Community Profiles
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Individual Profile:
Gavin Cargill
United Kingdom
(Value the Person Speaker)
Fav URL(s):
http://www.ikirezi.com, http://www.valuetheperson.com, http://www.valueoftheperson.comLovemarks:
Atria's, Ikirezi Natural Products, Ubuntu Cola, Homeless World Cup, NHS, Bill Strickland, Wish for Rwanda. -
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An eating experience
Atria's
06 May 2008
Atria's is an "eating experience" in Pittsburgh. Living in Scotland, I love to recommend unusual places. Pittsburgh is unusual! For me the Scottish connection is twofold. Firstly the Scot, Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, (my place of birth) and founded the most successful steel company in the World. Secondly Pittsburgh is the place I discovered a small organization with a big dream, “Value of the Person Consultants”! VOP is run by an American war hero and business visionary, Wayne Alderson. Read “Stronger than Steel” by RC Sproull. Back to Atrias. Now a chain of restaurants that serves great, affordable food by people who value there customers and make the eating experience a joy and fun! My emotional links are many on my frequent trips to Pittsburgh but one stands out and is unrepeatable. I was visiting Pittsburgh in October 2006 and, for the first time, my wife Ruby was with me. The visit coincided with her 60th birthday. We were invited to dine at Atrias by relations of the owners. They had arranged a surprise party which was unforgettable! Not only was the food, service and company great it was also Atrias “Doo Wap” night! More than that Johnnie Angel, (one of the proprietors, and former singer with Chuck Berry) sang “Ruby, Ruby” for my wife, Ruby! I was a fan of Atrias before but then we became attached!
Loyalty with a reason
Ikirezi Natural Products
09 May 2008
Ikirezi Natural Products in Rwanda produce essential oil from geranium plants. That’s the start! The people who farm the plants are all widows and orphans from the Rwandan genocide of 1994. These people work in a cooperative and come from both sides of the ethnic divide that led to the slaughter of one million men, women and children in 1994. Meeting the people on the hills of Rwanda in 2006 was an extraordinary emotional experience! The name Ikirezi is Rwandan for a precious pearl and is symbolic of the people and their products. The product is “essential oil” and has been adopted to express “the experience of being valued”. Then there is the aroma! When someone is recognised as a precious pearl and receives the experience of being valued, life changes. Where you encounter a community of people receiving and giving the experience of being valued you recognise a culture, a climate and engagement that is very special, an aroma of love! I carry a bottle of Ikirezi geranium oil with me. I use it to tell the remarkable story of people recovering from unbelievable trauma. People who are experiencing a new hope and purpose in life and the story is in the bottle. Ikirezi is a high value product and therefore creates great economic possibilities for these people. To me Ikirezi is a Lovemark that has given me loyalty with a reason that transcends beyond imagination!
Represents a dream
Ubuntu Cola
13 May 2008
I love Ubuntu Cola not just because I love cola but “Ubuntu Cola”, to me, represents a dream. It represents the dream of free trade; it represents the dream of freedom! Archbishop Desmond Tutu champions “Ubuntu” (I am because we are) as the way towards reconciliation. Perhaps a can of cola can do its bit to set people free in Africa, free in the world! I discovered Ubuntu Cola through Mary, a young friend from France, with whom I had discussed the principles of Ubuntu. My emotional engagement was sealed when I realised that even a humble can of cola can make a difference and reach the world for peace!
The results are speaking for themselves
Homeless World Cup
17 May 2008
For me in the Homeless World Football Cup is a great Lovemark. At the World Economic Summit in Davos in 2002 Mel Young, an extraordinary 'social entrepreneur' from Scotland shared a dream and asked a question. "What if people throughout the World could be set free from poverty by starting a World Soccer Cup for the homeless? Allowing them to experience being valued, giving them a few minutes of positive attention, gaining a new purpose?" What would happen? The president of Nike 'got it' and it happened! Last year in Copenhagen, 48 countries competed in the fourth Homeless World Cup. Men and women who really struggle in life to have the basics are experiencing new motivation. The results are speaking for themselves. My emotional link was sealed when Scotland won last years competition!
Loyalty is creeping in fast!
iPhone
03 September 2008
Lat week I met my iPhone for the first time. Ever since having a mobile I have been frustrated by knowing the potential of all its promises and not being able or not having the patience to explore it. Thats all changed since my iPhone affair started. For me it has been as a defining moment as Windows 95, Email, Broadband and Wifi. I have promised to look after her (in my mind the iPhone is female). She even comes to bed with me although I have too much repect for her to dishonour her. I never believed that I could love in this way! I look forward to a lifetime relationship, or at least until she is bettered by some other...although loyalty is creeping in fast!
Touches my heart in many ways
NHS
25 May 2009
The NHS touches my heart in many ways. In a very practical way at this moment of time, as lie on a hospital bed in Livingston, Scotland recovering from a very unexpected heart attack. Emotionally I am engaged, again, by the care, dignity and respect I am receiving from dedicated and compassionate health professionals. The only other time I had this experience was four years ago whilst recovering from pneumonia. During that time I was very conscious of the daily criticism on TV that the NHS were bombarded with. What impact was that having on the staff and their patients? The NHS is the second largest employer in the world. It is by no means perfect. But nominating a Lovemark is a very personal thing and whatever else is said I can say that I am having, I have had and I expect to continue to receive an extraordinary experience of being valued. For this I am deeply grateful!
Engages his readers' emotions
Bill Strickland
07 November 2009
Author Bill Strickland is one of the world's leading social entrepreneurs. Bill founded the Manchester Bidwell Corporation in a Pittsburgh ghetto following the devastation caused by the assasination of Martin Luther King and the realisation of the potential to change lives by creating learning and working environments that celebrate excellence and beauty. Bill's leadership has inspired thousands of young and old from really tough backgrounds to create a meaningful life through his passion to 'make a difference'. On his remarkable journey, he discovered that focussing on the interests of others is really 'enlightened self interest' and that acts of philanthrophy and charity are the greatest of all Win/Win activities. Now Bill is going global with a dream to create 200 centers of excellence, 100 in USA cities and 100 across the world.
His book is an extraordinary 'Lovemark' as he engages his readers' emotions and respect by distiling the essence of lasting motivation, motivation that positively changes the world, one person at a time. This is not a conventional 'self help' book but more of a demonstration of how receiving and giving 'the experience of being valued' changes everything for the giver and the receiver. A new tale of two cities? One of his dreams is to have a centre in Kigali, Rwanda. Pittsburgh to Kigali, well our imagination tells us that everyplace in the world is found between these two cities, Bill's book is a compelling invitation to join him on the journey!
A Lovemark of great aspiration
Wish for Rwanda
07 November 2009
Jackie Calder, the founder of 'Wish for Rwanda' is a cancer survivor who encountered survivors of the Rwandan genocide on a study tour to the 'Land of a Thousand Hills' in March 2009. Captivated by the 'Village of Hope' set up by Nicholas Hitimana, the founder of 'Ikirezi Natural Products', an established Lovemark, Jackie determined to raise funds to build and fund a health centre for the Ikirezi widows and orphans and the wider community. On the flight back from Kigali, Jackie shared her dream with a 'dot com millionaire' who was so taken by her passion and obvious competance that he committed to match whatever she raised! Jackie's professionalism as an events organiser is well established in Scotland and her fundraising efforts for breast cancer have a great track record. Jackie's dream is to raise £1million, £1 for every life lost in 100 bloody days in 1994. I see this as a Lovemark of great aspiration.