybe you can picture your own kids. Good day in school, came home on the bus, stomach a little grumbly, you had breakfast and lunch in school and hopefully you looked in the frig because you’re a hopeful kid and what did you find? Nothing. Nothing but a piece of cheese and a little leftover KFC. But you’re a good kid and so you decided to share that with your younger sibling. Mamma’s at work, dad is nowhere to be found. You’re hoping that mom is going to bring home some food at the end of the day, but nothing is a sure thing. That certainly isn’t.

You are one of 11,000 children in Frederick County who depend upon free lunch and breakfast in school Monday to Friday, but what do you do on the weekends? What do you do on the weekends? That’s where Blessings in a Backpack steps in. We provide non-perishable, kid-friendly, easy prep food for children who depend upon free lunch and breakfast Monday to Friday. We send them home with breakfast, lunch, desert and snacks for every day they are not in school during the 38 week school year, long weekends, regular weekends, winter break, school break, spring break, and we also send them home with food called in blizzard bags for when it snows. We didn’t think we were going to use them this year, but we sure did.

There are over 1,700 children that we feed through Blessings in a Backpack in 13 schools this year. We started three and a half years ago feeding 210 children, but thanks to the generosity of Frederick County we have grown. But sadly, there are over 300 children on our waiting list at two of our most highly impacted schools. Currently we are feeding 450 children at Waverly Elementary School where over 90% of the children are living at or below the poverty level. You are one of these children. Just think about it. You are going to be at risk of going hungry for 65 hours. Think about that, 65 hours from lunch in school on Friday until breakfast Monday morning. 65 hours without food. 65 hours with an empty belly. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could come home on Friday afternoon with a backpack filled with food, breakfast, lunch, dessert and snacks to take you through the weekend.

That’s why I’m here to talk to you. Our program is strictly confidential so I can’t really give you a particular story about a particular child, but I can share with you some things that students wrote on their recent student survey.

One little girl said, “I loved the macaroni and pudding.” She meant macaroni and cheese and pudding. One little boy said, “Thank you for the food to fill my belly.” All a 5th grader could write, and this one I sat in the car and cried when I read it, all he was able to write was, “More food please.” It’s just too hard.

In closing, let me just say that I appreciate this opportunity and I hope that you’ll vote for the kids and join us because hunger doesn’t take weekends off.

Thank you so much.

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Folks, if you master the art of Storytelling and Building StoryEngines, almost everything in life gets easier. From fundraising to parenting to client acquisition. Congrats to Hermine for crafting an effective StoryEngine!

My Point:

THIS WORLD NEEDS MORE GREAT STORYTELLERS.

Keep up the fight.

UPCOMING IMPACT CLUB EVENTS

July 11th – Impact Club Highlands (TN)

July 12th – Impact Club Northern (VA -3rd Event)

July 25th – Impact Club Conejo Valley (CA – 2nd Event)

July 27th – Impact Club Temecula (CA – 3rd Event)

Aug 22nd – Impact Club Frederick (MD – 3rd Event)

Sept 13th – Impact Club Boise (ID – 2nd Event)

More announced soon…

KEEP INSPIRING OTHERS!

By the end of 2017, we will have raised millions to fund local charities.

-Ryan Fletcher

Co-Founder, Impact Club – forever Grateful.

PS: Encourage everyone you know to learn the Language of Story. If they do, life, business, fundraising, relationships, the attraction of opportunity, clients, money, love, etc. will be much easier for them.

About IC

Impact Club® is Crossfit® for those who want to make a difference. We are Impact Venture Capitalists. There are local and national leaderboards. We compete. We use our intelligence, connections, propensity to solve problems, committed hearts, and unrelenting conviction to turn small donations into huge impact.