Give A Damn

Paul Rusesabagina & Give A Damn?'s Big Fundraiser Next Saturday

Give A Damn — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:17:18 -0800

Today we interviewed Paul Rusesabagina, the man on whom the film Hotel Rwanda was based. It was an incredible interview that went off without any issues. We felt so blessed to get the chance to interview such a remarkable man that really demonstrates that one person can make a difference. Check out his organization www.hrrfoundation.org.

Hey, if you live in St. Louis, we need you out at Westminster Christian Academy this next Saturday, Nov. 15, from 7-9pm for our big Dessert Banquet Fundraiser. We really feel this will be a pivotal night for Give A Damn? and will determine the course of the rest of this film.

The address is:
10900 Ladue Rd.
St. Louis, MO 63141

The event is free and we will be serving desserts and snacks! 8 different companies have agreed to donate and support the event.

T-shirts are now for sale online too! Get you one!!!

Thanks everyone for your continued support,
the Give A Damn? Team

Hitchhiking to Africa

Give A Damn — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:24:29 -0700

Ok everyone, we are thinking about hitchhiking to Africa. Yes, I said it. HITCHHIKING TO AFRICA!

You may be thinking..."Do these idiots know there is an ocean in between them and Africa?" Well yes we do. We are planning to hitchhike across the US, take some kind of boat across the Atlantic, and then hitchhike across Europe, part of the Middle East and down into Sub-Saharan Africa.

What do you guys think? Is this possible? Do you know anyway we could cross the Atlantic on a ship/yacht, preferably while working on the ship scrubbing floors or being deck hands?

Give A Damn? update

Give A Damn — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:03:04 -0700

It's about time for a Give A Damn? update.

We have been working hard on a number of things the last month: a large fundraiser, a compelling presentation, and the development of our book.

The Give A Damn? Fundraiser will be on Nov. 15 here in St. Louis. Everyone is welcome and the event is free, we just need you to RSVP at giveadamndoc@gmail.com. At this event, we will go in depth on the Give A Damn? film: why it is needed, what makes it original, and what our goals are after its completion. (An invitation is attached!)

We have also created a presentation entitled, Will the next generation fight injustice? We are going to be giving this presentation all across the St. Louis area over the next few months. (A flyer is attached for our next presentation) In this presentation, we give a compelling case that young people actually can make a difference in the level of poverty in this world. We'd be glad to deliver this presentation at your organization.
Our other big priority right now is the development of our book. We are currently molding our documentary proposal into a book proposal. Once we are finished, our agent will shop this around in hopes of finding a publisher.

We are doing all these things above in hopes that we will find plenty of people interested in sponsoring this documentary. At this point, we have the equipment, the plan, and a solid network set up, we just need the funds to carry it out. If you would like to give to our project, just go to www.giveadamndoc.com/donate.html . Thanks to all those who have already contributed, we are encouraged by every single gift.

We would love to hear back from you if you read this, a simple "I give a damn" would suffice. We've said it once and we'll say it again, we truly believe that this film has the potential to convert many people's apathy concerning extreme poverty into action. Thanks for your support.

The Give A Damn? Guys

Newest update from Give A Damn? team

Give A Damn — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:40:54 -0700

September is here, and we are nowhere near where we imagined we would be at this time. We had this vision that we would obtain a producer that wanted to fund the entire project (which is still a real possibility) and that we would be in Africa in just a few days, but life never turns out as you plan. Not to say that all is bad or that we are failing. Quite the opposite, good things are happening all the time. Just recently Paul Rusesabagina notified us that he wanted to be involved with our project, so we will be interviewing him when he visits St. Louis in November. Mr. Rusesabagina is the man the movie Hotel Rwanda is based on, and he is an internationally known speaker. We feel so privileged to be securing these interviews that were once just a dream. Also, we have been offered a contract by a literary agent who is working on a book deal for us. News like this comes in nearly every week these days.

However, we are realizing that our eyes need to be set on our trip to Africa. The interviews we are securing are powerful. Our interviews with Invisible Children, SOLD, Falling Whistles, and Richard Carrier taught us so much, and we still hope to have interviews with many other key leaders in the fight against poverty. All these interviews will play an important role in either the feature length documentary or the educational DVD we will put out after the film.

However, what sets Give A Damn? apart is the idea that we are going to live in extreme poverty ourselves. Today's youth are amused by the lighthearted entertainment routinely found on YouTube and the display of real people enduring extreme circumstances seen in reality shows such as Jackass, so that is what we are going to give them. Our film is going to be funny and random, and we are surely going to be in extreme circumstances as we travel across Africa surviving on only one dollar a day. Doing all this in the hopes that we can tell a compelling story that will reach young people where they are at, hopefully leading them to make fighting poverty a priority in their lives, helping turn apathy into action. To do that, we are now honing in on raising the funds we will need to get to Africa and make this key part of the film.

For this reason, we are postponing our trip to D.C. and the South. We had great interviews scheduled with G-I Net, the World Bank, and several other organizations, but we will do those after we shoot the key part of the film, the Africa $1 a day portion. We don't have the money to spend on these trips right now, so we will be staying here in St. Louis to focus on fundraising specifically for Africa. We are able to focus on Africa because from the money we have raised so far, over $9000, we were able to buy enough equipment to pull this project off, pay our office rent, and are other expenses thus far. We just recently bought our HD camera and most of our essential audio equipment (picture included.) So that is more good news...things are moving along.

On Oct. 14th, David Peterka and I are scheduled to speak at a conference on economic justice here in St. Louis at Manchester United Methodist Church in Manchester (flyer attached) and hopefully we will be able to raise money there. In the presentation, we are attempting to answer the questions: Will the next generation make a difference in the injustice in this world and what works in trying to turn young people's apathy into action. As you can guess, Give A Damn? will be one of the main things we push in this presentation. Other speaking engagements have also opened up around town, and we hope to use these presentations as a catalyst for fundraising and spreading the movement. If you feel lead to do a fundraiser or host a speaking engagement for Give A Damn? in your community, please contact us. That would be infinitely encouraging for us and we would love to work with you on this.

For the next two weeks, David and I will be focusing on this presentation by reading, watching films, and praying in the hopes that we will be inspired. This means that you might not hear much from us the next couple of weeks, but we believe we will come back even stronger, rested, and inspired. This will be the first week I have taken off from Give A Damn? in 2008, so I am looking forward to it. Rob is also taking a break for the next week, so expect a little bit of silence from our end. Still feel free to send email, we will still be checking it every couple of days or so.

Also, we just want to quickly say thanks to everyone for your support. I want to specifically thank all those who have given so much of their time for little or no money. I want to thank John Choura, Julie VanMater and Kevin Bracket for their graphic and web design work over this past year. I want to thank Kyle Montgomery, Doug Parris, the Heykoop's, the Peterka's, Chesterfield Presbyterian Church, Pete Weitzel, Conversantlife, Rock for Justice, all our amazing friends here in St. Louis, and all those who gave us an interview, those who housed us, and those who assisted during our California tour. Also, thank you to everyone who has either donated cash or stuff for us to sell on ebay. Your gifts have gone a long way.
"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."- Margaret Mead

dan parris, producer of Give A Damn?

What can a bunch of punk kids in America do about the world's issues?

Give A Damn — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:23:46 -0700

Wzup Everyone! Hope you enjoyed those pictures from our trip! It was really amazing for me to see the kind of connections a few guys from Missouri can get with God's help (obviously this is a Dan blog) and a little emailing/phone calling. With the free access to information available to us, you can get anyone's email or you at least know someone who can get anyone's email. This can be nuisance if you do not want to be reached, but for guys like us, that are trying to get in contact with people of power, it is definitely a blessing. We have already connected with tons of big names and organizations that I never imagined would care to get involved with us. The list grows weekly.

This reminds me of something Jason Russell, one of Invisible Children founders, talked about in his interview. I asked him if he really thought this next generation could make a difference in this world. What can a bunch of punk kids in America do about the world's issues? He had a great response.

Basically, do you think one person can make a difference, specifically one young person? What is their potential? Is it more or less than the generation before them? This question touches on the core of my goals with this film, so it is an important question to get honest, straightforward opinions on.

-dan

The Second Worst Thing in This World

Give A Damn — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:22:20 -0700

I have a quick story for you: I was at the Sundance Film Festival this past year, and my favorite film was titled: Triage, Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma. During the Rwandan Genocide, all the NGO's fled Rwanda, Dr. Orbinski's organization (Doctors without Borders) was the only one to enter the country. Orbinski's job was to number off victims. 1 meant a person needed immediate attention or they would die, 2 meant that they needed to be treated within that day, and 3 meant that they did not have a chance to make it. He decided whether victims would live or die. He also did surgery after surgery on people and the film chronicles him returning to all the countries he worked in as he prepares to write a book about his experiences. In these countries, so many people are still in tough situations, maybe not in war or genocide, but living in huge slums and struggling in extreme poverty. As he walks around the slums remembering what had happened there, people missing limbs hobble up to him and tell him thanks for saving their life. You realize this one man literally healed and saved the lives of thousands of people.

The film then goes on to talk about how he is a now a professor in Toronto, is married and has several kids. Part of me couldn't help wondering how a man could go from saving thousands of lives to just being a teacher, husband and dad. He had been a hero, a life saver and now he was just any old guy on the street. After the film, I tried to speak with him a little but I only got a few words in and my own dilemma had not been answered. What about me? I want to impact the world. I want to change lives. Still, I also want to get married and have kids, but how can I "settle down" when there is so much work to be done?

The story does not end there. At Sundance, there is a shuttle that take everyone around the small ski town. So I am sitting on this shuttle, and then all of a sudden Mr. Orbinski steps on to the shuttle, by himself. Ha! Here's my chance. I take a deep breath, head over there and ask if I can sit down by him. I prepare to ask this man I barely know, who I just saw on the big screen, the question that plagues me: How can I settle down and just be a father and a husband when I could be out there trying to save lives?

"Being a father to my children is the role that only I can play. No one else can be my children's father," he replied. He made it clear that there was other young men that could go out and save the lives, but he was busy saving lives himself, just in a different way.

How much of the injustice of this world is connected to absent fathers and mothers? What would it have been like if the evil dictators of this past century would have had incredibly loving parents? Maybe they did, but I imagine most of them did not. You want to fight extreme poverty and injustice in this world? Well then I say love the crap out of your kids, your family and your friends. "If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." (1 Cor. 13:3)

I used to believe the second biggest problem in this world was the fact that nearly half the world lives in poverty. I now think the second biggest problem in the world might be the lack of love people around the world often experience from parents, spouses, family and friends.

Go see this movie, it will rock your world. If you're parent and wish you could do more for this world, remember the impact you already are making right around you.

Settling down doesn't have to mean settling for a lesser calling,

dan

Back From California and Mexico

Give A Damn — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:04:21 -0700

Written by Rob

Hey everybody, I hope you're doing well.

If you've been keeping up with our blog, you know that the Give A Damn? team has been all over California for the past 9 days or so. We spent some time in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco as well as a brief trip to Tijuana, Mexico. During our stay we conducted a total of 7-8 scheduled interviews, on top of doing "man on the street" interviews at each location. Needless to say we are all exhausted but the trip was the epitome of productive.
We shot around 16 hours of footage, and over the next few weeks I will be editing a lot of the interviews so that you can see what we've been up to. I plan on having a new video/blog posted every 3-4 days and in each one I will feature one of the organizations or individuals that we encountered on our trip. I'm hoping that we can help spread the word and enlighten you about some of the amazing movements that are currently taking place. If you read this blog, do me a favor and post a comment and let me know so that I feel motivated to keep up with it on a regular basis. Bottom line, the more comments I get, the more blogs that I will post.

So stay tuned.

Less Important But Still Entertaining:

YOU DECIDE IF I GROW OUT THE MOHAWK!

Let me explain a bit. Dan and I are in very tight financial positions right now; and we both have a large amount of student loans on top of a lack of steady income due to our high involvement in the production of Give A Damn? With that being said, about a month or so ago, I shaved my head in attempt to save cash on haircuts as well as simplify upkeep for the next few months while we're on the road. As much as I thought I was going to look like a cancer patient, the baldness has really grown on me and I feel that "the chop" was a very good move. Being the documentarian that I am, i filmed the head shaving in time-lapse, watch the video below, and during the process we cut a mohawk just to be goofy. After publishing that video, there has been a good amount of people who thought the mohawk kicked ass and they said I should have left it. So after 10 days or so of not shaving on the road, I'm at a place now where i can either re-shave or start working on the mohawk. I don't care one way or the other, so it's up to you guys to decide.

SUMMARY:

I shaved my head to save cash, during the process we cut a mohawk.
YOU DECIDE IF I:
1. Re-shave it
2. Grow out a Mohawk.

Please vote in the comments section.

If you're reading this on Facebook, please visit the original post location on Conversant Life, Conversant Page, you can also comment by logging in with your facebook log in. Be advised, CL is a Jesus website but the admins have proven thus far to be tolerant of other ideas, so dont let the Jesus thing scare you away from participating and perhaps starting you own blog.

-Rob
Give A Damn?

More pics.
Because I love pics, and honestly who wants to read when there is pretty colors to look at.

Invisible Children Ocean Beach, CA office
Corporate IC Headquarters, this is a random door behind the building
Our view from the IC Roadies House Balcony
Griptastic David Duel-Wielding Mexican Kids Like Master Chief
More Duel Wielding
Our Director of Photography, Kyle Stryker.

Camera is a Panasonic Ag-DVX100B

Random Plant and David
Venice Beach Canals
Venice Beach
Our Table at Venice Beach
IC Roadie house with our temp Gaffer, Ricky Norris
Interview with Dr. Richard Carrier, Author of Sense and Goodness Without God
Kyle with the JVC100 in San Fran
Gigantic Lemon
This is a video Teaser....word
The final scene from Temple of Doom

All pics taken by Rob Lehr

Give A Damn? Update from Rob

Give A Damn — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:49:04 -0700

Hey kids, how's things.

Tuesday morning we left for California earlier than blue jays wake up and it's been non-stop filming/ man cuddling since we left. About an hour or two after our plane landed, we were already setting up for our first interview with the founder of The Falling Whistles Project, Sean Carasso. It was amazing and we all felt that we enjoyed almost everything that he brought to the table. In the past Dan has been asking most of the interview questions, but this time I made a point of shooting a few out there. I think the best part of this interview, not to discredit Sean, would have to be that we did the interview in a warehouse, with Dan and me seated on a shop vac and a bucket respectively. I dont know about you, but shop vac chairs scream Give A Damn? to me.

On top of being a solid interview, speaking with Sean was a good opportunity to get our feet wet with our gear and get acquainted with the newest contributors to Give A Damn, Gloria Cohen and Melissa Cobb. Melissa is a film maker from LA, whom Dan has known for a while and I was fortunate enough to work with her last summer on the independent feature The Ice Shield of Alethia with her. Gloria is a sound engineer that I met last fall while working on Nothing Rhymes With Orange, which was filmed in Springfield, MO. I must say that I love girls that kick ass at film making, and these two are certainly the ass kicking type. Melissa gaffed and manned the camera, while gloria rocked the mixer and the boom mic.

Last night we crashed at Felicia Heykoop's house and in the morning I found an orange tree in the backyard and David and I went nuts on some hand picked oranges. I had never had a fresh picked orange and it was incredible.... I wanted to pick them all, fill a bathtub and then dive in like Scrooge McDuck in his money bin. Seriously, they were that good.

Later that morning we got one of the interviews that we were most excited about, Jason Russell the founder of Invisible Children. We really didn't know what to expect but we were all blown away by how real and legit Jason as well as everyone else on the IC team was. David even admitted being a little star struck, which was the complete opposite of me giving the fact that I had never even seen their film. As much as I want to see Invisible Children, Dan and I made the decision months ago that I should try and avoid any hardcore Africa doc or influences that might potentially prematurely affect my perception. Basically, if there is going to be radical changes in me, we want it to happen on camera and not in my living room, if that makes any sense.

I flat out told Jason about how I wasn't allowed to see the film, but I really wanted to once the film was completed, and he subsequently hooked me up with a copy of the DVD, which he signed, and a handful of other things that I really dig. I must say Jason really impressed me and I'm glad we got the opportunity to interview him. It blew us away when we got to show him the four minute trailer for Give A Damn?

Also today we finally met up with our Director of Photography, Kyle Stryker, and our second temp gaffer Ricky Norris. After the Jason Interview we headed down to the nearby beach in San Diego and did some man on the street interviews, which also went quite well. My bald head got burnt for the first time today, but thankfully it wasn't all that severe.

Added, the two days later:

I cannot emphasize how well the Cali trip is going thus far, except for a few technical difficulties on a key interview. It seems that although all the interviews so far have been from people in the same genre and mindset, each one had their own set of amazing advice and ideas to contribute. Time is very tight right now so I don't have much more energy to give as many details as I would like, however it would be a shame if i didn't at least give a quick summary.

After the interview with Laren from IC on Thursday, we drove from the Ocean Beach IC office out to their corporate headquarters and subsequently interviewed the president of the organization as well as another member of the staff. Each one of the three interviews that day we're amazing enough to warrant their own blog entries, but I'll have to come back to that later.

Friday, we decided to fix the fact that I have never been out of the country by driving down to Mexico for a few hours. Although we were all a bit nervous about trucking camera gear in, we sucked it up and did it anyway. Ricky Norris frequently visits an orphanage so we thought it was too good to pass up. Again, I don't have time to go into detail about the day, but I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the day. I'm not really a "kid person" and I intended on keeping a distance from the kids, however we got swarmed by cute little kids and there was no way it could be avoided, and I was glad about it in the end. The photos were taken by Ricky.

Tomorrow, we're headed to Venice beach to spread the word about the film and get some good "man on the street" interviews, and then later that night we're sucking it up and driving up to San Francisco for an interview that we have with Richard Carrier. I am extremely excited about the interview since it is the one interview that we have scheduled that is not in the Jesus camp. I don't want to label him, and I certainly have no idea where the interview might go, but it is going to be good.

Alright, I'm exhausted, much more to come later. I beg you guys, if you take the time to read this, leave a comment and encourage me to keep active in the blog. We're stretched pretty thin as far as timing, and I'm making these updates a priority, so throw me a bone and at least say, "I read it".

-Rob
Give A Damn?

"Give A Damn?" Update from Rob

Give A Damn — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:48:56 -0700

I'll start by introducing myself; my name is Rob and I look forward to conversing back and fourth with everyone through this blog. I will gladly answer any questions you might have about myself or the film, but I'll warn you that most of the time you probably wont like the bluntness of my answers. Bottom line, I am offensive and I'm way past the point of dancing around the issues and people's feelings when we could be cutting through the crap and getting somewhere.

If you have seen the trailer then you most likely have a basic understanding of who I am, or at least who you might think I am. To the average viewer, I most likely come off as the atheist asshole who doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself. While I don't believe this to be the case, I certainly wont be so bold as to try and demand you think otherwise. I would also argue that my viewpoints are not a product of apathy and/or selfishness, I more so believe that I am the product of years of having propaganda-guilt-trip bullshit crammed down my throat. I think deep down a lot of people can relate to where I'm at, but most people just don't want to admit it and be the douche. Basically, I have no idea what my responsibility is to people half way across the world, but I'm willing to look into the issue and find out if we can make a difference.

In the previous blog, Dan discussed the element of faith in relation to the Give A Damn? concept, and he asked whether or not we should keep it in the forefront . I personally think that the religious aspects cannot be separated from the film, because I believe it is at the core of the overall definitive concepts of the film. Everything I have ever seen about Africa has been so full of religious bullshit and zealotry that it's hard to be convinced that efforts are making any difference from a realistic perspective. This is where your perception delegates how you view progress and most likely where you and I might differ based solely on the fact that this is a "I love the lord" website.

During the course of the pre-production interviews, there has only been a handful of answers to our questions that pissed me off enough to rip my hair out. The one that set me off the most was from a 20-something man in Springfield, Missouri that stated that starving people in Africa don't really need food, they just need the love of Jesus Christ. I was running the camera at thattime and I just about lost it and flat out told him, very respectfully, that I thought it was complete bullshit and that Jesus has nothing to do with needing a cheeseburger.

Although i have no right to speak for anyone but myself, I think that I understand the Christian perspective better than most atheists, because at one point I considered myself to be a very strong Christian. I believed it so wholeheartedly that I gladly participated in ministry, but needless to say things have changed and I see no signs of things reverting. I am at a point now where I respect Christians and their ideals as long as the individual makes a conscious effort to think about their decisions rather than just doing things because "Jesus told you to". As much as it makes people comfortable to think that God is in control, and everything is going to be ok if we just put it in HIS hands, I think people should take a step back and determine whether or not your decisions make sense on a realistic level where your imaginary friend isn't in control. Because when it comes down to it, not everyone in this world believes in Jesus, and you have to live with us whether you like it or not.

I realize a lot of this type of thinking might be very offensive to you and I offer an apology if this is the case; but take a look at it from my perspective and try to see how Christianity in itself is EXTREMELY offensive to someone who does not believe it. Don't think Christianity is offensive? The basic principal of me burning in hell for making decisions that I feel are "right for me" IS OFFENSIVE.

I'll say this bluntly, I am not Anti-Christian, I am pro-thinking and as long as long as you can open your eyes to non-christian ideas and realize they might actually be valid, we'll get along just fine.

In addition, I made it very clear to Dan when this project was first being fleshed out that I had no intention of going on a missions trip to save peoples souls. My expectations from Give A Damn? are much simpler, I want to find out what realistically works, out of a basic sense of concern to my fellow man. While I will admit I am very ignorant about Africa on a lot of levels, I believe that most people across the United States are at a similar place, so I'm hoping some of you can relate with me as we investigate the problems, and then hopefully work towards a solution, if there is such a thing.

Give A Damn? is coming at the poverty issue in a way no one else has before. In my view, the overall theme is: "No bullshit, No guilt trips, Lets find out what works and lets do it". I value honesty and sincerity above everything else, because life is too short to be cordial and surface level all the time. Things that are worth talking about are usually offensive.

I have not decided which direction I will go with my blog entries and my decision will largely depend on the types of responses that I receive to this one. For example I could stick specifically to updates on film progress, or we can continue this dialogue about the collision of the Theist and Atheist mindset. Essentially, you decide and I'll go the whatever direction you like.

I thank everyone who took the time to read this, and I hope that if you have any questions you will leave comments.

Rob Lehr
Associate Producer and Character
Give A Damn?

Bonus: Response to jcubed

Jcubed spent a lot of time articulating a handful of questions in the previous post's comments section and I thought I would show my appreciation by specifically responding.

Q1. Who is the video targeting?

A. The easy answer is that we are targeting everyone, but a more specific honest answer would be that we are trying to reach an audience of viewers that wouldn't typically give a damn about this type of film. We are trying to bridge the gap between the "demand you do something people", and the everyday person who hasn't put too much thought into it all.

By incorporating the religious issues, we're are hoping to attract Theists and Atheists, and everyone in between; essentially erasing the lines between us all by talking about the elephant in the room rather than ignoring it, if that makes sense.

Q2. I sure would like to know what led Rob away from Christ.

A. This one is easy, I don't believe in God and it took me a few years of bottling up my doubt before I could get to the point where the only option I had left was to be vocal about truly not believing in God. Obviously, there were things along the way that pushed me even faster away, but I feel the roots are more important than the leaves in this situation. If you'd like a more detailed version of "my story" in regards to Christianity, leave a comment.

Q3. Since Rob considers himself an atheist now, and apparently doesn't think he will be joining you in heaven, how do you reconcile that as a Christian?

A. Although this is directed at Dan, I'll answer it since I'm an ass like that. Dan doesn't need to reconcile anything about me not joining him in heaven, because heaven doesn't exist and no amount of prayers will create a God... Next question.

Q4 Does the fact that Rob is now atheist mean that Rob was never really a born-again Christian, or does it mean that he willfully abandoned the free gift of salvation?

A. You can answer this question how ever you feel comfortable doing so, however I will answer it by saying salvation is nothing more than an idea we created in an attempt to not be so upset about the fact that life is impermanent and we are all going to die. Yes it sucks, but that's even more reason to enjoy it while I'm we're rather than worrying about the bullshit BBQ afterwards.

Thanks again for reading this all. If I get receive any comments on this I will specifically respond to them.

-Rob

"Give A Damn?" Update

Give A Damn — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:51:03 -0700

Hows it going everyone?

We thought you might be interested in where we are at with this project.

As of right now, we are stationed in an office in St. Louis working all the time to try and get the word out about the film. We are consistently creating videos for our youtube/facebook/myspace/conversantlife pages (all those links are below.) Every day people come out of the wood works offering their help and support.

Next Tuesday, Rob, David and myself are headed to LA to get interviews with the people who run Invisible Children, The SOLD Project, and a few other non-profit organizations (Big thanks to our friend Rachel Burney for hooking a lot of that up.) We will be there for 9 days, getting interviews, promoting the film at concerts and events (a Big thanks to Rock 4 Justice) and doing some man on the street interviews.

Hopefully getting this footage under our belt will help us in the fundraising process. This is the area, as you might guess, we are struggling in the most. Doors are opening up consistently but no big investors/sponsors have jumped fully on board yet. If you have any leads in this area, please let us know. We are able to continue through the donations and support of friends and family. Thanks guys!

As of right now, we are breaking up the US tour into segments and the Africa tour will continue to be pushed back until we receive the funding we need. We need to raise at least $25,000 more til we can say when the Africa tour will happen. We will continue to push this project through until that happens!

Remember, our goal is big here. We want nothing less than to see a revolution in young people where fighting extreme poverty (the fact that 1.2 Billion people in the world eek by on a dollar a day) becomes a priority in their lives by turning their apathy into action. We are meeting them where they are at through humor and by letting them in on our struggle as we live in extreme poverty ourselves. Thank you for your continued support through all this!

Be the change you wish to see in the world,
dan parris