Gail Davis & Associates, Inc.   FIND A SPEAKER
HOME
SPEAKERS
ABOUT US
CONTACT US
MY GDA
bCAREERS
bGAIL'S BLOG
bNEWSLETTERS
GDA PRESS

The Give Back Tour Begins
By Gail Davis | Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Tomorrow I begin my “Give Back Tour” with Andre Norman.

Excited would be an understatement. The opportunity to make a difference in so many lives throughout my home state of Oklahoma and the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex will probably keep me awake tonight.

You may be wondering what a “Give Back Tour” is … well, I just made up the name.

It all started this past December when Andre spoke at a fundraising event. Not only did he speak at the event, he also offered a future presentation for the auction.

As the bidding was getting underway, he challenged the bidders to work together to increase the overall contribution to the charity. He said that if we pulled together the bids, he would work for one week.

So I must begin this blog by thanking those generous contributors who are making this week possible.

Thank you to my company Gail Davis & Associates, Justin Brannen, Vivian Brassel, Bobby Ellis, Jennifer Fanucci, Thomas Hood, Michelle Johnson, Sissy Littlefield, Bernie Nathan, Julie O’Keefe, Audry Rider, Carlos Rogers, Shawna Weldon, Jennifer Yount, Frank Leitzman, Callie Harwood, Luke Davis and Trystan-Bryse Vanderford.

Through the combined vision, financial support and commitment of these individuals, Andre and I will embark on a one week tour speaking at eight locations.

I will get to see Andre interact with many different audiences. He will speak to kids who are in trouble, he will speak kids who are privileged, he will speak at community events, two high school, two juvenile centers and a public forum open to the Dallas-Fort Worth community hosted my church, Good Shepherd Catholic Community, in Colleyville.

Lives will be changed in the next week and I decided that I want to capture that. I am making a commitment to blog over the course of the next week to keep everyone posted on the tour.

I pick Andre up tomorrow at DFW Airport. Our first stop will be to speak at the Southwest Oklahoma Juvenile Detention Center located in Manitou, Oklahoma. This was a last minute add on to our schedule. We received a call from Kimberly Morrow asking us if we could stop to talk to her kids. My assistant, Stephanie, was practically in tears by the end of the conversation.

Their facility houses 82 juveniles – all involved in some sort of gang-related activity. Only eight of them are allowed to leave the facility with supervised visits. They are all under the age of 18. When Kimberly called we felt her passion and commitment to these kids. She told us that it was critical for them to understand this important junction in their lives. They will either return to normal lives or end up in prison.

I cannot believe this juvenile center is located so close to my home town and I never knew it existed. It’s time to reach out beyond what I know, what we know and get to know and give back to our communities. Thus, the name, “The Give Back Tour.”

It's time for me to get out of the office, get on the road and enjoy seeing people who seldom receive such inspiration get inspired by an amazing speaker who’s walked their road.

We have a new Facebook page – www.facebook.com/GDA - check it for daily updates from the road. And if you see us, don't honk - come in and see it for yourself.

Gail

Click here to sign up for Blog Alerts

Speakers mentioned in this blog:
Andre Norman

Comments (0)

 

Click here to sign up for Blog Alerts

 Blog Archive:


Do You Take the Stairs?
Saturday, March 03, 2012

Dr. Gary Chapman Brings the Love to Our Office
Thursday, February 16, 2012

DON'T HIRE MOVERS!
Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Designing Women
Monday, December 19, 2011

TEDxSMU - What a day!
Monday, December 05, 2011

The End of the Up Experience Didn’t Leave Me Down
Thursday, November 10, 2011

Up, Up, Up. The Up Experience Part 3
Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Round 2 of the Up Experience
Friday, November 04, 2011

The Up Experience, Truly Uplifting
Wednesday, November 02, 2011

A First Class Event
Friday, October 21, 2011

An Audience with the Dalai Lama
Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Best Email Tip I've Ever Heard
Thursday, May 05, 2011

Aristotle and Ideas at the IASB Conference
Sunday, May 01, 2011

On the Road Again
Thursday, April 28, 2011

Don't Just Book a Speaker, Create a Revolution
Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Kids of the Suburbs Take Note
Monday, March 07, 2011

Visiting Their Cells … Emotional. Energy.
Saturday, March 05, 2011

Sex, Mentors and Thank You ... An unexpected sort of day.
Thursday, March 03, 2011

Powerful. The only word for today.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Andre Norman … and Giving Back
Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Energy and Synergy with Ankit Fadia
Monday, November 15, 2010

Momentum, Passion and Transformation
Monday, October 11, 2010

Partnerships
Monday, August 09, 2010

An Epic Trip
Thursday, July 08, 2010

Tom Martinez- A Story of Hate, A Message of Hope
Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Kids and Speakers
Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Ethics
Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Live From New York
Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Growth
Friday, March 12, 2010

Customer Service: Going Above and Beyond
Monday, January 25, 2010

In Remembrance of Randy Snow
Monday, December 07, 2009

A Sense of Connection
Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Event Wisdom: Simple things that make a difference
Friday, November 06, 2009

International Events
Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A CEO Who Gets it!!!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Celebrating 10 Years of Inspiration
Monday, April 20, 2009

Domestic Violence
Monday, April 06, 2009

Milestones and Celebrations
Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Meeting...No meeting? Speaker...No speaker? What's a planner to do?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009

It Was No Coincidence
Monday, January 19, 2009

Let's Get Healthy with Todd Whitthorne and Gail's Tips for Healthy Meetings
Saturday, January 10, 2009

Nando, Sonia, Tim and 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Timing is Everything ... and Steve Forbes, too.
Friday, December 05, 2008

Rex Lewis-Clack and Cathleen Lewis
Wednesday, October 29, 2008