CARE Celebrates 80 Years
2025 IMPACT AWARDS HONOREES
This weekend, Kelli Darlin and I flew to NYC for the 2025 Care Impact Awards Ceremony. This years honorees included: William S. Mosakowski, Bellamy Young, and Salimata Dagnoko. It was a great night full of amazing story-telling, poetry, and music. Here's the link from the CARE website.
Michelle Nunn and her team at CARE are the kind of people who just make you want to be a better person ... a better global citizen. These people get up every morning and say, "How can we make the world better?" Then they go to work.
For those of you that might not know of CARE (under the age of 40), there is probably no other non-profit in the world who has had a greater impact over the past 80 years.
Red Cross, UNICEF, and CARE are the titans of American generosity and service to world's most needy. But - IMHO - with respect to global impact, timeline, focus, and impact optimization: CARE is at the top of the class!
Since November 1945, CARE has been delivering food, water, shelter, and other supports to folks all around the globe that need help ... the MOST.
WHY I WROTE THIS BLOG
The great United States of America has cut more then $165,000,000 from CARE.org budget in 2025.
I'm embarrassed. Are you?
I want to do a fancy A1 thing right now and connect with two groups that are dear to my heart: 1) God-fearing/bible thumping Christians (think my mom), and 2) Flaming young liberals (think my kids).
So, I got a question for ya'll:
For the love of all good things in the Universe, how did we allow this to happen?
The USA is the richest country in the world. FACT
The USA has the most Christians in the world. FACT
Since 1945, the USA has been sending CARE packages around the world for war recovery, global development, local leadership, a changing world climate, empowerment/equality, and more specifically: women & girls living in poverty. INFO
Who amongst us can explain to me why the GREAT America I grew up in would ever stop leading the world in charity, non-profit contributions, Federal/State/Local funding, technology assistance, and extending a helping hand to our neighbors when they need it most?
Happy Guide to a Short Life
No matter how nutty our politics gets in the USA. No matter if you are MAGA or a Peace-Lovin, Tree Huggin', South Paw ... why would any of us think to or agree to cut funds to CARE.org?
Arguably, CARE represents the most important diplomatic tools our nation has ever know: kindness, generosity, charity, and support for the elderly, poor, sick, disabled, and otherwise disadvantaged. (think "the meek")
Forget foreign affairs, isn't that what God, Jesus, Budda, Ghandi, Allah, Trimurti and any other spiritual leader in the Universe would want? (I used A1 ... sorry if this list of dieties is incomplete).
I have no bias or leanings to any spiritual MVP, you pick and just BE NICE.
I know for a fact that Mrs. Medford (my third grade teacher and sunday school teacher ... 6 days a week she preached "do the right thing.") wouldn't have put up with this non-sense for 2 seconds.
Enough singing to the choir, all we can do is our very best every day to be of service to others who might need a helping hand ... regardless of where they happen to be born or live.
Thank you Public Consulting Group's #PCGCares for always pitching in. Thank you The Kelley Group (Steve and Rachel) for showing leadership and life-long giving. Thank you and congratulations to the 2025 Care Impact Award Honorees.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 13: <> attends the CARE Impact Awards 2025 at Cipriani South Street on November 13, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for CARE)
Now for all you that are as ashamed as I am ... there is still hope for us ... DIG DEEP
Here's today's vid/clip (Vid/Pic Cred @KelliDarlin) :
Tony McLean Brown
A Western NC hillbilly through and through, Tony McLean Brown was born in the small town of Enka-Candler outside of Asheville. His parents re-named him when he was 3 years old to Tony (a nickname provided by his grandfather) McLean (middle name of his Uncle Michael) while retaining his legal surname Brown.
Throughout his career, Tony McLean Brown worked as a farmer, computer programmer, and management consultant – in his adventurous years – author, song-writer, bass player, poet, pilot, mountaineer, certified scuba diver, and competitor in professional bull riding, NASCAR late model racing, Toughman boxing, Crossfit Open, Ironman, pole vaulting, marathon and ultra-marathon running, as well as parenting.
www.HappyGuidetoaShortLife.com has been leveraged to help charities and non-profits across the globe, USA, NC, and Lake Norman area. If you, your family, school, church, or charity has been supported, please take the time to share, like, subscribe, comment, and provide a 5 star review!