Author event with Kevin and Hannah Salwen, co-authors of *The Power of Half*

I’ve got to be one of the luckiest Moms on earth – I spent Valentine’s Day (well, part of it) at an author event with my 12-year-old son.  If that’s not love, what is!? 

Seriously, though, I was very pumped up after reading The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back.  If you read my review of The Power of Half, you’ll see the roller-coaster of emotions I experienced, from “are you talking to me??!  aren’t we doing enough?!?” full circle to “this makes sense; the checks we write to charity are meaningless to our children.  what can we do as a family to connect the giving to the results?  what is our ‘half project’?”

I had shared a bit about the book with my family as I read it, when I invited my son to come along to the event at a local library he had an idea what it was about, and that he might be interested in what Kevin and Hannah would say.  I did advise him to bring a notebook (to draw in) just in case he got fidgety, but, to both his and the Salwens’ credit, he was engaged for the entire presentation.

Rough notes follow; then a (rough again) outline of my family’s reaction:

The event was in a meeting room at the (gorgeous!) Wellesley Free Library; I didn’t count heads (or, in the spirit of halving things, “count ears and divide by two,” as my grandmother used to say), but I’d estimate there were 80-100 enthusiastic people in the audience.  Kevin and Hannah took turns narrating a slide presentation about their story – from the kernels of an idea to the two epicenters they’ve funded in Ghana, changes in their family’s lifestyle to changes in their family dynamic. 

Hannah and Kevin Salwen 2/14/2010. How many pages did I mark with Post-It flags in that book they're signing?!

Even more interesting than the visuals were the passion and conviction with which they each spoke.  The floor was opened up to questions, which they fielded with honesty and enthusiasm.  Joan Salwen, the survey-maker, data-sorter, meeting-leader of the family project, had accompanied Kevin and Hannah on the trip up from Atlanta; she sat off to the side in the audience, but was encouraged by Kevin and Hannah to come to the podium and answer questions about the methodology of continuous questioning and fine-tuning that drove the family to donate how and where it did.  Joan said that she’s kept copies of many of the notes, polls, and ideas the family created, but she wishes she had taken snapshots of the various stages of the planning whiteboard they used.

One comment drew a hearty round of applause from the entire audience, as the speaker addressed the Salwens and complimented them on the way they’ve raised Hannah and Joseph.  The speaker pointed out that it was living with compassion and having positive values modeled for them that gave Hannah the ability to see a need in others, and the confidence to know she could make a difference.

Hannah is now a high school junior; when asked about her future plans, she indicated that she’d like to attend nursing school.  It seems a fitting choice, from what I’ve learned about her while reading the memoir and during the presentation.

OK, I don’t have a full transcript of the Q&A; I do encourage you to visit The Power of Half website to see if your question is answered there.

Here are some of the highlights of the afternoon, from the perspective of my son:

• The family went to Ghana in Africa.
• They sold their mansion (Mrs. Salwen called it their “dream house”) to get the money to help people.
• The parents had thought their fancy house would be a great place for the kids to hang out with their kids.  When they moved to the smaller house, they didn’t have a room to put the ping-pong table, so they put it in a wide hallway.  Now they play it all the time, and the family is much more relaxed.
• They funded a group of buildings that include a mill.  Now instead of having to walk 6 miles to mill the grain, it is processed in town.  The girls have time to go to school and get an eduction, which they couldn’t do before.
• The people who make the decisions, the people to get involved in Africa are women. 
• Mr. Salwen said we all know the saying “give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach him to fish and he eats for a year.” But, these people know how to fish, they just don’t have the supplies (poles, bait) to do it.  That’s a metaphor.
• People appreciate things more when they do the work for themselves, but they might need resources.
• “If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try going to bed with a mosquito.”
• The Power of Half is the perfect title for their book because the Salwen family sees the glass half full.
• Whole Foods donated Valentine chocolates to the event at the library - [and he was invited to enjoy a few!]

We talked more about The Power of Half (book, project, and presentation) over the next several weeks, and have come up with a short list of ‘half projects.’  Some of these are doable, some are stretches, some are silly … but, the ideas are brewing!

• go through toys and games and give half to Cradles to Crayons
• grow out your hair, cut off half for Locks of Love
• give half our towels to an animals shelter
• every time we go out to eat, buy groceries for half that amount and bring them to the Open Table food pantry program
• sell the car and use half the profits to buy bicycles for kids who don’t have one (I don’t think my 8-year-old minivan will buy a Big Wheel, but the spirit’s in the right place!)
• grow a flower garden, cut half the flowers and make bouquets for nursing home
• grow a vegetable garden, give have the produce to Open Table

Can you brainstorm ‘half projects’ to do with your family, neighborhood, book group, etc.?