LAUNCHING JAN 4, 2010 - How Exciting!

It's time to Celebrate!

It is time to reveal the new entity - launching Jan 4th, 2010.  What a great time of celebration, yet knowing a ton of work is ahead to get this running well.

Thank you to all who have helped get us this far; Preston, John, Vernon, Ron, Stan, Sarah, and others! (Last names left out on purpose ---)

The new company is -->             My Connection Tech
Our tag line is           --> "Connecting Nonprofits to Donors"

Our new web site is under development, but email, telephone, fax, etc. are up and running.

My new email is Steve.Durgin@MyConnectionTech.com
Web site is http://www.myconnectiontech.com/

TARGET CUSTOMERS:
Our target market is Not-for-profit Organizations (NFP) needing to improve their technology: web work, social network integration, "donor" communications and care, data integration, data entry, email campaigns to attract new donors and other services.

Do you know any small to mid-size NFP's who could use our services?  We'd love for any referrals you might have!


Well, this will probably be my last post before Christmas, so Merry Christmas and have a very Happy New Year!


Thanks again for walking along side me on this journey!  We're in for a fun ride that is vey rewarding.


Steve Durgin

P.S. If you're looking to make an end of year contribution to a great non-profit organization I would love you to consider IDEAS (our sponsoring organization).  www.ideasworld.org/give

The Integrity of Work

WORK... what's it all about...

Do we all have the same rights?  The United Nations thinks so...

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, or old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."

Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Do any really want handouts?

"I do not ask for a house of steel,

Or even one built of stone;

But for the exultation to feel

The tug of muscle and bone.

Not for wealth or men at my command,

Nor peace when I am through --

I only ask work for these hands,

Work for these hands to do."

Kresenky, Raymond (1937) "Prayer of the Unemployed", 1000 Quotable Poems, New York, Willet, Clark and Company, p.191

"Indeed, one of the greatest challenges today is how to connect the poor to the global marketplace."

Befus, David (2005) Miami, Florida p.52.  Publised by LAM

Others have said this before, "the poor will always be among us".  But, is it reasonable for us to sit by passively while so many (approximately 4 Billion at the time of this writing) are really poor.  Yes, poverty depends on where you live, but living without what the United Nations calls everyone's rights (food, clothing, housing, medical care, etc.) would seem to me to be an indicator of really poor.

Wouldn't you agree?

This "journey" of mine is to attempt to take an active role in doing something.  Yes, I know it might be a little and might not make a big difference when you consider the 4Billion previously mentioned.  Yet, I must press forward.  I say must for a reason.  To NOT take an active part is to shut down my heart and my emotions.  Some would say to not listen to my emotions, but I say they are the very essence of humanity.  To not listen to my heart and my emotion would be to cease to live.  Or perhaps live in a state of denial or worse a state of comatose!

We are launching this business in two weeks, Jan 4th, 2010.  I hope you join me in celebrating this event and hopefully find a way to help out --- to take some action of your own.

My next writing will be an appeal for workers to get us moving in the right direction.  Do you know folks in the workplace that fit what we're looking for?

Thanks again for walking along with me on this journey!

Stay tuned - Steve

Our Beginning - Jan 4, 2010

Hi everyone!

I am really excited to share that we are all set for our start this coming January 4, 2010.

We have all the legal and tax details worked out so we will incorporate on this day.

We are all excited to begin this venture that will provide employment and transformation to the Dalit's of India.

I would love you to join us in our process.  Here are some things I will be looking for as we start:

- Sales people (experience in selling technology into Non-Profit Organizations)
- Marketing person
- Connections to Not-For-Profit Organizations who could use our services
- Funding: yes, as a start-up we need funding.  You can GIVE through our parent organization IDEAS at http://www.ideasworld.org/ and when you donate make sure you specify the BDI project.
- Advice and Council:  Yes, if you have some words of wisdom to share please do!!!
- Pray:  Would you pray we can get funding, great people to work for us, and some customers?

Thank you all for walking along side me as we venture down this new path.


Blessings,
Steve Durgin

Article in National Catholic Reporter about young girls on India

My wife found this article dated November 13, 2009 in NCR that was quite gripping and relates to my story you've been following, specifically how the Dalit's of India are treated.  This article is about Secunderabad, the sister city to Hyderabad.  If you can find a copy at your local library I strongly suggest it.  I will do my best at summarizing here:

This Catholic mission helps kids get off the streets and in to schools.  They also provide shelter, food and clothing and a whole lot of love and care for their spirits!

Their work is to, "...rescue girls of the slums, the beggars, the ragpickers, society's castoffs, the poorest of the poor.  Too many of them have been sexually abused or exploited, some sold as prostitutes as young as Swathi..." (she is now 8)

They help children, "one at a time".  The most vulnerable population in India are these young girls.  This organization, as well as what we are planning on doing, attempts to break this "seemingly unending cycle of poverty."

Some of these girls do not even know their names,  nor how old they are.  They have been effectively orphaned since very early in life, sometimes as newborns just left on the road.

Here's an alarming, yet not uncommon, story among these young girls of India.

"We were taken to Prathyasha Bhavan (Home of Hope), where we found over 60 orphaned children, including Reena, a 6-year-old who had been kidnapped by the beggar mafia.  They wanted to make her an even better and more pitiable beggar.  They held her down and plunged a darning needle into her left eye, blinding her.  It was a scene right out of "Slumdog Millionaire," except this was a real girl standing before us who had been so cruelly maimed.  I looked down in horror.  Reena returned my look with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen."

So, there is hope folks.  Will we be agents of that hope or let days/weeks/months/years go by hearing of these atrocities and remain unaffected?

I am not trying to guilt you into any action or response.  That is not my job.  God might want you to do something with this information and that is between the two of you! :-)   I see my role as simply telling you their stories.  Stories that otherwise might get lost in the forray of business we all experience.