Yep I do.
Don't care what kind it is, don't care what it does as long as it serves my community in some way that makes the community a better place. The only problem? I'm not wealthy.
So if you are wealthy, or know some who is I would like to hear from you.
I would prefer something that is connected to farming or growing food but I'm not picky.
If you are willing to temporarily part with two million dollars (I'll explain that part later) and have something that needs doing, I'm your guy.
If I was wealthy I wouldn't need to be paid to run a charity. When I had a little extra cash I spent it helping people in my community but I've lost the ability to continue the career I've pursued for the last thirty years.
Its a minor illness compared to cancer or many other diseases, its called Graves Disease.
As mild and manageable as the symptoms are for me as an individual the potential employers I have interviewed with have suggested that my symptoms combined with my age make me unappealing as a potential employee.
I have always had issues with my eyes. I've worn prescription glasses since I was eight years old. Yes they have "coke bottle" lenses and I have at least two forms of color blindness. I've been told that contributes to my light sensitivity.
Every photo of me as a child shows me hiding my eyes or covering them to prevent the sun from blinding me. Until I was eighteen years old I walked with my face pointed at the ground to minimize the sun's effect on my sight.
Even a few minutes of direct sunlight would cause a painful reaction in my eyes and they would begin watering uncontrollably. A few minutes more and my eyelids would close and I couldn't force them open without using my fingers to pry them apart. Once out of the sun I can wait ten or fifteen minutes and my eyes will open naturally again although they remain red and puffy looking for some time.
Anything I did outside required a large brimmed hat or some form of portable shade to prevent the sun from entering my field of view.
At night, any sudden bright light would blind like a camera flash. Even approaching headlights from an automobile would blind me which made impossible for me to safely drive at night.
When I turned eighteen and started working I was able to afford contact lenses. With my eye sight effective prescription sunglasses had been a bitterly unattainable dream. With contact lenses I could now wear relatively inexpensive polarized sunglasses.
That changed my life instantly. I could play sports, I began riding a motorcycle. I met girls. I went hiking. I learned to surf and traveled all over the USA. I'm not sure how it helped me find the most wonderful woman in the world and convince her to marry me, but I give credit to the thing that made me finally able to see the world.
And most importantly I could work at the kind of jobs that would allow me to afford college. I worked as an irrigator, picking cantaloupes and watermelon, driving tractor and I even spent one summer assisting an entomologist looking for pests in cotton fields.
I attended college but left early to take a job in the brand new computer industry that had emerged while I was deep in study. Seems I naturally understood computers and the programming languages that run them. I've worked on or with computers ever since. Sometimes for technical companies, accounting firms, hedge fund managers, online services, schools and one time a major American automobile manufacturer.
The computer industry paid well so I was able to maintain my lifestyle while contributing back to my community year after year. Some years I had extra money so I donated cash, when I didn't have extra money I donated time. I tend to support things that emphasize food, like assisting a student with a livestock FFA or 4H project or helping at a food bank or volunteering at a local community garden. I've housed relative who were down on their luck and friends who needed a safe place to regroup and reset their life.
I learned about giving back from my parents. They worked hard to assist the disadvantaged kids in my small hometown in rural California. If someone needed shoes for school or a suit for the prom then my parents would either pay for the needed item or convince someone else to pay so the kid could wear new shoes. When a cousin of mine was orphaned my parents took him in until he turned eighteen. When students from other schools would visit our town, my parents opened our home to them.
I don't regret not investing more into myself instead of giving it away. My parents taught me and showed me that if you sincerely give of yourself, the people you help will give back as much or more than you ever gave to them.
Some are like children and I feel good that they turned out well.
Some are like projects and I feel good that they are progressing.
Some are like a person on their death bed and I feel good that their last few days were less painful or lonely.
But my disease has caught up with me and I can no longer wear contact lenses. I am once again bespectacled and once again trapped and hiding from the sun. I can no longer participate in most daytime outdoor activities. The cost of polarized prescription glasses remains beyond my current means.
If I had a great job and lots of free time I could get cosmetic surgery to fix my eyes and regain my freedom.
But I'm not asking for that.
I'm old. Fixing my eyes would make me happy of course and I'm sure my wife would like me to earn that sweet, sweet IT money again.
But I have never been interested in being wealthy myself and while I did enjoy the sight I had while I had it, now I am resigned to my fate and I'm only interested in finding some way of creating positive change in my local community.
But I have to pay my bills and eat.
That is where the two million dollars comes into play.
I don't want the cash handed to me. I want the wealthy person to set up a trust or other type of account that pays out a monthly stipend from the interest gained on the two million.
In exchange I serve the cause, charity or community service of their choice until I can't anymore using the monthly stipend to fund the charity and myself.
When I can no longer serve the charity you can have the two million dollars back.
Or, you can find another person and let them have the payout to continue the good works we will create together.
Of course more would make it easier to do more or hire more people, but just two million would be allow us to do something very positive with the interest that accumulates every year.
I'm open to any honest offers and I'm ready to meet locally to discuss details.