By John Jarvis

Inspiring Hughes Marino Mini Goalers,

Who doesn’t love a wildcard? You know, like in a card game, where you can make the card you were dealt into whatever you want, or whatever you need, the Ace of Spades or the Two of Hearts. I would like an occasional wildcard at work. And I would love a wildcard on our next family vacation! Alas, we do what we can, so we gave you a wildcard for the month of September in the Hughes Marino Mini Goals Program. What did you do with yours?

There was a lot of thoughtful gifting within our San Diego team, as it has been a significant past two weeks for a few of our team members, with the one-year anniversary of the Route 91 tragedy in Las Vegas. Elizabeth Carvalho surprised some new friends with a memorable gift for a Jason Aldean concert they went to together in September. Teammates (and best friends) Elizabeth and Briana Waris surprised each other and their best friend with personalized jewelry and a photo album filled with memories from the past year. Briana gifted her Las Vegas family with framed photos from their concert. We loved the outpouring of love and giving we saw this month!

My wildcard lead me down a remarkable path. On a trip to our Seattle office I visited the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center. OK, so maybe Bill and Melinda Gates aren’t exactly “unsung” heroes, but I had no idea just how much they are doing to make our world a better place. I was blown away. If you get the opportunity to visit their Discovery Center, I highly recommend it.

But how am I supposed to support the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation? I don’t think they need my money. They only have one trustee, and that is Warren Buffet. I looked into it nonetheless, which lead to their blog, Impatient Optimists. Love that title. And to their FAQ page where they encourage people to donate to any one of their (#) grantees, where the hard work actually gets done. I narrowed my search by focusing on education, and I found New Classroom Innovation Partners, Inc., based in New York. You can check them out for yourself, and in short they are reimagining the classroom to focus on personalized learning. That sounds fantastic, so I made a modest donation.

Does my donation matter, alongside the massive support of the Gates Foundation and Warren Buffet?  In the words of Howard Schultz, everything matters, literally every thing. So we do what we can.

And speaking of doing what we can, the October Mini Goal is to…

Acknowledge our heroes

Yeah, this one is important. To acknowledge those who step forward and answer the call. We witness their acts of grace and honor and courage and heroism, and we don’t always have the opportunity to say thank you. In October, we will make it our highest priority.

And for my part, I am going to knock out this mini goal right now, on October 1^st 2018. No time like the present to take action. No time like the present to remember and honor the past.

If you recall, this year’s mini goal program is dedicated to the survivors of the Route 91 Harvest Festival tragedy, to the 58 souls who were lost and to our own Hughes Marino family members who suffered and survived through that dark night on October 1^st 2017, one year ago.

I am proud to acknowledge Briana Waris, Elizabeth Carvalho, Dean Petersen and his wife Jane as extraordinary, unsung heroes in our midst. For enduring unbelievable hardship and, in that moment, focusing our attention on the kindness of human spirit that got them through the night. And for your efforts over the last year helping to build a community of survivors focused on love and support. In the darkness you have shown yourselves to be beacons of light guiding our way forward. Thank you.

Remember when I almost didn’t get my mini goal done last month? Well, it feels awesome to get it done early this month. What are you waiting for?

You are going to do it, because you said you would, so why not do it today?

This is how we grow.