I’m working on writing down a few of my thoughts regarding my recent trip to South Africa, which followed my stay in Ghana described below. In the meantime, I found a link to a South African radio interview that you might find interesting.
The Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance has graciously invited me to provide the keynote speech at their upcoming breakfast fundraiser that kicks off Help the Homeless Week in Dallas.
Proceeds from the breakfast will go to The Bridge, Dallas’ multiservice campus that serves the homeless, where MDHA’s consortium of organizations combating homelessness collaborate to provide essential services that folks need when working to get back on their feet. The Bridge is the largest homeless outreach and food pantry in all of Texas. I’m looking forward to learning “what they do, and how they do it.” In these days of financial and housing industry chaos and dislocation, we’re all reminded of the old phrase “there but for the grace of God go I”. As someone who once found himself and his son seeking the assistance of Cecil Williams and Glide Memorial Church’s shelter and kitchen in San Francisco, I recognize the vital purpose of organizations like MDHA and Glide in our communities. I admire the folks in organizations such as MDHA, who don’t bother to deny the precarious nature of our mortal lives on this planet, or waste time affixing blame for the problems of society, but simply roll up their sleeves and do what they can to address the obvious needs in their communities.
The Bridge has been widely recognized for its innovative approach to homeless services, including receiving the US Conference of Mayors’ City Livability Award earlier this year. South Africa’s Tshwane Leadership Foundation recognized The Bridge’s architects, Overland Partners, with an international design award honoring their efforts to raise awareness of homelessness while implementing a new architectural language and visual dialogue about the issue.
Mike Rawlings, former city of Dallas homeless czar and former chairman of MDHA, will be honored at the breakfast with the 2010 Bridge Builder Award presented by Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert. More information on participants in the event can be found in this Dallas Morning News article.
You can find further details regarding the breakfast fundraiser and MDHA’s other upcoming events on our speaking page and MDHA’s events page.
And speaking of Dallas, I’ve been a closet Cowboys fan forever. 1-5: Ouch! If “the ‘Boys” don’t turn this season around NOW, Jerry Jones will be foreclosed on! Yikes!
A few blog posts ago I mentioned the Eyebobs reading glass frames that I use and endorse and from which the folks at Eyebobs provide a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Glide Foundation. Glide is the organization that assisted my son and me while we were homeless on the streets of San Francisco, as depicted by Will and Jaden Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness. (FYI, Glide pastor Cecil Williams played himself in the film.)
I’ve received news that the folks at Eyebobs have announced a special promotion running from November 1 to December 31, in which they’ve increased to 75% the percentage of the proceeds of all sales of the Chris Gardner Eyebobs model that will benefit Glide. They’ve also put a big button on that page and the Eyebobs home page to make a contribution to Glide. Anyone who contributes $20 or more to Glide via the Eyebobs site will be entered to win one of 15 autographed copies of my autobiography The Pursuit of Happyness.
You may have noticed a gap in blog posts here in the late summer and fall. It’s been a hectic few months as I’ve concentrated on various business initiatives, interspersed with a great deal of traveling in pursuit of those initiatives, as well as a number of public speaking appearances. If anybody has seen me lately outside of those contexts, it must have been at an airport!
During the first half of October I made a very interesting and fulfilling trip to Africa, where I had been invited to speak at events in Ghana and South Africa. First on the agenda was the Amicus Youth Empowerment Summit in Ghana, which was attended by over 2,000 young people. I was able to share with them the common threads of the American/Ghanian dream. I’d like to thank Father Caesar Atuire for inviting me to speak at this marvelous event.
Later in Ghana I was honored by being made a ‘Chief’ twice in the same day. AWESOME. I’ve never experienced anything like it, and most importantly I was able to share it with my daughter, Jacintha.
Finally we visited Fort Williams, an infamous “point of no return” where slave ships were loaded. There are no words.
You can find a number of news articles and web links about my stay in Ghana on our press page. Below is a photo featuring my daughter and me at one of the ceremonies where we were made honorary Chiefs. Wow!
Those of you in Chicago may soon see me in a TV promo on NBC for the 2010 African Festival of the Arts, to be held Labor Day weekend, September 3 to 6 in Washington Park. I’m honored to have been selected “Grand Ba Ba” of the festival.
Performers at the festival will include Angelique Kidjo, Tito Jackson, and Chicago’s own Chaka Khan. Check out the festival website for more information on all the events and activities that are part of the festival. The festival is a project of Africa International House.
You can view some photos of a fundraiser I hosted for the festival at Egami Photos.
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