Charities

I came out of early retirement (it bored me to death) a few years back and re-dedicated myself to the two primary missions of Imageline, Inc., a company I started over twenty-five years ago and has had some remarkable accomplishments, and set-backs, over the years:

1. To develop high quality digital graphic arts content and deliver it to people all around the world at reasonable prices, and with the assurance that they were getting only the best to enhance their image and achieve their goals; and,

2. To support the education and enforcement of our copyright laws in this country so that digital artists, designers, programmers, digitizers, photographers, cartoonists, and animators would have a fair marketplace in which to compete, and could earn a decent living from their creative work.

For years I have believed that we should all give back what we can, and especially to people and/or causes who cannot live at the standard that they should for no fault of their own.

Four (4) significant events in my personal life also convinced me I was doing the right thing by getting back into the saddle once again.

My oldest son, Chris

My oldest son, Chris, 35, who, like me, is Navy veteran, decided to go back to college at night in spite of more financial and family pressure on him than most people could possibly handle. He has three young children of his own. He worked on an online curriculum late at nights and finally got accepted into the University of Richmond (an excellent school), and is doing very, very well. I am really proud of him. He also maintains at full time job as a senior web developer and programmer.

My long time best friend, Leigh

Our head of technical operations, Leigh, is also a veteran (he was in the Air Force in Guam) and understands some of the unique challenges that veterans in this country have had to overcome over the past 30-40 or so years, since before Imageline first began. Leigh is very, very sick these days, but continues to perform the work he can that helps us along.

My youngest son, Michael

My youngest son, Michael, 21, decided last year that he was going to volunteer to go to Africa and work in an orphanage, so that he could help the young children who will never likely never see any of the privileges that young Michael had growing up. Michael is now a teacher and a coach in Kenya and his dad could not be any more proud of him. He is independent, self-confident, and strong. And he is making a difference on the world’s stage ... and a stage that is in crisis in this day and age.

You should have heard the pride in his voice when he told me last week that all 28 children who were coming into a new orphanage being formed by Michael and the volunteer organization he works for these days had tested negative for HIV/Aids.

My daughter Cameron

And, finally, my daughter, Cameron, 18, got accepted into four outstanding art schools and chose to go to UARTS in Philadelphia (right there on the Avenue of the Arts!) starting this fall to pursue her love of the creative arts. She is very talented and it brings me true joy to watch her smile while she works.

So what does all of this have to do with Imageline “Charities”? I’ll tell you.

Charities – an important part of our ongoing plans

Imageline has been working with three separate charitable organizations over the past few months and plans to donate a substantial portion of its earnings over the next five years to three causes that kind of match closely to the passions of my children, as well.

We’ll be telling you more about these charities and our efforts to support them in the months ahead.

1.

Dreamrides Foundation. Dreamrides was established to support what are commonly called “Therapeutic Riding Centers” across North America. Simply put, these “centers’ are a place where children with “special needs” can become best friends with a retired horse and learn to love their special friends by riding and doing other similar activities in the presence of the horse. For any of you familiar with these “centers”, you will already know that the child/horse interactions and relationships are a true miracle.

“All of these children deserve to dream. Horses teach them to dream. And don’t for one second think they do not know when its time to see their new best friends and have as much joy in their own world as we have in ours. And all for a fraction of the amount of money we send abroad each year. Let’s think about these kids first over the next few years … what do you say?”

Not just children anymore

Well, guess what? It gets better than that. Here in Virginia, and I suppose in other locations around the country, as well, disabled veterans have begun taking advantage of the same opportunities to bond with the horses, and yet another miracle is underway. The horses are kind and gentle, and almost seem to know the exact circumstances their riders have gone through.

Here in central Virginia, a group of disabled veterans is taken on the van from the Veterans Hospital out to the country (Powhatan County, to be exact) to see, touch, and ride their new found friends every other week. Some say it is the highlight of their life.

But today, many of these facilities are being abandoned because of the lack of proper funding (see blow). Many are totally dependant on a volunteer work force that are having their own share of problems trying to make ends meet these days. The owners cannot even afford to feed the old horses so they are being slaughtered.

“Because of budget cuts, facilities like this in Cumberland, Virginia are being abandoned”

These Therapeutic Riding Centers need more funding as the economic crisis has impacted them just as it has all of us. But what could be a more worthy cause?

Imageline plans to make money available to help other Centers add the disabled veterans in their areas to their programs and still continue to support the needy children. It does my heart good to realize we might be able to take money out of the hands of digital pirates and counterfeiters and give it to causes such as this.

2.   Investments for Africa. There has been a lot of talk recently about whether some of the traditional ‘Aid for Africa’ programs are effective in improving the prospects for the long term survival of these wonderful African cultures. I am not smart enough or informed enough to know, but it will be the first thing I ask Michael when he returns this fall.

One thing I do know for sure. Michael tells me they are making a huge difference in the quality and joy for life for these innocent children and I believe him. Just look at the smiles of these children Michael is fortunate enough to know.

In the meantime, Imageline is working on a program to donate and/or invest substantial funds into the improvement of these African cultures one way or another. It truly makes me sick to my stomach to hear that the shortage of clean drinking water is killing more young Africans than all of the diseases put together.

“Who knew the lack of clean drinking water was killing millions of African children each year?”

We have to find a way to help them solve this problem. For goodness sake, we put a man on the moon, and now we are looking at Mars. Let’s figure out a way to help these innocent people here on Earth help themselves.

And if China and others, who are soaking all of the natural resources out of Africa “as we speak”, don’t offer to help, let’s quit buying all of these cheap goods and counterfeit products from them until they learn to comply. This is all about humanity and decency folks ... not about greed.

3.   Contributions to the Arts. The importance of this passion has never been more critical in my view. With tighter budgets in both the corporate world and soon in government, as well, the amount of contributions that are being made to support the arts is dwindling, and the arts, and the invaluable copyrights they entail for this country, cannot simply be ignored.

Imageline is developing plans to encourage the growth and spirit of innovation and useful arts in this country and around the world in three significant ways.

First, we are leading the fight against digital piracy and counterfeiting activity, which sometimes inflict markets with illegal and dangerous goods at piracy rates of over eighty percent (80%+) of all copyrighted material consumed.

Second, we are making plans to educate young people (college age and younger) as to why producing and performing creative works can be a truly rewarding career and lead to a life full of happiness and fulfillment.

And third, we are planning to contribute a substantial part of our profits to art schools and programs around the country, many of which are faced with budget shortages that make them dependant on charitable contributions to survive. We hope to give both our creative teachers, and their eager students, the tools and the options they need to help us improve the quality of life on this planet through the creative arts.

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