Two Letters, One Run, and a Challenge

A letter from a friend can change a life. I know, because it happened to me.

When I graduated from college, I had a dream of making Detroit a better place to live, but I had no idea how to accomplish that. My dad, a high school teacher in Detroit, set me up for lunch with Dan Mulhern, one of his former students who was a Harvard Law grad working in the local government.

Dan was kind enough to take my call, and then to take me out to lunch. After hearing my story, he gave me the names and numbers of five people leading nonprofit organizations that I should reach out to for a job, encouraging me to use his name. 

This was in the days before email, so I called and spoke to their secretaries, but nothing happened after that.

But then Dan did something that still inspires me: he called me a few weeks after lunch to find out how my job search was going. When he learned that no one returned my calls, he typed a letter about me and sent it to his five friends. This time, all five called back, and I ended up landing a job in 1991 at a nonprofit called the Metro Detroit Youth Foundation, which put me on track for the position I hold and love today.

It still inspires me to think of how Dan went this extra mile for me. He was a busy executive who followed up with a phone call and then a letter for a kid he hardly knew.

Thirty-five years later, Dan is still going the extra mile, not just for me, but for our Samaritan Scholars too. Recently, he flew from his family’s home in California to join our team and me in Ethiopia. An author and award-winning leadership professor at UC Berkeley, he spent a week coaching our team, scholarship students, and mothers starting their own small businesses. 

Dan visited with Samaritan Scholars and met their mothers,
who have been learning job skills and starting their own businesses.

And then Dan wrote another letter, this time for my friends.

Dan was so moved by the grit and determination of the students and mothers that he sent an email to his friends, asking them to make a gift to support scholarships in honor of the 5K he was about to run with us. He sweetened the deal by offering to match gifts, expecting to match about $5,000.

He may have underestimated the love of his friends. In just a few days, they had given $12,500, which Dan and his wife, Jennifer, agreed to match. With one run, one email, and a lifetime of friendships, eight children will have their educational and critical family needs met this year!

On our last night together, sitting in a circle with students after the race was done, the word that kept percolating among them was love. They shared how they felt loved when our team members originally met them at the dumpsite to offer a scholarship. They feel loved by strangers who pay for their scholarships. And they feel loved by our team members and other scholars who continue to walk and run alongside them, helping and encouraging them along the way.

It’s a beautiful thing, love, that we can share with each other all the time, simply by choosing to go the extra mile for another.

Dan and I ran with team members and scholars at the Samaritan 5K in Ethiopia.

  Matching Gift Challenge

A friend who heard about Dan’s matching gift challenge was inspired to do the same. He and his wife will match every gift made through Thanksgiving Day, up to a total of $15,000!

Every gift and every matched dollar goes toward our International Samaritan Day goal of $60,000 to fund 20 scholarships. We’re already more than halfway there. Let’s meet, or exceed, this goal.

Your gift, of any size, will go twice as far, helping children and young adults stay in school and walk a path out of poverty.

Mike Tenbusch, President

Mike joined International Samaritan in 2018 after two decades of leading social change in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. He’s a University of Michigan Law grad. He and his wife, Maritza, are the authors of A Better Life: 8 Life-Changing Habits to Enjoy the Greatest Adventure on Earth. 

International Samaritan is a Christ-centered organization built on Catholic Social Teaching. Our mission is to walk hand-in-hand with people who live and work in the garbage dumps of developing nations to help them break out of poverty.

We support students with education from kindergarten through college, and we’re currently supporting nearly 1,000 scholars in Central America, the Caribbean, and East Africa.

Would your church or school group like to partner with us? Learn about our Learn, Serve, Grow program.

Small Habits Change Lives: A monthly gift — as simple as skipping one coffee — transforms lives for families in need. Become a monthly supporter.