John George: A party with a Purpose

Dear John George, My name is Fern Harris, an undergraduate student at Eastern Michigan University studying business management. I expect to graduate in April 2008. As I searched the Michigan Innovators website I noticed your organization and was interested in hearing your plans for revitalizing some of the neighborhoods in the city of Detroit. I grew up and lived in Detroit for most of my life. I enjoyed the city and never had any serious problems while living there. However, I did notice how the neighborhoods decayed more and more through the years and it seemed no one was concerned about fixing them up. As I watched your video, you said some things that hit home for me personally. My husband and I left a ministry nearly five years ago to do what we knew the Lord was leading us to do and we came up against much opposition from people we thought would support us in our decision. Even my family members turned on us and thought we were on our way to hell because we weren’t waiting on some man to give us permission to help people. As we started our ministry, we found single and battered women with children who needed help. Soon after we began helping anyone who would come, people started saying, “we were doing it for money, the Devil told us to do it, or we were trying to put ourselves in ministry, etc.” It was so frustrating because anyone who has ever tried to help other people knows that there is no money in it and that it takes a lot of personal and professional time, energy, and money. It also takes get commitment to get through tough times, especially when it is someone else you are trying to help. Until this day, many of the same people who opposed us in the beginning are not willing to put aside the, “petty differences and focus on what is best for everyone,” as you mentioned in the video. My husband and I are both talented and gifted professionals who could get a job and live a happy comfortable life helping only ourselves, but there is no pleasure or peace in that. We continued with what we knew the Lord was telling us to do and now, nearly five years later, we have helped many families. We have been blessed to help these families with donations from other families and have not requested funding from any business or government source. The youth and parents we have assisted have been blessed enough to find safe housing away from abusive men and family members and many have returned to school and are doing well. We have assisted them in getting jobs and some are striving to build a relationship with Christ for the betterment of themselves and the community. We believe people are the community! If you can help a person better themselves, the global community will be affected. Like your mission, I believe we also are in the stabilization and revitalization business. I would like to say to you to keep up the work that you know you have been called to and don’t get discouraged. If you have reached one person and were able to change their life, they will touch other lives, and the vision will continue to move forward. Stay encouraged, Fern Harris, Student Eastern Michigan University

Dear John George, I think that your business is excellent and very much needed for this area nowadays. It seems that Detroit has gotten pretty bad in a lot of parts in the recent years. You are right about the fact that people think that Detroit is a huge and main part of Michigan. They definitely associate the city with people who even come from the outskirts of Detroit. First and foremost, I bless your heart that you are dedicated to such a great non-profit organization. It amazes me that you didn’t feel “right” in the job that you were doing before when you were making a good profit and felt comfortable in your life. You wanted that challenge and you went for it! That’s great! I feel that many people feel the same as you did but don’t want to make the jump because of the huge risks involved. I know that I have lived a fortunate life with everything given to me as needed as I have grown up, but I know that others don’t have the same gift as I did. I knew a couple of people in my life that had to grow up the hard way in a city that didn’t have too much going for it or was “trashy” in their eyes. I watched them go through hard times in their neighborhoods and it was a hard time for me to watch them go through it and I wasn’t even the one going through it. If they would have had the same blessing that you have put together for Detroit, they would have appreciated and been grateful for that opportunity. This is another reason on why I love what you’re doing with your career. It is a gift from God to have someone put on this earth to help others when they aren’t getting anything out of it for themselves (financial-wise). Instead, it is from the heart and that is what matters the most! I also really like the fact that you are building an art gallery for artists to share their work and to be creative together. This is a great activity that can get kids off of the streets and doing something productive instead of something not so good. Keep up the good work with your giving spirit and I wish you all of the luck! Lauren Lozen, Student Eastern Michigan University