#207miles

This past Saturday night my wife, Rebecca, and I went to 1Mission's 2012 Gala and it was awesome. The guys that run that charity never cease to amaze me with the innovative things they do.  This weekend, I got my bell rung pretty good.

I'm no stranger to their cause. They build houses for the impoverished people living in the barrios of Puerto Penasco, Mexico. But I think that description of their mission is highly misleading and undermines what it is that they actually do. 1Mission is empowering these people to fix their own circumstances. 1Mission doesn't do traditional aid-type charity work. They partner with the locals by educating them, giving them a sense of ownership over their situation, thereby giving them a means to pull themselves out of it.

The video below is a great illustration of what they actually do...

1Mission has a unique take on the problem of poverty, and behind that perspective, they've created a very effective process. It's working wonders in their Penasco community. So much so, that other organizations around the globe are asking to partner with 1Mission so they can learn the process.

It's because of Jason Law, the founder of 1Mission, and his team's vision that I even began my work on Grassroots. It's an honor for me to be able to name some of these guys as friends and I consider myself to be super lucky to be involved, even in a small way, in what they're doing. I'm blessed to be able to partner with guys like this that "get it" when it comes to building Open Source Software that can have a profound impact on the people around them.