BLOG

Inspiration, Move Me Brightly!

With two days left, we made it to our goal!  Over 600 people came together to support Immigrants and Refugees — and the idea that storytelling has the power to change perspectives.

Kickstarter campaigns are hard, but doing this campaign inspired us:

We were inspired by your generosity — from donations of $1.00 up to $5,000.

We were inspired by the kindness of our “neighbors” as we received donations from Ireland, Australia, England, Mexico, Singapore and Tajikistan.

We were inspired by the countless “Thank you, I am an immigrant” stories sent in comments and emails.

We were inspired by our friends from the past who surprised us by their support in this, and new friends who we met through the campaign.

We were inspired by one such new friend, Benny, who was an early contributor. He sent in $50 and a beautiful note about a refugee who made an impact on him. Not long afterwards, he increased his pledge to $125 by selling a few things around his house — because, as he said, this was important to him.

We were inspired by Tim from Ireland whose incredible SECOND donation put us over the $50K mark last night.

We were inspired by the friends in the food and travel industries who reached out to offer up amazing rewards.

Were were inspired by people like Matt B, Barb A, Jon W, Coley, River, Leslie and organizations like IOM and Define American who were promoting and supporting this as much as we were — as if it were their own project.

We were inspired by the 6 weeks we spent in Mexico during this campaign… where we heard countless stories from Mexicans who had lived in the US, who still had family there, who were deported, and who knew that the US government is not it’s people, and that we are neighbors.

We were inspired by the moving and devastating stories around the globe: of ICE crackdowns and of lawyers at airports, of chemical attacks and of families welcoming Syrian refugees in Chicago.

And, of course, we were inspired by immigrant and refugee stories and people the world over, stories that we hope to share in this film series… of our common human experience.

We can’t thank you enough.  Now back to work (story ideas welcome)!