I was born and raised in Seal Beach. My name is Mike Reilly and my grandpa owned the local gas station (before 7-11 and Donut City) and I worked at one of the local surf shops growing up.
I was also the 5th-grade president of McGaugh Elementary School back in 1990.
We lived on 13th behind my grandpa’s house in an apartment and Seal Beach is where I initially learned about living life through service as embodied by my Mom, Marilyn Reilly.
As Mahatma Gandhi once said: “We must become the change we want to see in the world.”
I have been thinking about this quote a lot lately. What does it mean to me exactly? What does it mean to others? Ultimately we all know that there is a lot of need in the world with a child dying every 30 seconds from malaria and more dying from water borne illnesses which both are preventable diseases. Yet sometimes we just don’t think about it very often or don’t know how we fit into the solution.
About six years ago I went on my first trip to El Salvador and finally felt that I was part of the solution. We ended up building a house for a family made up of a grandma and seven granddaughters. They lived in a blockhouse with a dirt floor with nearly no roof. After a week in the heat we had built them a house with windows and a door! When we handed the keys to the grandma and she broke down in tears. That was the moment I knew I wanted to be a part of the solution. Unfortunately with a wife, two kids, work and a habit of surfing a lot of the time to help others outside the family sphere is limited.
That being said, even a little bit of time and a little bit of money can truly help save lives. Some ideas that I have seen effective are supporting social businesses such as Toms Shoes or Crochet Kids, supporting charitable organizations that give a high percentage of their income to the actual cause versus overhead and management salaries or starting your own small boutique non-profit.
A group of friends, my wife and I did the latter a few years back and it has been a great experience. To work with your friends and family toward a cause that is bigger than you is the ultimate experience. Our organization (all4thekids.org) is very small and every dollar goes to a different cause every year.
Last year, it went to Surf Aid which bought mosquito nets for children in Indonesia. This year, we are supporting Drop in the Bucket which provides safe drinking water wells near schools in Africa. DITB was founded by John Travis a few years back. John is a record producer in LA but his passion is providing water to children that need it. He is able to mix his humanitarian pursuits and also hold down a great career, which I think is amazing and is within reach for all of us.
Most of my friends had been married the years leading up to the creation of all4thekids.org and I knew I would miss not having a big party to go to every year. So we decided to have a fun, annual gala event where we would bring awareness and funding to an upcoming cause all while having a great time. We have since done this at a smaller level by having shindigs at our house and having everyone bring a present for a child of a local orphanage in Mexico.
I have a friend who did a local shoe drive in his community for the Haiti victims. This was awesome as he was able to meet all his neighbors and help out people that really needed it.
If anyone is looking for a way to be part of the solution and wants to be the change you want to see in the world go out and make it happen as every little bit counts.
You can do it in ways where it is a small outlay of time and best of all it will be really fun. I have been lucky to win a few surf contests back in my past life and close a few business deals in my present life and nothing comes close to the feeling of helping someone else survive or get to the next level in their life.
Mike Reilly is the executive director of all4thekids.
