“Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things, because it is in them that your strength lies.”
-Mother Teresa
Here at Camp Beau + Luci, we are driven by two things: a passion for music, and a desire to help those in need. So much has been given to us that we feel it is only right to give back to the community, whether local or global. Because of this, we have sought out a way to tie our music career with the chance to change lives. A lot of brainstorming and long discussions later, we found our starting point: The OneHeart Organization.
The OneHeart Organization was built around the simple mission to Create Hope, Inspire Joy, Encourage Faith, and Share Love. We hope to use The OneHeart Organization as the basis for our own humanitarian foundation in the future, but for now, we will be getting involved in several grassroots that offer aid, encourage creativity and a passion for learning, emphasize the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle, and touch the loves of those in need, both in the local and global community.
We have been lucky enough to develop a partnership with some really incredible organizations already, and have a number of events coming up. The first organization is a local charity called Angel Arms Missions (https://www.facebook.com/angelarmsministries?fref=ts or http://yarbroughministries.weebly.com/angel-arms-backpack.html), which provides clothing, school supplies, and weekend nourishment for children, as well as clothing and nourishment for the homeless and those living at or below the poverty level. Angel Arms Missions is dedicated to meeting the basic needs in the community and providing both spiritual and physical resources for people in need. We will be helping with the Backpack Program, which provides food for kids who don't have the assurance of regular meals when school is not in session. Angel Arms Missions also partners with Bethesda House, which is a non-profit organization created to address the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of broken people (http://www.bethesdahousewaycross.org/).
Another organization close to our heart is the Friendly Express Charitable Foundation (http://friendlyexpress.com/Community). Friendly Express operates with the mindset of giving back, not only to their customers but the community as a whole. They have recently launched the Feeding Families on Friday campaign, donating a portion of all fountain drink and coffee sales made on Fridays to local food pantries such as the Mary Street Mission, Manna House, St. Joseph's Loaves and Fishes, Tabatha's Place, and the Sycamore Tree. They also have a drop off location at each store to collect non-perishable food and toiletries, which are then donated to those in need. We will be working at the annual Friendly Express Invitational Golf Tournament on 7 November, and all funds raised through the golf tournament will be donated to Kingdom Care, Dreams Come True, and Hospice Satilla, as well as many other organizations and foundations devoted to caring for the community. Friendly Express is also hosting a 5K Turkey Run on 16 November to benefit the Marry Street Mission Thanksgiving Dinner, which we will help serve. If any of you guys in the area are interested in taking part in the Turkey Run, you can find the registration form here (http://myfriendlyexpress.com/Files/TurkeyRunRegistration2). Please take the opportunity to be a part of this cause. For $25 dollars, you will not only have a blast but get the satisfaction of helping others and making Thanksgiving special (and getting in that run you've been meaning to go on for the past, oh, five years or so!).
Everyone remembers their first bike, right? Unfortunately, some children never have the chance to experience the joy of riding a bike. Bikes4Kids, an organization created and operated by Competitive Road Cyclist extraordinaire Crash MacDuff (http://rxmacduff.wordpress.com/), who has competed in various European and Americana multi-stage cycling events including the Tour of Austria, Tour of Italy, Tour of Spain, Tour of Poland, and Tour of Venezuela and will be racing in the Toronto 2015 PanAm Games and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Crash delivers bikes to children who would be unable to have a bike otherwise. We are raising money to purchase bike helmets, so that every child given a bike will be able to enjoy it safely. Crash has also launched a new branch of his organization, No Kid Hungry, to donate meals to children and families in need, ensuring that children are able to enjoy their bicycles and have enough to eat at the same time. Crash is not only a friend and a huge encouragement to us but a humanitarian that we hope to work with in a larger capacity in the future. He encourages a healthy lifestyle and offers the resources to achieve one while giving a child the fun of a bicycle, and we are thrilled to be a part of such an incredible organization.
A fourth organization that has been a fixture in our home for many years is Operation Christmas Child (http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/). Franklin Graham has dedicated his life to meeting the needs of people and proclaiming the Gospel around the world. As the CEO of the Samaritan's Purse, he has grown Operation Christmas Child since 1993 into the massive movement it is now. In the 20 years Operation Christmas Child has been active, over 100 million boys and girls in more than 130 countries have experienced the love of God and the joy of Christmas through a simple shoe box filled with gifts. We will be packing our own shoe boxes to be sent off in National Collection Week (18 - 25 November). We encourage everyone to get involved in such an easy project. A little time and a $7 donation to cover the shipping of each box can do so much more good than any of us could imagine.
Staying true to our roots, we will be performing at Blackshear Church of God's "Sunday Night Show" (http://www.blackshearcog.com/) on 15 December, which will benefit BCOG's music ministry. We are looking forward to it, all of the events we've mentioned thus far, and the ones we will be be involved in over the next few months. Pursuing a career in music has opened many doors for us to be able to help those in need, and there is no feeling greater than the one you get when you know you've done something to make someone's life a little easier. We are dedicated to leaving the world a better place than it was when we arrived, and we are so excited to really get involved in the charities and foundations through The OneHeart Organization.
That being said, we are thrilled to to announce the kickoff of The OneHeart Organization t-shirts, which will be released shortly. All proceeds will go towards funding the events and projects we've mentioned, as well as ones we haven't even found out about yet. Just like a baseball or football team wears jerseys to identify themselves, we will be building a team of people dedicated to helping others with and through The OneHeart Organization. We are beyond excited to be a part of such an awesome opportunity and remain humbled and amazed by the continued support, encouragement, thoughts, and prayers that have been sent our way! Let's band together to make a difference. By ourselves, we can do very little, but together, we can do anything.
Lots of love,
Beau + Luci
