www.wideawake.org just launched this past weekend and as many of you already know Brian and a few of his friends have been working on getting this nonprofit started for years. What some of you may not know is the story behind it and what motivated Frank and Brian to get this all started.
Brian and Frank were traveling in Africa one summer during law school when they came across a group of local kids who told them about an Australian missionary that lived in their village. This Australian missionary ran an organization that provided meals for about 100 kids- for some of the kids that was their only meal of the day! She also started a gardening program where she would help families start vegetable gardens. Brian and Frank went to meet her and ended up spending a few days in that village helping out and hanging out with the kids.
After seeing the amazing work that was being done there, and the lives that were being changed Brian and Frank started thinking about how there must be other organizations out there, that like the one they came across in Africa are doing really good things, but people just don’t know about them. That’s when they got the idea that if they started a website to get the word out about these grassroots aid organizations, people would want to help.
So they contacted people they knew from around the world who were working at different nonprofits and started creating a list of organizations that they felt were making an impact, and were trustworthy. Once they started that a few of their other friends started sending names of nonprofits they knew someone working at. To date they have 13 “affiliates,” which are the nonprofits that they have on their website.
Where did the name “wide awake” come from? Well, Frank first got the idea from a U2 song of the same name. U2 is of course Brian and Frank’s favorite band. They also feel like it’s appropriate in the sense that they want the website to help people become wide awake to the needs of the world and of the many opportunities that exist to help those in need.
It’s a great organization!! I am a proud wife and friend. Check out the website at www.wideawake.org.
