The Problem
Humanity is losing the battle against poverty, disease, child exploitation, and just about every other form of social injustice imaginable. Why? Simply because such issues are at the bottom of our list of priorities, while amenities such as extravagant homes and churches, luxury cars, exotic vacations, jumbo retirement plans, investments, endless entertainment choices, and now, gasoline, drain the bulk of our income and available credit. If we’re one of the lucky ones, we have a few crumbs left over to appease the guilt of our apathy as we write our meager checks to charities, many of which are often inefficient or wasteful.
64,000 people die every day from malnutrition and lack of drinkable water; nearly half of them are children. Millions of children, often as young as 6 or 7 years old, must sell their bodies to keep from starving to death. Many are brain-damaged from sniffing glue, which masks hunger pains and gives those in colder climates a sensation of warmth. HIV-AIDS is rampant, even in young children, and many of them never live long enough to be diagnosed. The more fortunate 3rd world children are often exploited in sweatshops that produce cheap goods benefitting the American consumer and greedy American corporations. Societies will one day pay the price for our blind-sided neglect of this exacerbating global crisis. Left unresolved, it is bound to have repercussions that will eventually threaten the lives of every one of us.
Our conventional methods of charity can no longer stand up alone to the increasing needs. Cumbersome tax-exemption laws allow us to build elaborate worship centers, but often stand in the way of generating the kind of profits needed for us to mount significant strategies to help the poor and oppressed. Furthermore, volunteerism alone cannot meet the challenge because few people have the time or money available for volunteer work. For most, the 40 hour work week is a thing of the past, with 60 and 70 hour weeks becoming the norm—our insatiable marketing hype-driven appetite for more forcing us to work harder for things we have little time to enjoy. Churches, traditionally the progenitors of social justice and benevolence, have grown increasingly inefficient and less effective as they compete against other churches for members with myriads of extravagant programs that fill pews, but which also consume their congregation’s capacity to engage in true missional works. We are not advocating a moratorium on institutional religion by any means. These organizations serve an indispensible role in society. But we simply must begin thinking outside of our traditional schools of thought for solutions to the mounting global challenges.
The Answer
A concerned group, consisting mostly of career musicians, believes they may have found an innovative solution that will not only fund their work with homeless street kids and orphans in Ukraine and Moldova, but which will also create public awareness and challenge others to follow their example. They have proposed both an annual Christmas show that would tour internationally, and a reality TV show based on their real-life quest to meet the challenge of changing the lives of some of the world’s most desperate children.
The Reality Challenge
While the challenge is a complex one, the group has devised a concept they have dubbed Extreme Village Makeover. They envision enlisting a team of construction workers to assist them, both in the reality show production, and in the actual work of transforming an impoverished Ukrainian village on the border of Moldova. The citizens of the village are mostly elderly and extremely poor. Out of desperation, they have been offering to sell their properties to the group in order to survive, even though most have nowhere to go. It is a heart-wrenching situation.
At first, it seemed inhumane to take advantage of their desperation by purchasing their homes for prices that, by US standards, would be an incredible bargain. But, when the group learned that the proposed buy-outs would provide most of the villagers with enough money to see them through for the rest of their lives, they began brainstorming.
Since the mission’s primary work focuses on the children, they naturally were looking for ways that would benefit them. What has evolved out of endless troubleshooting sessions is a plan where the group would purchase the properties, enlist skilled craftsmen—carpenters, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, etc.—who would teach the children vocational skills while they helped remodel the properties , and then allowing the village folks to live in their homes, rent-free, for the rest of their lives. Enlisting talent comparable to the Extreme Makeover—Home Edition crew, the senior citizens could live out their golden years in comfort, while leaving the children with vocational skills that could support them and their families for the rest of their lives.
The story to be told is one which not only communicates the cause of the children, but also puts the band’s personal lives into the picture as they labor to help and entertain the villagers while wrestling with their own faith, or lack thereof, as well as sharing their hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow for the street kids. It is a real-life adventure, and the kind of journey that people tend to connect so well with. The goal is for them to not only connect with the band from in front of their television sets, or from a seat in the audience, or from an attentive ear to the radio, but to take up the challenge and be inspired to help the band in their mission with their own talents, resources and ingenuity.
There are plans to eventually help the children start businesses of their own with the skills they have acquired, and to give them the opportunity to purchase homes in the village as the former owners pass away. That way, they would continue the cycle of charity as similar endeavors extend out to other needy communities, and serve as an example for other countries whose governments presently have their doors closed to outside help, and where the people are suffering even worse than in Ukraine as a result. Much else is either already being implemented or is in development, not-the-least of which is the inclusion of a music conservatory for the street kids and orphans. It is too in-depth to be documented here, but it all adds up to some very heart-rending and inspiring stories, which is how the idea for the reality television show began to develop in the first place. Coupled with a band of musicians, whose colorful personalities and eclectic lifestyles make for good TV even without the addition of such life-transforming good-will, this could easily be one of the most popular and endearing reality shows ever.
From Reality TV to the Christmas Concerts
Of course a venture of this magnitude takes money, and that is how the touring Christmas show fits in—by generating the kind of capitol necessary to fund such a humanitarian project. The reality TV show, which for the most part, is based on the real lives of the band members as they attempt to develop solutions for the plight of the Ukrainian children, begins with the band performing for a group of homeless street kids in Kiev. Inspired by the severity of their troubles, they begin writing songs and devising a way to help them. By the time they return to the US, they decide that they should have an annual Christmas concert tour to raise money and awareness of the children’s plight, and they begin laying the groundwork for it—meeting with producers and promoters, enlisting more musicians, talking with investors, writing and recording songs and rehearsing for the shows. Since reality TV is yet to document the development of a band from its beginning to the concert stage, this is yet another angle that would make for some interesting viewing, while inspiring other musicians and artists in enlightening new ways.
The TV show will document the evolving nature of the project, to include the struggles, setbacks, and heartbreaking events in the lives of both the band members and the Ukrainian children, as well as the heartwarming stories of the fight towards giving hope to those who have lost it. Because the band is an integral part of the mission, they are the ambassadors or spokespersons for these children. Many of us will eventually be engaged in working with the kids on a personal level in Ukraine when we are not on tour, recording, or preparing for the next tour. Therefore, the story of helping the children is a real one, and it is constantly unfolding. The storyline of every show and every year’s tour will be a continuation of the saga, leaving audiences waiting with great expectancy to learn how things have progressed. With the success of the TV show, concert ticket sales would be brisk. It is the goal for the band to sellout 50 arena or stadium shows in the US and Europe every Christmas season before flying to Ukraine, where they would celebrate Christmas with the street kids and orphans on January 7th, the Ukrainian Christmas—putting a whole new meaning to Santa Claus is Coming to Town—or perhaps revisiting the real story of Saint Nicholas in an inspiring new way.
Why a Christmas Show?
Some have queried why we would want to limit the band’s performances to Christmas shows. The answer is quite simple. Christmas is that one time of the year when people feel most charitable. It’s that time of year when thoughts of peace on Earth and good will toward men prevail. And like the final choosing of the next American Idol winner, it will be the focal point of all that takes place for them during the rest of the year, with the band’s Christmas celebration with the Ukrainian folks culminating the season for both the concert tour and the reality show.
The goal is to be able to give 50% of all ticket and merchandise sales to the work in Ukraine and in other areas of need. Concert-goers can feel like they are a direct part of that work by knowing that half of their ticket purchase will help desperate children. The true meaning of Christmas has long been lost in a holiday where consumerism trumps charity, and such a compassion-centered show would make great gains in bringing the public back to focusing on the real things that resonate with the true meaning of Christmas. With the many challenges the band will face in their quest to help the children, a two month-long concert schedule is about all they would have time for. Trans Siberian Orchestra, and to a lesser degree, Manheim Steamroller, are the only real competition in terms of Christmas entertainment, so the market is wide open. It makes sense to take advantage of this opportunity rather than trying to compete against the endless lineup of artists who perform outside of the holiday season. The reality show would not only suffice to lend popularity to the band during the rest of the year, but it should serve well in creating public anticipation for the Christmas concerts.
Profiting From Charity?
The reoccurring problem with performing benefit concerts and selling CD’s for charity, in addition to the logistics and financing involved in promotion and production, is that it costs money to live; people can only afford to donate so much time to any cause, no matter how good it is. While some benefit concerts can indeed be successful, they don’t offer anything sustainable in the long-range fight against poverty, disease, and social injustice. But, if we can begin building business plans with the goal of meeting real-world needs, then those who are paid salaries from those businesses become essentially like paid missionaries. A successful band or TV show generates far more than is necessary for everyone involved to live comfortable lifestyles, while still contributing the lion’s share of the profits to help solve many of the world’s problems. If this project is as successful as most believe it could be, it could easily contribute 50% of the profits or more directly to the mission work.
Heart to Hand Ministries, Inc., the project’s parent mission organization, has recorded several children’s CD’s and has given away over 100,000 of them in children’s hospitals and disease camps all over the US. Yet, those CD’s have generated considerably more profit than they would have with a distribution deal. Heart to Hand might give a half-dozen away when visiting a hospital, only to have a doctor or other health care worker donate fifty or a hundred dollars for a copy in support. As radical as it may sound, the band plans to market the CDs and internet music the same way. They believe their message is an important one for people to hear and they don’t want to keep that message from anyone. At the same time, in keeping with a 50-50 charity-to-profit commitment, they are confident that most people, knowing that purchasing their products will help the plight of homeless children, will pay retail or better. In a marketplace where there are 20 times more illegal downloads of music than sales, this strategy hardly seems a gamble. Imagine if the entire industry adopted our model? Perhaps it could save both the industry and the world.
In Summary
If music and other forms of creative expression can inspire emotions and actions such as anger, hate, adultery, murder, and abject narcissism, then it can certainly be used to challenge people to do great things as well, especially when the artists are leading by example in their own quest to change a part of the world to which they have been drawn. Some might wonder why propose such an endeavor in Ukraine, when there is a great need present in our own backyard. It is a complicated matter, to be sure. For one thing, ever since the breakup of the Soviet Union, many have felt that the window of opportunity to help the people of the former Soviet blockade countries would eventually close. Russia’s recent invasion of Georgia brings flashbacks to the Soviet era and bears a stark reminder that things could change quickly for the worse. But more importantly, the group believes that if they put their efforts into helping one group of children, rather than spreading their resources too thin, not only can they make a significant difference in their lives, but they can also create a model for others to follow in working with people in need in other parts of the world, perhaps even beginning their own communities.
We can accomplish much more collectively than we can as individuals, and there is much more on the line than our collective reputations. This is a mission whose reward for everyone who joins will be well worth the effort that must be put forth; it only needs the chance to breathe. The notion that, together, we could have transformed the lives of entire societies and chose not to is a troubling thought to leave this world with. The notion that, together, we could succeed would have to be one of the most fulfilling legacies one could possibly hope to leave behind. What reality TV pilot idea or musical project could possibly surpass such a noble and impassioned quest?
The band is currently seeking investment partners and is booking promotional info-concerts in churches across the country. Anyone who feels led to help with the project in anyway is welcome to contact director Webb Kline via the information provided on the contact page of this website.