I hope you had a chance to catch last week’s post introducing homeless advocate, Mark Horvath, and the amazing work he is doing with InvisiblePeople.TV. At this point, many of you might be wondering why Mark's story is appearing on the CheapGasBlog and how MurphyUSA got involved in supporting Mark’s RoadTrip 2011.
This story evolves with a touch of timing, a bit of luck and a dash of serendipity among a very small group of people who were willing to say "yes" to the idea that they could make a difference, just like Mark, one person and one day at a time. Then, when you combine all these elements over a relatively short period of time and you'll get "The Miracle on Michigan Avenue" which took place in Chicago on April 29th this year as part of Liz Strauss and Terry St. Marie's SOBCon11 Conference.
But I am getting ahead of myself...the story actually starts almost three years ago when I was introduced to Mark by a mutual friend who thought we’d have something in common. And we did. Our careers were both in television production and we both had been recently laid off from our respective positions. Our friend thought that since I, like Mark, was looking for my next career opportunity, we could help each other in some way. What Mark was doing affected me greatly as he had already begun shooting his stories for InvisiblePeople.TV. He was about to take off on his first RoadTrip 2009, so our paths did not cross for awhile but I never forgot about him nor his work.
In the meantime, my journey was still unfolding and it led me to Jeff Pulver's 140Conf in New York City where I met, Liz Strauss, who is among many other amazing things, the co-founder of SOBCon. At that first meeting, Liz became my source of inspiration, trusted mentor/advisor and ultimate co-conspirator in the unofficial Mark Support Group. I had shared Mark's story with Liz as an example of the kind of work I wanted to do going forward.
Needless to say, Liz was taken with Mark's journey and wanted to meet him and hear more about what he was doing. A modern day connection was made via Twitter and they were finally able to meet a few months later in Chicago.
The story continues in Liz’s own words:
I knew this was a man who was changing the world one person at a time. The following year, 2010, I invited Mark to be part of our Non-Profit Give-Back Challenge at our yearly SOBCon event.
About 18 months ago, I introduced Mark to an amazing woman, Connie Burke of GMC. She and I have been sharing his stories ever since. So when time came to work out the details of a GMC SOBCon sponsorship this year, when I'd finished the offer by saying I value this at ... and the friends and family discount price is ... I left two blank lines and wrote one sentence.
And we could get a car for Mark Horvath.
Making that happen was the hugest secret I've ever kept.
But as destiny and serendipity comes together, we had asked that same Divine Miss Marla Schulman -- an award-winning producer once with the Fox Television-- to video our event. So Connie and I let her in on our secret -- Code name: "Wowee Wow Wow!!" -- to get wheels for Mark...
Now, I knew nothing of Liz and Connie's "conspiracy" to get Mark a car nor did Liz (nor Connie who I had yet to meet) know was that I had met MurphyUSA’s Internet Business Strategist, Casey Petersen, the month before at the South by Southwest Conference. Ironically, Casey and I had spoken about me assisting them with some projects, but we had no set plan of what was to come. Little did we know...serendipity was raising its little hand!
A few hours after Liz’s call about me coming to SOBCon11 and why and the "Wowee Wow Wow!!" the lightbulb went off bigtime!
OMG!!! OMG!!! GMC's giving Mark a car, my new "friends" at MurphyUSA are going give him the gasoline!!!
Well, that thought might have been premature as my pal at MurphyUSA didn't know anything about this yet, but I was shaking with excitement at the possibility. Then, without revealing the secret, I contacted Casey and ask that he speak with Connie Burke from GMC. I asked him to trust that MurphyUSA had the chance to do something really good for an amazing man - if they just said "yes" and just because it was the right thing to do!
From his reaction, I knew that MurphyUSA was probably in but it wasn't until later in the day, after his conversation with Connie and checking in with his higher-ups that it became official. Needless to say, we were all so thrilled that MurphyUSA was on board to provide Mark with gasoline and because MurphyUSA is currently only in 24 states, they've agreed to pay for gas whether it's at a MurphyUSA station or not. How cool is that?
But the hardest part of this whole plot was actually trying to keep this secret under wraps. I know when I first saw Mark at SOBCon, I kept my distance for fear that somehow I would slip and ruin it all. But none of us did and on April 29, 2011, the "Miracle on Michigan Avenue" when Mark was presented with his GMC Terrain "mobile office" and free gasoline for a year went down without a hitch. More importantly, it was a demonstration of how a handful of people with an idea to do good and a willingness to say yes can move mountains - exactly was Mark does every day of his life.
And now MurphyUSA wants you to know what Mark is doing, where he is going and hopefully inspire you to help him. Currently, he is vying for a matching grant from the Pierce Family Foundation so let's help him reach his goal by making a donation of any size here.
Lastly, I was able to capture all the key players on video the day before the presentation as we gathered to hear how GMC's Connie Burke planned to have it all to go down. It's quite remarkable how it all came together seamlessly in a very emotional ceremony.
In my next post, we get to hear from Mark himself on what this all means to him!
This post was written by Marla Schulman, the mastermind that brought Murphy USA, GM, and SOBCon together. Marla is a senior media professional with more than twenty-five years experience in production, marketing, PR and social media. Currently, Marla is the Founder & Chief Brand and Creative Concierge of Dvin/Ideas, an agency dedicated to brand marketing, social media engagement and public relations. You can also find in front of the camera on the red carpet interviewing celebrities and newsmakers for MingleMediaTV,Zennie62.com, SFGate as well as at conventions and conferences like CES, Blog World Expo, and NAB interviewing CEO's, entrepreneurs and geeks! Marla truly loves what she does for a living which converges with her LifeAfterKids.TV blog and personal brand as an empty-nester evangelist and does a weekly live lifestyle talk show on MingleMediaTV aptly titled: LifeAfterKids .
