By Mauri Elbel
Real angels are hidden within our lives each day — maybe they encourage our dreams, cheer us on when we are feeling down or open a door when our hands are full and our hearts are heavy.
This year, three local angels are pictured amongst hundreds of photos collaged into a beach scene on the cover of the 2007 St. John Telephone Directory.
These members of the community, when found, will receive $250 and a matching $250 will be donated in their name to the Getting Purpose Foundation, a new foundation recently started locally with a goal of spanning across the globe.
Getting Purpose Foundation
The Getting Purpose Foundation is dedicated to awakening and nurturing the purpose in each one of our lives and furthering the idea by educating people that every one has a special gift to share with the world, according to St. John resident Larry Ford, spokesperson for the foundation.
“The goals are to instill in each one of us that we all have a special gift and that our mission here in life is to uncover that and share it with the world,” said Ford.
By educating the fact that every one has a special gift to share with the world and that finding and living that purpose is why we are here, the foundation will award real life angels annually who are recognized for nurturing this purpose in the lives of others.
“And we do that through the Angel Awards,” said Ford. “People have to stop and think about the philosophy behind the foundation and then nominate people who represent the principles behind the philosophy.”
Angel Awards
Local adults in the community who are helping kids and setting them up with the building blocks to fulfill their dreams, will be candidates for the Angel Awards each year.
The new foundation is being announced for the first time in conjunction with the St. John telephone directory which will be out this month and has donated $1,500 to the foundation.
This year, recipients were selected by a temporary committee, but the names of nominees you feel deserve an angel award can be submitted in upcoming years.
People will be able to enter candidates for the 2008 Angel Awards at angel@gettingpurpose.com.
Dedidated To Youth
Candidates must be a resident of the community of St. John and exemplify the dedication, action and promotion of helping St. John youth discover purpose in their lives, according to Ford.
“This has been a dream of mine since I was 5 years old,” said Ford. “And to me, there is nothing more important than people finding and following their dreams and living their purpose. And when that happens, this will be a kinder, happier world.”
Although the foundation is just beginning on St. John, Ford said he would like to eventually implement the idea at schools throughout the United States.
“We are going nationally,” said Ford. “The Angel Awards are going to happen all over local cities in states throughout the U.S.”
The Getting Purpose Foundation is an idealistic organization, but one of the initiatives within the organization is to help kids gain the fundamental reading skills they will need as a basis to create the basic building blocks to fulfill their dreams.
“One of the initiatives is an early learning reading program that is being considered at public and private schools throughout St. John,” said Ford. “We are also trying to find mentors and/or parents who have pre-school children that want to teach these children with these reading program packages.”
This year, the St. John telephone directory collaborated with the foundation to further the awareness of the Angel Awards, according to Ford, who said donations to the recipients and the foundation will come from a different source each year.
“It’s a grand philosophy but it is really very simple,” said Ford. “We want to awaken people to this concept and be involved on a local level in a practical way by helping to build the fundamentals in our children. This will provide them the opportunity to become who they are meant to be in this life and live their purpose.”
