Heart and Passion Make a Difference

Have you ever heard someone speak about something so passionately and with so much heart that it makes you want to act? As a volunteer involved with many community organizations I am exposed to heartfelt passion on a regular basis. But I have to say that I was truly stunned by the heart and passion of Mike Riley, a fellow Rotarian, who recently organized a dance to raise money needed to build an adaptive playground for the kids of Charlotte Harbor School. Riley auctioned off one of his prized possessions –a guitar signed by Bruce Springsteen, which fetched over $3,000 at the event. What a selfless and generous act! I am proud to be counted among Riley’s friends. (Everyone who knows him calls him Riley. No one calls him Mike, not even his lovely Julie.)

What stunned me was the passion Riley has for these kids. I guess we all go around a bit with a “woe is me” attitude. Everybody has struggles and challenges that they have to deal with in their lives. But let’s face it some challenges are greater than others. Sometimes just imagining what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes is all it takes to be motivated to act and do something for someone else.

I have always been healthy and physically active. I played football and baseball as a kid, I ran track and cross country in high school, I played tennis and racket ball, I was a horseman, a skier, and now I’m a golfer. Until I was diagnosed with cancer, I was never faced with any physical or mental challenges. I still don’t have these challenges (except for a little worsening eyesight) and I am frankly afraid of what is to come if the cancer spreads. I think about what Riley said when he was pitching his concert for the adaptive playground. Imagine, he said, a childhood where you could not safely swing on a swing, climb a jungle gym, or ride a teeter totter. Imagine living life without activities like skiing, golf or tennis, a childhood without football baseball or basketball, roller skating, or swimming. As I listened to Riley, I imagined my life with a brain tumor or some other cancer related ailment that would keep me from golfing, riding my bike, swimming at the beach, reading a book or traveling to some distant land. Suddenly I could imagine what it would be like to have cerebral palsy, autism, or one of the many other afflictions that steals simple pleasures from the lives of the kids at the Charlotte Harbor School. I realize how lucky I am to have been to be born with all my limbs and mental acuity. Now that I am faced with the possibility of one day losing these things I have gained a better awareness of the challenges these kids have faced from the day they were born. Nothing in my life compares and I will never complain if after 54 good years I am stricken by a physical or mental impairment.
As a community we need to thank the Murdock Rotary Club for having the imagination, humanity, determination and guts to undertake a project of this magnitude. The adaptive playground will cost $250,000 to build. Murdock Rotary has been working on raising the cash needed for the past three years and, thanks to Riley, they are $15,000 closer to reaching their goal, which they hope to achieve this month.

In this season of giving, we should all take a lesson from Riley. Reach deep and sacrifice a little to help truly needed kids get what we who are able bodied take for granted. If you would like to give to a worthy cause consider helping the Murdock Rotary with a Christmas gift donation for the adaptive playground project. Make checks payable to Murdock Rotary Foundation, PO Box 380982, Murdock, FL. 33938-0982 or contact Lance Petersen, Murdock Rotary Club President, at 941-766-1873 for further details about the project.