A year ago, after hearing of the Virginia Tech shootings and going to the campus to report for our radio show, it became clear to me that a part of my mission here on earth was to help teenagers learn how to love each other in the highest sense of the word.
When I returned, my business partners and I made a commitment to bring the relationship work we did with adults to Teenagers here in our new hometown of Ventura, CA. We had a clear intention about bringing our relationship-training course to teens in the easiest and most prolific way possible. We had many a conversation about how great it would be to have some kind of regular class or workshop in every school in the city. We put it in our company’s big picture plan with the idea of creating a non-profit foundation in our company.
We soon found out that starting our own non-profit was a major undertaking and would most likely take us some time to get up and running. We felt that the need was one we wanted to address now. To kick-start it this spring we decided to make a monetary contribution to a program that was already working with teens here in Ventura.
We were rolling out a new training course ourselves so we got the ball rolling by designating 10% of all the income we earned from this offering to an organization that helped teenagers.
When we got our first deposit for the course we went scrambling for a place to make good on our promise. It needed to be an organization that would fulfill our desire to have a positive affect on teens in our area. I remembered a woman named Katherine I had met a couple of months ago who had a teen program that addresses the problem of underage and binge drinking by using improv and involving the teens themselves in a way that had really appealed to me.
I got out her card and intended to call her. I left it sitting right by my phone so I wouldn’t forget when I came back from my networking meeting that day. I am usually a very punctual person but on this day I was late and there was only one seat left by the time I got to the restaurant where we meet.
When I walked into the room it was buzzing with activity and there was only one seat left. So I grabbed it and began chatting with the woman next to me as the meeting began. I didn’t recognize her at first but when she handed me her card I realized she was Katherine, the very woman I had been intending to contact!
I excitedly told Katherine I had been meaning to call her and exclaimed at the serendipitous occurrence that she would be at this meeting since she wasn’t a member and that I would be sitting next to her.
The networking meeting started then and I gave my 30 second speech highlighting my relationship work. After I was done Katherine told me that SHE had been looking for me too. Her non-profit organization was applying for a grant to bring a relationship program for teens into the schools here in Ventura.
Yes, my mouth did fall open right about then I must admit. I most likely looked like a fish about to swallow its dinner. I do believe in this kind of coincidence but I am always amazed when it happens. To hear the exact words I had been speaking as I imagined our work with teens coming out of someone else’s mouth was quit a thrill. Over lunch Katherine told me she had already enrolled the entire school system here in Ventura and two other big teen organizations to be a part of this exciting and comprehensive program. In fact there was only one thing she was missing: She had everything except someone who knew about teaching teens relationship skills! The exact piece that my company was well versed in.
In the matter of a week we had brainstormed, met with the other partners, spent countless hours pouring over everything needed to make this happen. Then we formed a partnership and applied for the grant. We decided that no matter which way this particular grant went we were going to bring our combined dreams to fruition together!
As I sit here today and relive this story, I realize just how powerful our intentions are. Especially when they are intentions that come from the heart. When an intention is so clearly right for us and for the good of the planet, it is not a matter of IF it will happen, it is merely a question of WHEN and HOW GOOD will it turn out to be.
Comments