Palm - Spring 2008 - (Page 14) When Justin Brasuell and Steve Smith pledged Alpha Tau Omega at different universities more than 30 years ago, they had no idea the other existed. Later, the pair ended up moving into the same neighborhood, became good friends, became involved in the same organizations, and it still took them several years to discover that they were both ATOs. Smith, who—along with a director—handles much of the day-to-day operation of Brightpoint, says that the whole idea is to connect the children in need to the people who want to help. “There are so many children in need, and so many people looking for an opportunity to help,” said Smith, Georgia ’80. “We wanted to provide a means to do that and facilitate all of the logistics that go along with it.” Brasuell retired from Accenture 4 years ago and now runs an Audio Visual/Home Theater Installation Company in Atlanta, Ga. but he sits on the board for Brightpoint and is able to connect the organization to other nonprofit resources thanks to the Foundation he and his wife started after leaving his previous job. “We have been very blessed in our lives and we wanted to make sure that we were doing our part to give back,” said Brasuell. “It felt really good to give back to different organizations, but we wanted to do something that was going to have a larger impact.” Brasuell and Smith both spent time in Africa and bore witness to the reality that accompanies a continent where, according to UNICEF, 1 out of every 5 children born will die before the age of five. “It was heart breaking to see these children who really didn’t have anything,” said Brasuell. “After seeing that, you just knew you had to do something about it.” “We have both just seen places where there are really tremendous amount of need and by starting our own organization, we’re able to go back to those places and make an impact on children that we’ve met,” said Smith. According to Smith, Brightpoint focuses on two main areas: providing basic needs and removing barriers to education. “The underlying vision here is to break the cycle of poverty,” Then on a November golf outing, the pair discovered that they were again headed in the same direction. “We met one day to go play golf and I told Steve I had this idea that I was supposed to start a children’s sponsorship group,” said Brasuell, Texas A&M ’81. “And he told me ‘That’s funny, because I told my wife the same thing last night.’” And from that fortuitous crossing of paths, the children’s sponsor organization Brightpoint for Children was born. The pair combined their energies and experience to found the group last July and officially launched Brightpoint in August. In just 6 months time, all 1,000 of their initial sponsor children had sponsors. “It’s been incredible to see how people have reacted,” said Brasuell. “It really is amazing how many people are looking for an opportunity to give back, but more than that they want to see the impact that they are having.” 14 AT O PA L M SPRING 2008
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