Fwd: Compassion In His Pocket
Kellie LaRue
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 | January, 2008 OUR NEW PRESIDENT WITH COMPASSION IN HIS POCKET On January 20th, we all witnessed history at so many levels when Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Opportunities for change, not only in our government, but also throughout our society have opened up and the energy of change is in the air. My daughter Kira and I had the honor and privilege of being guests at the Inauguration, witnessing not only the swearing in, but the energy of what seemed like millions of people on the Capital Mall and around Washington. As the new President stepped up to the podium, in his pocket was a Khata, a Tibetan silk blessing scarf from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Richard Blum, a friend of Tibet and His Holiness and husband of Senator Diane Feinstein, had offered it to Barack just before he went on the platform. So, as the new President took his oath of office, the blessing and the energy of compassion from the Dalai Lama was right by his side in his pocket! This only added to the already incredible energy and potential for care and peace for all of our children and the world now in the hands and in the heart of our new President. The events in Washington, DC are only a few of the many incredible things happening to focus more compassion in our world. Around Washington State, literally hundreds of initiatives have emerged from Seeds of Compassion, from individual commitment to a better life in families, to schools, faith groups, communities and on a state-wide level. With the Governor’s re-election and her continuing support of compassion initiatives for families and early learning, to work through the Thrive By Five initiative and legislation to focus on Social and Emotional Learning in schools, the ripples of compassion continue to be felt at all levels. Many people from Seeds of Compassion are involved in a series of programs called the Compassionate Action Network. You can see their work at: http://www.compassionateactionnetwork.com/ The Seeds of Compassion event was an amazing success. The event was originally going to be 5 to 10 events with 20,000 to 40,000 attendees. What we pulled together, thanks to the support and help of people like you and hundreds of other volunteers, was nothing short of a spectacular miracle. In the end, there were over 20 public events for approximately 156,000 attendees and global distribution in 24 languages. Over 70 million people were exposed to the event through the web, web-casting and media coverage. It was the largest non-sports event in Washington State history, and it impacted and changed tens-of-thousands of lives. The cost of the event, which was free to the public, was covered by generous donations and gifts from many of you. We raised over $3.8 million and received close to $4 million in in-kind donations of time, staffing, venues etc. With the immense success of Seeds of Compassion, the unexpectedly high attendance and international viewership, the program ended up costing more than originally budgeted. To accommodate the total cost of over $4.22 million, the Kirlin Charitable Foundation tripled its contribution so that we could cover all outstanding costs for the programs. There are continuing initiatives to advance Seeds of Compassion in schools and communities. The follow-up report on the one-year anniversary will be addressed in a subsequent communication. For now, we can all take great comfort in remembering the experiences of deep compassion and knowing that what we shared in April has ripples that are still traveling around the planet. One deep continuing initiative of Seeds of Compassion is the focus in Washington State and around the country on a comprehensive National Child Development Initiative. You can learn more about this by viewing a video at the following link: http://www.kirlinfoundation.org/ncdi.asp Thanks to each and every one of you for participating in Seeds of Compassion and for sharing your hearts with us and the children of our State and the world. Wishing you, all of our children, and the world, PEACE. Daniel
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