Tag: average people

When my friend Ian Gibbs announced that he was going to sell his concert photos online and donate the gross profits to charity, I was pretty sure that someday I’d ask him if I could tell his story. I believe that he is a perfect example of how any of us can use our interests and talents to try to make the world a better place. By marrying his love of music with his interest in photography, Ian has raised money for the Blues Foundation HART (Handy Artists Relief Trust) Fund, the Gift of Music Foundation, 30 Days Foundation, and other charitable organizations.

“I wanted to do more.”

Ian was inspired to start this project while touring the Blues Foundation museum in 2018. He noticed a display of art for sale, the proceeds from which were going to support the HART Fund. Having recently taken his photography hobby to a new level by expanding into concert photography, he thought he might be able to sell his photographs to support the fund. As he explored the idea, he expanded on it, deciding that the artists he photographed should suggest where the proceeds from their photos would go.

“Music is vitally important to me,” Ian told me. “Good music gets to your soul. I can’t play an instrument at all; there’s nobody in this world who would want to hear me try. So it has been important to me to help out the musicians whose work means so much to me. I buy concert tickets, CDs, merchandise. But I wanted to do more. I wanted to really contribute with the talents that I already have, and I wanted that to have meaningful impact. Doing what I’ve been doing has been very rewarding.”

Ian launched iangibbsphoto.com to provide a place where people can view and order his concert photos. The charities that are supported are determined by the photos someone decides to order. If, for instance, I decide that I want a picture of the Danielle Nicole Band at Knuckleheads, a notice at the top of the page with photos from that concert will inform me that “a sizable portion of the proceeds” will go to support Michael Shannon Musician’s Fund.

In addition to selling photos to individuals, Ian sells some of his photos to the bands themselves… and then donates his profits to a charity of the band’s choice. Last year, with far fewer concerts to photograph, Ian uploaded photos from some of his travels around the world, attaching charitable donations to sales of those photos, too. Photos from his 2017 trip to Antarctica support the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition.

“I wanted to see her perform just based on this photo.”

For Ian, the benefits of this project extend beyond the charities he’s supporting. An avid music fan, he finds that photos provide a way for him to spread the word about musicians and music that he loves. “If my work inspires folks to check out more musicians, I’m helping the music community,” he said. In fact, he has had someone comment on one of his Joyann Parker photos, saying, “I want to see her perform just based on this photo.” When he learns that someone has checked out a band or a musician because of his photographs, it makes his day.

“Getting the word out is a challenge.”

Ian’s biggest challenge has been promoting this project. When he posts new photos on his website, he announces it on his own Facebook page as well as other relevant Facebook pages, but he’s been struggling to promote his photos beyond those forums.

A lack of press credentials doesn’t help. Smaller acts welcome his presence, but many of the larger bands require photographers to work for a traditional media company. “There are bands I’d love to photograph whose fans would almost certainly buy prints,” but he needs their permission if he’s going to sell their photos, even for a charitable cause.

His luck may be changing. Having just donated a couple of photos to a charitable auction, he’s attracted attention that led to an interview on The Unofficial Tedeschi Trucks podcast. This sort of success may lead to more attention to his site and more sales of his photography, allowing him to donate more to the charities he’s been supporting.

“Enthusiasm is infectious.”

Ian told me that before I interviewed him, he reviewed my “Ordinary People Making a Difference” series and was particularly struck by Liz Fleming’s story, noting that she proved something that has been a driving force in his own project. “Your skills don’t have to match what you think they would to make a difference,” he said. “What you’re doing could make an impact on someone even if you aren’t trying to make a difference. The more you do what you love [in Ian’s case, taking photos of musicians he loves], the more enthusiastic you are. That enthusiasm is infectious.” So Ian’s enthusiasm goes far beyond raising money for charity as he attracts new listeners for the musicians he loves.

I have to say that what Ian said during this part of the interview opened my eyes to ways I might be making a difference without even realizing it. While Ian told me I’d influenced him because of my enthusiasm for fairly traded chocolate (he attended one of my anti-slavery chocolate parties), he made me realize that my blog could make a difference in ways that I’d never intended. My “something wonderful” posts have, in my mind, not been about making a difference… but perhaps they make some sort of a difference anyway. While I do cover out-of-print books and art by people who died long ago, I also rave about books, movies, and music by people who are alive and could use more fans. Perhaps I’ve made a difference for them just by writing about their work, especially if people who have read a book or watched something that I’ve recommended love it enough to tell others about it. (Ian mentioned this sort of spread of enthusiasm and likened it to a commercial from our youth.)

Ian’s advice to others? “When you find something that’s important to you, do what you can to use your own talents to support that thing, even if that thing wouldn’t seem to be directly related to your talents. We all need to support our communities. In the process, we may better ourselves.”

When I started this series with Mark Walden’s story, I called it “average people making a difference.” I have no idea why I chose to use “average” instead of “ordinary.” Maybe I was thinking of the phrase “average Joe”? At any rate, when I wrote about Curtis Johnson, he shared the post on Facebook. One of his friends (rightly) commented, “But you’re not average.” I agree. None of these people are average. So I’m changing the name of the series to “ordinary people making a difference.” The point is this: All of these people impress me, but they also demonstrate how anyone can make a difference. We don’t have to be wealthy or important. We just have to be willing to try.

When someone suggested Liz Fleming to me for a profile, I had a hard time embracing the idea. Liz is a licensed physician. That’s not ordinary! (One could also say that a computer programmer, like Curtis, is not ordinary, but perhaps because he is one of my good friends, he feels like a “regular” person to me.)

But as I talked with Liz, I saw how her story applies to all of us. You and I may not be doctors, but we can still use our lives to make a difference like Liz.

Liz’s story

Once upon a time, a young girl dreamed of being a doctor. In her dream, she went to college and pursued pre-med classes. She applied to medical schools her senior year, got in, and graduated with her M.D. four years later. Finally, she completed her residency, and achieved her goal.

That’s a straightforward path to becoming a doctor. It wasn’t Liz’s path.

Like the girl in my story, Liz dreamed of being a doctor, but when she got to college, she pursued other interests. It wasn’t until two years after she graduated that her old dream pulled her to pursue pre-med classes. When she was ready to apply to medical schools, her path veered from the expected again. Shortly before applying, she learned about the doctor of osteopathy degree. The holistic approach appealed to her, so she applied to schools where she could earn a D.O.

Liz helped fund her medical education with a scholarship that required her to work with an underserved population for a while. After her residency, she was a physician for an immigrant detention center. As she worked with immigrants, she learned from them. One thing she learned? Many of them hadn’t wanted to leave their home countries. They felt that they had no choice. Their stories inspired her to go to South America after her time at the detention center. She planned to use her skills to do community health and development work, hoping to improve the situation in countries that people were fleeing.

Unfortunately, during the time she was there the program she was working with didn’t seem to be making a difference. When she was given the opportunity to do similar work with Medical Ambassadors Haiti, she took it. Her initial plan was to stay only a little while, but the program impressed her. She lived in Haiti for three years, leaving only because she needed to renew her certification in the United States in order to remain a licensed physician.

After renewing her certification, Liz again chose the less traditional path: She pursued a fellowship as a hospitalist (more or less like your primary care provider, only instead of working in a clinic, she works exclusively with hospital patients). This relatively new medical specialty allows her to serve people doing the kind of work she loves best.

What we can learn from Liz

You don’t have to have important credentials to make a difference.

The public health work that Liz did in Haiti did not require an advanced degree. “You bring whatever expertise you have to the work,” she explained. “Few of the Haitian volunteers have college degrees. Over half haven’t completed high school, and they do excellent, life-changing work.” The most important quality in a volunteer is simply a desire to help others.

When you’re looking for an organization to work with, look for one that you think will be effective.

Whether you want to work with an organization full-time or simply want to volunteer, look for evidence of its effectiveness. If the organization is well-established, what has it accomplished? Does it seem to be flourishing, or is it dying? Take a look at its plans for the future. Based on your knowledge, do these plans seem to be well-grounded? If you don’t feel qualified to judge, do you know anyone who can help you determine the organization’s potential for future success?

Consider focusing your efforts on the root of a problem.

Liz moved overseas because she wanted to help immigrants by making the situation in their home countries better so that people might not feel forced to leave. The world needs people who are willing to help those who are already in difficult situations. But it’s also important to work toward preventing those situations in the first place.

Be mindful of people who might be lonely during holidays.

Liz is single, and her work often keeps her far from family during holiday celebrations. She always appreciates invitations to holiday gatherings, even though she sometimes says “no.” She told me that she prefers specific invitations, such as “We’re having dinner at 6 on Thanksgiving. Would you join us?” instead of a less direct approach like “Do you have plans for Thanksgiving?”

While this is not a good year to bring lots of people into our homes for a holiday dinner, we can think of creative ways to connect with people who are alone right now and plan to extend invitations to gatherings in the future.

Appreciate what you have.

She also noted that it can be hard for her to hear people who are generally happy with their lives jokingly complain about things that aren’t particularly important. As an example (mine, not hers), suppose that, outside of this pandemic, you always have Thanksgiving with Uncle Mel. You really don’t think he’s a bad guy but annually post “Time to hear Uncle Mel sing ‘Over the River and Through the Woods’ again [eye-roll emoji].” That can be hard to read for people who’d give a lot to have Thanksgiving with Uncle Mel, bad song and all.

Like me, you may be tempted to exalt certain professionals, such as physicians, telling yourself, “Of course that person can make a difference, but I’m not important like them.” But Liz would tell you that’s not true. Anyone who wants to make a difference can find a way to do so.

In my first story about ordinary people making a difference, I wrote about Mark Walden, who decided to get involved in real estate but wanted to make ethical choices in updating his buildings and setting rent. In this profile of Curtis Johnson, you’ll learn about how you can get involved in politics to make a difference. Full disclosure: While I did not vote for Curtis (I don’t live in his school district), I did march in a parade to support him.

From volunteer to school board

Curtis Johnson is a computer programmer, a husband, a father of two teenagers, and an involved church member. He’s politically active on the local level, most recently as a member of his district’s school board.

Curtis didn’t do much more than vote until the past few years. In 2016, he said, “I was tired of the election ads and the untruths. My kids hate it when I yell at the TV. Since my wife and I raised them to either do something about a problem or stop complaining, I realized I needed to take my own advice.”

Curtis started showing up at debates. Impressed by one of the candidates running at the state level, he decided to volunteer for her campaign. In addition, he served as a delegate for the 2016 Minnesota Democratic Farm Labor convention. “Some years, everyone who raises their hand to participate gets in; other years there are more interested people than slots,” Curtis said. “In those cases, delegates are selected after they give short speeches about how they will vote.” Some of those delegates go on to participate in the national convention. Curtis didn’t pursue that. “You need to be able to take time off work and pay your own way,'” he said.

When the election was over, Curtis began looking for some other way to be politically active. He considered running for city council, but he felt that he didn’t have the resources to pursue that. Then he realized that running for school board would be a natural fit for his interests. He had been active in the PTA for a while. He’d been president of the PTA at his kids’ school and served on the Minnesota State PTA board. He’d also been on committees that helped plan updates to schools in the Roseville Area School District, co-chairing one  committee.

Curtis’ experience volunteering for a political candidate made running for school board seem achievable. “Before that, I wouldn’t have knocked on doors. Once I’d done it for someone I believe in, I knew I could do it for myself,” he said. So he poured himself into the role of school board candidate, talking with everyone he could about the local schools. He’s now in his second year on the Roseville Area School Board.

What sort of commitment does it take to be on a school board?

As far as school board work goes, “You get out what you put in.” In Curtis’ district, the minimal time commitment would be attending two three-and-a-half to four hour meetings each month. Good board members put in a lot more time. In the Roseville Area School District, each board member adopts certain schools. Ideally, they attend events, meetings, and other activities to get the pulse of their schools, to answer questions, and to show that the board cares. This can add an additional five to ten hours per week to your time commitment. Some months that number can go higher. Curtis noted that he had ten concerts to attend over ten days in May. “And then there are the graduations and retirements.”

When he was running for school board, Curtis campaigned for at least five to six hours during the work week, plus at least an additional four to six hours over the weekend. He tried to keep Friday evenings free of campaigning activities. Of course, he had lots of help from people who knew him.

Potential candidates also should consider the cost of a campaign. Curtis noted that one of the biggest expenses is mailings. Door-knocking can cost as little as the gas it takes to get you to a neighborhood, although it’s helpful to have some literature to drop off. There are also expenses that may not occur to people who are new to politics, such as paying a graphic designer to create a logo for your campaign.

How does he do it?

“I don’t sleep,” Curtis said, probably only half-joking. He added, “I have to plan things. Before I pursued a seat on the school board, I was able to be more spontaneous. It helps to have support from my wife and to have children who are pretty much self-sufficient, other than needing rides to their activities.”

What does Curtis like about his political involvement?

Curtis likes how his political activities have forced him out of his bubble. When he was door knocking, he spent time listening and learning. He could see how people would arrive at certain conclusions, even if he disagreed with them. Curtis’ first priority is to understand the people he is talking to. When he talks to people who don’t believe in supporting public schools, he listens to their reasoning and validates how they feel. Then he may go on to explain how good schools can increase the value of a person’s home when they decide to sell it. “It takes the emotion out of the equation,” he said. “You can say, ‘Yes, you are paying a lot in taxes, but this still affects you.’ Most of the time people respond, ‘I hadn’t thought about that.'”

Does any of this make a difference?

Curtis hopes that his work on the school board is making a difference. As he said, “I’m only in my second year. I’ve spent a lot of that time learning what it’s like to be on the board. Making changes is like turning a cruise ship, but I hope that whenever I’m done, I will have affected things.”

What’s next?

Curtis doesn’t have any plans beyond his time on the school board right now, but, as he put it, “Five years ago if you’d asked me if I was planning to run for school board, I would have said, ‘No. You’ve got to be crazy!’ I’m enjoying the process of learning how things work and don’t work. I would need to learn a lot more in order to do legislative work. Right now I get to work with smart, connected people. I also stay connected with my friends at the capitol. They do a good job and help answer any questions I have.”

What advice does Curtis have for people who want to get involved in politics?

Curtis said that if you want to make a difference through politics, you should “find something that makes you smile and that you want to do, because sometimes you’re going to get up and not want to do it anymore. I’m motivated to do this for kids and their families, so that has helped me do the difficult things, like knocking on doors or speaking with people who aren’t nice about the ways they disagree with me. You need to have at least one thing worth fighting for. You should also surround yourself with friends who believe in the change you’re pursuing or who at least care enough to support you even if they disagree. I didn’t do this by myself. There are very few things that you can do by yourself.”

Post updated on 11/18/20 to reflect the new series title

Most of my “making a difference” posts have been either practical tips or meditations on different subjects. I decided I’d like to add another type of post: interesting stories about average people who are trying to make a difference. I don’t anticipate including these stories often, but I hope this story won’t be the last of its kind.

Mark Walden lives in Chicago, Illinois. Nearly nine years ago, he and his wife established Jubilee Affordable Housing LLC as a way to invest in property that they try to manage ethically. I sat down with Mark this summer to discuss the ups and downs of his venture into property management. Full disclosure: Mark is my friend, and I have invested in a couple of his properties. Although both Mark and his wife are involved in Jubilee Affordable Housing, Mark plays the more active role, so I focused on his story for this post.

How Mark became a landlord

In 2005, Mark was working at a chamber of commerce and learning how property owners shape neighborhoods. He wasn’t a home owner at the time, and he was beginning to think about how old he would be when a 30-year mortgage was paid off. Mark and his wife couldn’t find anything appealing in their price range, but they wanted into the market, so they decided to buy a duplex and rent it out. They figured they’d sell it later and buy their own place.

A while later, another duplex two doors away became available. This one had a storefront. Mark began to see the potential of using property as a retirement plan. He envisioned buying multiple properties and then living off either the rental income or the proceeds from selling the buildings in retirement. Because there was little demand for a storefront in the neighborhood, Mark ended up adding that space to one of the duplexes.

The third building, a four-unit apartment, became available during the recession. By this time, Mark had created Jubilee Affordable Housing. His goals as a landlord were to buy property close to his own home, to keep rent affordable, and to make green updates to his buildings. He took on investors, either to help pay for properties or, as in the case of his first building, to help pay for rehab work to a property. His promise to his investors was that they could buy 1 percent shares of his properties with a 6 to 8 percent annual return on the investment.

Mark purchased his fourth property, another small apartment building, in foreclosure. Along with the investors, he and his wife now own a total of 12 units. In addition to these four buildings, Mark recently purchased a house with the help of investors. The house is being remodeled for resale.

What’s going well?

Mark and his wife are proud to be preserving affordable housing. They’ve set rent at 20-30% below the market rate for apartments in their gentrifying neighborhood. Although they are deliberately foregoing potential income, they have been able to pay the mortgages every month and have not lost any of the apartments. In addition, Mark has chosen to hire people in the neighborhood to improve and repair the buildings, which contributes toward local employment.

Overall, things are also working for the investors. Speaking as an investor in his third property, I can say that Mark has paid us the promised 8 percent interest every year. Mark had to delay interest payments to investors on his fourth property after sinking quite a bit of money into improvements, but has now paid several years of annual dividends. And as Mark invests in improving the property, the value for his investors has been increasing.

The situation with tenants has been a mixed bag. Because the apartments are rented at below-market rates, Mark has his choice of tenants. The low cost also makes the turnover rate low — about one unit every year. The average apartment turnover rate nationwide is around 50 percent. He has had to formally evict one tenant and informally evict another. That’s not bad for 12 units over nearly 10 years, but it was still hard on Mark.

Mark also noted that being a landlord has added to his skill set.

What’s not going well?

Mark and his wife had hoped to be making money off of the properties by now, but with property taxes and other expenses, they aren’t there yet. Mark also said that he’s grown grumpy since he became a landlord (this from a person I would never have described as grumpy). “People are late with their rent. A tenant might not mention a problem until Friday evening.” (Repair people generally charge more if they are called in to work at night or on a weekend.) In fact, my conversation with Mark was on a Saturday, and while we were chatting, he received a call from a tenant about a problem and had to text a repair person to see if they were available.

Mark’s advice for would-be landlords

If you’re interested in following in Mark’s footsteps and trying to become an ethical landlord, he has some advice:

• Take your time looking for property.
• Expect perpetual aggravation, but know that being a landlord can also be fun.
• As a landlord, you may end up with “frienants.” You may become friends with your tenants, and you may end up renting property to some of your friends. This can be wonderful, but beware. Becoming a friend’s landlord may ruin the friendship.
• Mark noted that what is true for “frienants” can also be true for your relationships with contractors.
• The real estate mantra is true: Repairs will be behind schedule and over budget.

Mark’s foray into ethical property ownership isn’t a glowing success story, but that may make it all the more valuable. You can become a landlord in a way that will benefit the neighborhood. Just don’t expect it to be easy.

Do you know an ordinary person who is making a difference in an interesting way? Please let me know about them!

Post updated on 11/18/20 to reflect the new series title