Brink of Greatness
Jake Clark enlisted in the Army at 17 years old; he served five years and then went onto become a Los Angeles Police Officer and FBI Agent. He reenlisted after Sept 11th, and then spent another four years in the military, deployed with the California National Guard for two tours in Kosovo. First we need to understand the severity of the problem. Jake calls it a ‘suicide epidemic’. It is a certifiable crisis, no doubt. The most recent VA study shows that 20 warriors are lost each day. Since 1979, that equates to 263,000 veteran suicides – more than WWI, Korea and Vietnam combined. 800,000 Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress at this very moment. Like too many of our warriors, Jake struggled with civilian life, he had serious alcoholic problems, lost his job and was struggling with recovery. Life was spiraling out of control. It wasn’t just one thing, Jake’s problems seemed insurmountable – which put him on a suicidal path to becoming another national statistic. Jake began practicing transcendental meditation after taking a course partially subsidized by Oprah Winfrey. “Oprah played a big part in saving my life,” explains Jake. “I knew that the suicide […]
Homelessness is a worldwide problem, a national disaster, and a drain on local communities. Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. There are many origins of this famous quote – Chinese, Native American, Italian, Indian, or Biblical, Lao-Tzu, Maimonides, or Mao Zedong. Where ever it originated may be unclear… but what is clear, is the power behind those words. Homelessness continues to be a topic of great interest across the nation. There are many excellent groups, organizations and people trying to combat the growing epidemic. The more you feed the problem however, the more it remains the status-quo. You are about to meet an organization out of Forth Worth, Texas, that has discovered the art of teaching people to fish. Chief Executive Officer, Toby Owen, explains how Project Clean Slate has become the starting place for the journey home for many homeless people. This could very well be a case study for the nation as countless communities struggle with homelessness. The Presbyterian Night Shelter and Project Clean Slate welcomes anyone without a home. And then they help them find one. They do much more than […]
“Finally, I met a guy who wanted to get to know me as a friend. He wasn’t hitting on me, he didn’t need money, he was completely self-sufficient. He saw something in me. I’d never had anyone mirror back a positive image of me, ever. I’d always looked at other people, regardless of their position in life, and I assumed they looked down on me. That they could see that I was garbage,” explains Lisa Kirk. What happens when you have no self-esteem and it seems the cards of life are stacked against you? It can be a long plummet downward. Lisa Kirk grew up in an outwardly perfect family – truth is, it was anything but that. Alcohol, drugs, failed relationships, abuse, both physically and mentally. Lisa found herself in the downward spiral in a life that was completely out-of-control. It all came to a tipping point when her live-in-partner did the unthinkable… “One night, after I fell asleep, he was super high on cocaine, he found my hiding place and stole all my money. He continued to get more violent and he ended up getting into a fight with a neighbor after a drinking binge. We were eventually […]
Kathy & Roger Flynn were so excited at the birth of their first child, their beautiful daughter Ansley Sara Flynn. “Shortly after this joyous occasion we were suddenly approached by our pediatrician stating, “I hear a heart murmur, but feel like it is innocent however, as a precautionary measure we have arranged a pediatric cardiologist for an evaluation”. Within a few hours the cardiologist came into our room and said, “I have no other way to say this, but your daughter has severe congenital heart disease and may not make it through the night”. Within just a few hours our lives were turned upside down. The baby I had just held in my arms and nursed was now in the ICU fighting for her life. As we walked into the ICU to see her for the first time since the horrific news – tears were streaming down my face and all I could think of was protecting her. All of my mommy duties had just been taken away no sooner than I got them. I was confused, concerned and in shock. The only thing I had left to give her was my love, a gentle touch and my tearful prayers. At […]
Life can change in the blink of a moment, and when you least expect it. Sometimes it is an ordinary everyday event that goes bad. Fact is, many of these encounters happen within a few miles of your home even. It was May of 2017, when Aspen made a typical stop at a Subway sandwich shop, just miles from her home in Tucson, Arizona. She was abducted at knifepoint from a man with a criminal past; she was brutally and sexually assaulted throughout the course of many hours. It was the phone call that would change everything, when Craig Sawyer and his wife received the call that would turn their life upside down! Craig Sawyer and his family knew immediately that they had to do something to answer back, and they did. This is an incredible story of courage and faith, and how one man, his family, and a community of citizens can make the ultimate difference… The story continues on the Brink of Greatness Podcast… The Next Leap Forward “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke Child Trafficking is the fastest growing enterprise in the world, as Craig points […]
“I used to walk to work every day in Crystal City,” Snyder says of the area in Northern Virginia near the Pentagon. Each day, she encountered veterans like Clarke, whose situation astounded her. “I couldn’t believe it. He was homeless, right here in my area.” That is where the story begins. Lieutenant Colonel Deborah Snyder served for 22 years, US Army, UH-1 Huey Test Pilot, UH-60 Blackhawk Pilot. Her passion to serve was at the center of her military career; so much that, in retirement she found herself with that same desire back here at home. This time it would be to serve and honor our military vets that were most forgotten. There are approximately 68K Veterans living in transitional shelters, in tent cities and on the streets. “I don’t think we should have homeless vets,” says Snyder, “It’s a fixable problem.” Lloyd Clarke, a Vietnam-era vet found himself homeless at 66 years old, Snyder and Operation Renewed Hope Foundation assisted in finding him a new home. “She’s very serious about helping the veterans,” states Clarke. Operation Renewed Hope Foundation (ORHF) is a Veteran-let nonprofit organization providing quality housing and supportive services to homeless Veterans. ORHF partners with the Department of Veterans Affairs. The […]
“I was going to redefine what was possible, I was no longer going to be defined as the burn kid,” Shay Eskew explained. The story begins on October 4, 1982 when Shay was just eight years old, and his friend Jeff, was 7. Shay’s mom had asked him to go across the street to warn their neighbor that they had an aggressive yellow jackets nest in the yard. The previous day, it had swarmed his entire bicycle. He walked across the street and knocked on the door. Their dad wasn’t home, but the fifteen-year-old daughter was. Shay proceeded to tell her about the aggressive yellow jackets nest. As they walked down the driveway to look at the hole in the ground, you could see the yellow jackets flying in and out of the nest. The young lady then asked if Shay and his friend could help get rid of them? To which Shay responded yes. As they were watching the yellow jackets 10 to 15 feet away, she grabbed a match and threw it down in the hole and nothing happened. She then instantaneously grabbed a cup of gasoline, and threw it at the hole. It splashed on the right […]
How do you unsee what you’ve seen? Impossible really. The lasting impact of war on our veterans has a traumatic affect on every aspect of their lives; for the duration of their lives. Consider that our veterans are waiting months and even years for basic health care. The VA Appeals process takes minimum 2-5 years; in the mean time many of these veterans die while waiting. Veterans are living paycheck to paycheck. Many are disabled, have PTSD, and suicidal tendencies. The suicide rate among our veterans is an absolute crisis! Homelessness amongst veterans is at a record pace. “They have slipped through the cracks. Our government has done a very poor job of taking care of them,” explains Gretchen Smith, Founder of the Code of Vets. That would explain why PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is destroying lives at record numbers. When Danny E. Smiley, US Army Airborne Infantry Sgt., returned home from war, he revealed something profound when he said, “Part of my humanity stayed in the jungle”. Sgt. Smiley’s story is one for the ages. It is a story of sacrifice, courage, grace and humility. Growing up, Gretchen Smith and her two brothers were able to see firsthand the destruction that war had on their […]
She is full of energy, sharp, organized; she manages the teams, writes the grants, plans the cleanup, does the research. He is a bit quiet, unless he has something to say… has a steady hand, tactical in nature. He runs and maintains the equipment, he is the Vessel Captain. Meet Chloe and James. Together they make one incredible team. A highly spirited couple on a mission of a lifetime. They each recognize the plight of our oceans in their current state, and they’re not happy with what they see. Their concern for the future health of our oceans and our planet are clear once you spend a few minutes with them. In 2014 they co-founded Ocean Legacy Foundation. In four years, they’ve collected 120k pounds of plastic and marine waste – they recycle almost everything they collect – an estimated 90% of debris is reused. The story continues on the Brink of Greatness Podcast… The Next Leap Forward Chloe and James are not only energized, but they’ve energized teams of people from around the globe who are also passion about the earth that we live in. This is not a political thing, it’s not a democrat, or a republican thing. It’s not […]
“If you want true joy, you’ve got to stop looking at yourself,” says Luke Mickelson. Mickelson knew something was missing in his life. It was time to get off the sofa and figure it out. Back in 2012, it came to the attention of Mickelson through his Church, that some kids in the community were sleeping on the floor. He felt compelled to help the family out. Instead of buying a bed for the kids, he decided to take on the project of making the bed. So Mickelson and his own family, and church volunteers built the bed from lumber he picked up at the local store, and donated the bunk bed to the family. “This little girl had a nest of clothes, it looked like a little bird’s nest. And that’s what she slept on, that’s what her bed was,” Mickelson said. “When we delivered the bed, she hugged it and just couldn’t let go.” “That first project, we built 11 bunk beds in my garage,” he said. “The next year, we did 15. Then it doubled every year. In 2017, we built 612 bunk beds.” That feeling of changing a life, of giving back – changed everything. That is in fact […]
At the time, it seemed a pretty lofty goal; to climb out of the hospital bed and crawl eight feet to the bathroom. A simple task by most standards, but not when you have life-ending cancer. Compare that moment to being just eight feet from the summit of Mount Everest. In contrast, the eight feet to the bathroom was probably more difficult when your body is not up to the task. It’s all relative now, isn’t it? At just thirteen years old, Sean Swarner was diagnosed with stage IV Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and given weeks to live. At sixteen years old, Sean was diagnosed again with cancer, this time it was Askin’s sarcoma, one of the deadliest forms of cancer, and was given fourteen days to live. “Located in the lining of my right lung, just under the ribs. It was bad enough that the same day they aspirated it to perform a biopsy, and they decided they had to crack my chest open and take out the tumor,” said Sean. “When I awoke I was told I had a 6 percent chance of survival and was given 14 days to live.” “The crazy part is the two cancers are unrelated,’ says Sean. “As […]
There are far too many cities and towns struggling with homelessness, with no easy answers on how to fix the problem. It is a growing crisis largely being ignored by local municipalities and government as a whole. As an example, in the state of Georgia, the Department of Housing and Urban Development reports that well over 10,000 people find themselves in a homeless situation. Jacque Hawk, and his son Erin, decided it was time to do something about the growing homeless situation in their own community of Augusta-Richmond County, Georgia, where hundreds of people are living on the streets without any kind of assistance or emergency shelter. “Many of them are suffering from mental or physical illnesses, and they are hungry, scared, hurting and alone,” said Hawk. It was the fall of 2016, when Erin suggested to his father that they help the homeless in the community. By walking the streets and visiting these people they could not only see their pain, but feel their pain. They decided to do something about it. They started a social media campaign to put the word out that they needed supplies for these folks. Jacque says, “We started collecting clothes and winter blankets and toiletries, whatever the […]
“What if this woman who was beaten by her boyfriend and put in ICU for 3 days was your mother? Well guess what? She is my mother,her name is Cathy. I watched my mother get beat on and belittled my whole childhood. Every man I saw her with after she and my father divorced when I was 3, abused her. It finally stopped when she committed suicide because her husband made her feel like she wasn’t worth enough to live in this world.” Just three weeks before her high school graduation, Shayna Qualls had lost her mother for good this time. At just 17 years old, it had a numbing affect on her. “I spent my early adulthood just trying to find myself and trying to manage life without the love of my mother, says Shayna. It was when domestic violence struck her family again eight years after the death of her mom – her sister Kayla was violently murdered by her former boyfriend’s father – it was then she realized it was time to take action. “I was basically numb from losing my mother and when my sister died it brought up all the emotions I should have been feeling with the grieving process of […]
The birth of a child is one of life’s greatest experiences; the emotional and lasting impact has consequences that will last a lifetime and beyond. When that birth becomes compromised with a life-threatening birth defect, your world is immediately forced into a tailspin of unimaginable emotions. This is a story of two lives on two different paths that would come together with a shared goal and vision of helping countless families not just survive, but thrive in some of the most challenging circumstances. They met under the most unusual circumstances while attending a National Congenital Heart Defects fundraising event in the fall of 2015, a meeting that would change their world forever. The first path, Leslee and Jason Schneider, their daughter Lexi was born with a rare heart condition; Hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Without surgery soon after birth, the condition would be fatal. They were given three options: abort the baby, let it develop within its natural life span or take surgical measures to address the defect. They chose to fight for the survival of their daughter. It would be a journey of hope, persistence and faith that would test them like never before. The other path, Brittany and Brady Griffith had just minutes as they rushed […]
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