Last night the Chase American Giving Awards were on NBC. Were you watching? It was so exciting to to watch Katie Meyler and the More Than Me organization win the top prize of $1 Million!
I had the pleasure of having Katie Meyler come to a Heartworks meeting last year.
Here is Katie (2nd from the left, wearing red) with our Heartworks ladies.
Katie grew up in a town nearby and the founder of Heartworks, Megan McDowell has been a supporter of Katie's efforts for a long time.
Let me tell you a little about Katie--despite growing up in a mostly-wealthy town, she had a difficult childhood. She says she was the "poor" family in town. The family who would receive garbage bags of used clothing at the back door from anonymous donors. Her mother struggled to raise her three children alone.
Katie wanted to find her way in the world. She took a trip to Haiti and fell in love with helping people. She had an awakening and realized that her childhood had been luxury in comparison to the lives of so many in the world!
Many girls she found on a subsequent trip to Liberia were orphans and lacked even basics like clean drinking water. Girls as young as 8 were brought into prostitution because it afforded them an income they otherwise would be without.
Katie was resolved to find a way to come back to Liberia and help get little girls off the streets and into school. More Than Me was born a short time later. Katie works tirelessly and constantly gathering support for the More Than Me Foundation. See more of her story here:
http://youtu.be/Ue7MMHCyxXA
When she came to my Heartworks meeting, she spoke frankly and passionately about her experiences and what she is doing to help girls get off the street and into school. What a genuine, positive force in the world! Everyone at the meeting was touched by her story, her honesty and her desire to change.
When Katie found out that she was one of 25 organizations in the finals for the Chase American Giving Awards, she began a 24 hour, 7-day a week campaign to generate votes for More Than Me. This woman has barely slept, barely eaten while pleading for votes.
How wonderful to see the result of her efforts: being awarded the highest prize from Chase--$1 Million to help get more girls into schools in Liberia!! Congratulations!!
To learn more about More Than Me, visit www.morethanme.org.
To learn more about Heartworks,visit
www.njheartworks.org
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