Monday, April 23, 2012

Living on purpose!



Spencer West and Beth Marks, Kalamalka Rotary 4/23/12

Spencer West of "Me to We" fame took time after speaking to a capacity crowd of 9th grade students at our Performing Arts Centre to speak at our Kalamalka Rotary lunch meeting today.  If you've never heard of Spencer, you might wish to view this video clip of him:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFYWK8iVQKs

Believe it or not, Spencer is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in 49 days as a fundraiser for drought stricken eastern Africa.  Some of the climb he'll use his chair for, some he'll walk (he walks on his hands) and some his two best friends will carry home over.  (He joked that he might have to carry them over portions!)

His parents are his heros -- they raised him as a "normal" child and he simply developed self-sufficiency.  He now drives, walks and is remarkably agile and lives in Toronto when he's not travelling all over the world delivering delightful, funny and heart-rich motivational talks.

What can you say about a man like this who spends his life in service to others?  He has no complaints, does not whine about "challenges" or shy from direct conversations about his leg-less condition.  (Although he is sorry for scaring some kids in his native Wyoming when he told them he lost his legs camping!)

Hats off to this world leader!  And, thanks to Cheryl Schmidt and company at KPMG for hosting Spencer's visit to the beautiful Okanagan.  As I write he's in the air flying to his next speaking gig in San Francisco.

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