The first time I saw Javier Mendoza play was at Brandt’s in the loop. I’d heard of him, but as a friend of mine and I sat down to dinner, he started playing half dozen paces from our table. Before our food found its way to our table, we found ourselves on our feet, dancing. It was one of my favorite nights of dancing, though we were the only two doing so.

After dinner I purchased several of Javier’s CDs and over the next week, listened to them incessantly. I sought Javier ought the next week and enjoyed another great performance. Afterwards I asked Javier if I could take him to lunch and talk to him about a vision I had for feeding children in St. Louis. He agreed and we had lunch the following week.

As we savored raviolis at Raconellis, I told Javier about my dream for creating LiveFeed. He was the first musician I’d talked to about it in St. Louis and his reaction strengthened my commitment to building the organization. He said that he’d been thinking of taking a two year sabbatical to do service work to satisfy his commitment to making a difference. Javier has sense told me that supporting LiveFeed gives him a way to satisfy that commitment while doing what he loves, creating great music. He told me that he now finishes each show with the sense that what he is doing is making a meaningful difference.

That is what LiveFeed is about. We are creating ways for people to make a meaningful, lasting difference for the less fortunate in their community, not by sacrifice, but by slightly altering what they are already doing. We have seen that it is possible to support those in need while having a great time and we are clear that together, we can continue to alter the way our society views service to others. We can assuage apathy, we can circumvent cynicism, and we can care our cultures children.

It’s been a year since Javier and I first met. Tonight I was listening to one of his CDs on my iPod and found myself profoundly moved by what we’ve accomplished in the last year. None of what we have accomplished would have happened if it weren’t for faith and support of people like Javier. I am deeply grateful.

Labels: commitment, Javier Mendoza, LiveFeed

# posted by Team LiveFeed @ 6:40 PM