It’s the UnTours Foundation’s 20th anniversary on April 22nd. Yeah!!
You didn’t hear about our 1st or 10th anniversaries not because we didn’t have a Blog then, but because Hal kept the foundation a secret. Well, sort of. He just didn’t think you’d necessarily be interested.
Hal was busy at that time putting his salary and UnTours‘ profits into the foundation and looking for loan recipients of those funds.
He was doing things like going to Chiapas, Mexico, to purchase some of the first containers of fair trade coffee. In true Hal fashion, he was nonplussed on that journey by the Mexican military’s attempts to intimidate him and the handful of business people with him, as they made this coffee transaction. It was all part of the adventure after all. This was the foundation!
When I came along a decade later, I agreed to work with Hal, if I could publicize his work. We had a “negotiated settlement:”
- I could tell you about the foundation.
- I was allowed to send a snail mail about the foundation once a year – and only once a year – asking for funds. (Truly, have you ever heard of an employee having to beg to raise funds?!)
In exchange for my two wins, Hal would welcome your donations, though he didn’t really believe that any of you would want to join in.
Thank you for proving him wrong! (And why wait for our annual letter to donate?)
Thanks for being along for the ride!