All, this is a long story but well worth the read. I left Jesse’s incredible adoption story in his words, as they are most compelling and insightful that way. Thank you to Stephanie, his sweet wife for collaborating with me and sending all the great photos shown throughout the story.

Enjoy!

Names

Jesse and Stephanie Clooten

Where are you from?

Bismarck, North Dakota

How were your introduced to MonaVie?

Friends, Renita and Scott Brannan, approached Stephanie invited us for dinner and afterwards shared the product and opportunity. As we were talking, getting to know each other, they brought up The MORE Project. Our eyes lit up, as theirs did. I have been looking long and hard for most of my adult life for a charity such as this, with a cause so great…and there was a reason for my question for such greatness.

Tell us about your story and your “why”…

When my parents were just starting out as a young couple, they were like most new couples with very little money, no kids, and just their friends, family, and church for support. They have always been very strong in their faith and did their best to live their lives the way God would want them to. One night, my mother said she was awakened suddenly.  She sat up and there at the foot of their bed, stood what she described as “an angel,” who said, “Debbie, there are two small boys in Colombia that need your help. If you don’t save them, they will die.” She went back to bed with mixed emotions, and dozens of questions in her head. She had never encountered something like this, and thus, she couldn’t just ignore it.

The next day, she called her pastor at the church. She didn’t know what all this meant, but she had to follow through or she would never know. The church got the ball rolling on her decision to go to Colombia. They helped fund their trip to Bogotá, hired a translator, and aided in getting through whatever red tape there was. As you can imagine, there was plenty of it! There had never been a live adoption to the United States from Bogotá, so these people had to have faith to go into uncharted territory, with nothing more than a dream to go on!

My parents arrived at the orphanage, where they were surrounded by over a hundred children, all desperate for attention and adoption.  My mother said it was hard to visit them, and even harder to leave them. My brother and I were separated in the orphanage; I with the infants and toddlers, and John on a different floor with the older kids. My mom chose two boys at random. We didn’t know until we got back to the U.S. that we were actually blood related. My parents were later told that we had the same mother with different fathers. This was no surprise, as most orphaned kids had mothers who had been victims of rape, crime, drug addiction, etc. Many of the mothers were still teenagers and didn’t have a clue as how to take care of themselves or their children.

I don’t know who my biological mother is, but it took me some time to realize what a blessing her “abandoning me” really was. My new parents had just gone from having no children, flying to a foreign country, picking up two children with no known history, who didn’t speak a drop of English and bringing them back to their home. These people are the bravest of the brave!

On our flight to the U.S., I bit my mother on the neck, drawing blood and causing a scene. My brother and I had never seen or been on a plane before. When we got to the airport, we had pizza for the first time. No surprise that we ate it with such excitement we both ended up sick and throwing it back up.

A few years later my parents adopted my sister, Lacey, from Colombia and then came the birth of my “homemade” sisters, Kelsey, then McKenzie.

My parents did everything for us, even spoiling me to the point of rottenness! I was the troublemaker with the fancy clothes, cool toys, and as smooth talker, I got away with everything. It wasn’t until I met my wife, Stephanie, that I started to settle down and realize what a miracle my presence on this earth really was. We dated for six years, married and had Jaxon (5) and Harbor (3). It wasn’t until Jaxon was about the same age as I was when I was abandoned that it really hit me - how could my mom just walk away from someone so innocent, so sweet, so helpless?

The thought brought me to tears. My wife sat up with me many nights, assuring me that my mother’s decision to send me out on my own was not taken lightly.  Maybe she was sick, injured, in a dangerous situation, etc.  She knew that whatever she could provide me, would be much less than what my brother and I could find on our own.

After many months of my dreams filled with nightmares and a pit in my stomach, I decided that the best way for me to “get over this” was to move on and try to pay forward what my adopted parents had done for me.  My wife and I couldn’t afford to adopt, and we already had small children of our own. The next best thing would be charity work. I worked on the boards of a few local non-profit organizations, but it was mostly helping older people with home repair and yard work. Although it was quite gratifying, it wasn’t satisfying my need to help other children like myself.

After meeting with Scott and Renita, you can tell why we were excited to hear about The MORE Project! Not only was it exactly what we’d been looking forward to serving, but it also had a great product that had already paid our family a priceless fee.

Now we have big dreams for our new business venture with MonaVie. We feel it will complete our lives and help us pay it forward.  In the words of Dallin Larsen, “If you’re blessed, be a blessing.”

While we’ve only been in MonaVie for three weeks, we’re already changing the lives of others, and thus, improving our own family’s life in the process.

Names

Valentina & Paul Meehan

Current rank

Diamond Executive

Where are you from?

Ashburn, Va

How were you introduced to MonaVie?

My wife’s friend bugged her relentlessly until she went and had a one-on-one with her upline Tracey Eggloff (Ruby at the time). She was turned on by the antioxidants and health benefits related.

What is your "why?"

To spend as much time with my two children Gregory, age five, and Anna, age three months. To not have to get up every morning and sit in traffic two hours in and two hours home. Building a legacy for our family and helping other families do the same.

What is your favorite moment with MonaVie?

Getting phone calls from people saying that the product has helped them or they are able to pay all of their bills and not just some of them. Going Diamond in the middle of a blizzard!

Share your best business building tip

There are no tricks to building a MonaVie business. The simplicity is what slows most people down. Share the product and opportunity and help your friends and family do the same thing. Here's where it gets hard... then keep doing it!

Where to from here? Goals, aspirations, plans...

The future is looking better everyday. Short term we are going Black Diamond by the end of 2010 and selling our Visa and Passport exepediting service. Valentina really wants a Motor Coach to travel the country with our kids. I JUST want a Lambo! The only thing  long term at this moment is to keep doing rides to benefit the MORE Project and maybe inspire others to do the same.

Tell us more about The MORE Project ride

It all started the end of April 2009. Our Black Diamond Shelly Aristizabel had a brain aneurism while giving a presentation in a room full of doctors in Delaware. She could not have been in a better place; turns out she was only a couple of miles from a hospital that specializes in her condition. Also, one of the doctors at the tasting was a resident. While recovering her husband Ed took time to be very transparent with all of us and sent out countless emails detailing how if you ever had a dream you wanted to accomplish to get it done now. I always had a dream of doing long distance rides for charity. For 19 years I was a bicycle messenger in Washington, DC.  On the weekends I would race with our local cycling club. Looking back I only rode for money or points.

That’s when it hit me!  In the Momentum DVD Dallin Larsen says, “If you have been blessed, you better be a blessing.”  I have been blessed in many ways by MonaVie. Monavie got me back on my bike and participating in my family life again in just a few months. Why not do a ride to benefit The MORE project and give others the same chance? I called Ed and said, “Ed I have a crazy idea. I want to ride from Washington, DC to R3Global Family reunion in Orlando, FL and raise money for The MORE Project. What do you think?”  I think Ed’s answer was “Are you crazy? How many miles is that?”

I explained it was 900 miles and my dream and that I really wanted to do it. He told me that he would support me however he could. Together we decided that a website would be the best way to take donations and get the word out. I called one of my personally sponsored people, Tony DeCarlo, to ask for advice and a donation. Tony is a website designer and he offered his services instead of a donation. More Miles 4 More Kids was born.

I went on The MORE Project website and found an email to inquire about fundraisers and a few days later I got a call from Valerie Holt. We talked for a while and she had somebody setup a link so people could donate directly from my website.  She also made a few calls and helped get me on the monthly motivational call to promote the ride in August 2009, as well as, a piece on The MonaVie Media Center. Donations did not go well at first and I got a little discouraged.  Ed pointed out that even if I did not reach our goal, we would at least raise awareness for the cause and maybe inspire somebody else to get off the couch.

The ride went as planned and I made it to Orlando in 5½ days.  I even got to go on stage with Katy & Sergio and tell a bit of my story. Dream accomplished.

A few months later I received a call from Valerie Holt. She told me that Linda Larsen had been talking to a couple from Canada who were inspired by the ride and wanted to do a ride also.  She asked me to call them and offer my assistance.  I spoke with Cristie-Lynn Bowman (husband Mike) and she was amazed that I called her. She had some very good questions and I could tell they had no idea what they were doing. She asked if I could meet them on the road and finish the ride with them.  I told her I would be willing to ride the entire distance with them as I have ridden across the US several times.  Before I got off the phone I asked the most important question, “Where do you guys live?”

The answer was Vancouver, BC. Admittedly, I had no idea where that was. I was thinking north of New York. Without thinking I said I’M IN! As soon as I got off the phone I Googled Vancouver and my jaw hit the floor.  I have never met Cristie-Lynn and Mike in person we have only talked vie phone and email.  We will meet for the first time at the International Convention in SLC. And the rest will be history!

To learn more about Paul, Cristie-Lynn and Mike’s ride to raise funds for The MORE Project, visit:

More Miles 4 MORE Kids

The Ride 4 MORE

While they are covering all their own expenses, they are asking that anyone willing sponsor them for 1 cent per mile or whatever contribution feasible with a goal to raise $200,000. All proceeds go to The MORE Project.

Follow their ride with us as we bring you more details…they depart July 10^th with the intent to cover 4,200 miles in 35 days!

Dallin just sent me the cutest photo of our favorite little girl, Miss Lily Anderson. As you can see, she is raising money for The MORE Project the best way any child, or child-like adult, knows how - with a lemonade stand!

Here's the most recent update, from Lily's mother, Jennifer, posted to their Care Pages site:

Good Morning friends…I know it has been awhile since an update, but I just have been waiting for some confirmation on Lily's last CT scan. The doctors have looked at it and determined that there are a couple "areas" on Lily's lungs that are different than the last scan. They do not think that these areas are cancer, but just some spots of infection left from her infection she had while having her stem cell transplant. They are going to watch her and scan her in a few months to see if there are any changes in the spots. The ONLY way to be certain of what they are is to do a biopsy, and they is VERY dangerous and too risky at this point. The fact that this does not appear to be cancer out weighs the option to do a biopsy. They had said that the biopsy would involve "stopping her lungs for a period of time while in surgery!!! That was enough to send me back into orbit. NO WAY…

We are just going to watch these areas closely and pray they go away.

Lily has started her radiation stage of this journey. She has a total of 13 days and we have already completed three! Way to go Lily. She immediately made friends with all of the nurses and doctors at the Winship Cancer Center. She goes in gets on the table and within about six minutes she is DONE! So cool. So far no side effects. Please keep praying for no side effects…She is very happy to have been able to take her tests in school and feels like she has done pretty well. She has been working very hard on the third grade project and will be able to go to school next week to participate. We are seeing the light everyday and again want to thank all of you for your continued prayers.

We found out yesterday that after radiation, she will start her anti-body therapy pretty much right away. This unfortunately will be a series of infusions that will last about six months to complete! She will be inpatient for a week and then outpatient for two weeks and repeat for the six months. Summer looks kind of yucky, but who wants to wear a bathing suit anyway? NOT ME!

Love you all,

Jennifer Anderson

Continue to keep Lily and her family in your thoughts and prayers. She is a strong girl and while she is currently cancer-free, you can see there is a lot of work before she will be considered full recovered.

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Shante

MonaVie Chief Blogger

UPDATE: From Jennifer, "Lily has been feeling great lately. She was able to set up her Lemonade stand during the neighborhood garage sale and all of her money raised is going to the M.O.R.E project thru Mona Vie. It will go to help take orphans off the streets in Brazil. Mona Vie has raised millions for this incredible project, and Lily wanted to help. She is amazing. It was totally her idea. She raised $80.00 so she will give it to Dallin Larsen, founder of Mona Vie, this weekend."

"My heart is full of compassion and love for my friends and loved ones who are affected by the flooding that is taking place near Rio. I know what is like to lose your home to flooding as it happened to my family when I was 18 years old. Thousands of people came to aid our community. Those acts of love changed me forever. Brazil is near and dear to my heart. The people there have blessed my life so much. There are hundreds of people who are missing and presumed dead and many who have lost their homes. Please do what you can to help us help those beautiful, open, and loving people. We are all connected and assisting, praying, and blessing those who are in need right now in Rio is a blessing of duty and love that will return tenfold."

Randy Larsen
MonaVie Founder and Vice Chairman

To donate to the Niteroi Flood Relief Fund, click here.

The following was written and sent in by Gabriel Ponce, MonaVie's head of public relations in Brazil, which will give you a bit of insight into the devastation currently rocking Rio, followed by details of how you can help:

The storm that hit Rio starting Monday, April 5, has left 138 dead across the state. The areas west and north, and especially the regions near the center of the capital of Rio and city of Niteroi, in the metropolitan area, where the MORE Project is located, were the hardest hit, with floods and mudslides. According to the Civil Defense, as of this moment there are 72 deaths in Niteroi and approximately 14,000 homeless and displaced people throughout Rio and Niteroi. Mayor Jorge Roberto Silveira declared official mourning for a week – “Niterói has never recorded a rain like that.”

The city is practically closed. Even today, some of the streets that give access to other parts of the city are closed because of mudslides or flood. The mudslides are the main problem now, affecting the poor people who live in the favelas (slums), which are located on the hills.

The MORE Project assists people in 12 of the approximately 130 favelas in Niteroi. From those 12 favelas, Morro do Estado, Boa Vista and Juca Branco are the ones most affected by the mudslides.
In the Cova da Onça slums, a mudslide buried two houses with six people. A man escaped, but could not save his wife and his son, "I was sleeping, did not hear any noise or anything. When it came, came taking everything. I tried to save my wife and my son and I could not, man. Can’t find them," he said.

In the Juca Branco slums, one of The MORE Project students lost his one-year-old brother in a mudslide that hit half of his house.

All the favelas including Vila Ipiranga are in imminent risk. People are being advised to leave their homes immediately. Those who lost their homes were relocated to public schools, leaving behind their few material possessions.  They need mattresses, bedding clothes, blankets, towels, diapers, hygiene supplies, water and principally our love and prayers.

UPDATE: Since receiving this news from Gabriel yesterday evening the mudslides have taken another toll on one of the favelas, most recently destroying over 40 homes; 200 are missing as a result.

We’ll give you more information as we receive it. Short updates will be posted primarily to The MORE Project Facebook page and then to the MonaVie Facebook page, Twitter and BlogMV. Follow us via any of these links and you’ll be sure to get the most current info. If you have questions, please leave them in the comments section.

DONATE: The Niteroi Flood Relief Fund has been set up by The MORE Project. You can find links on The MORE Project Facebook page, as well as The MORE Project website. These funds will be sent to help those who have been impacted by the flooding.

"Get me outta here, please get me out of here." That was the cry for help from Marcus Vinicius Vieira de France, eight years old, last Tuesday, April 6, in the Morro dos Prazeres in Santa Teresa, downtown Rio. Hours later, on Wednesday, April 7, he was dead upon being removed from the rubble, to the dismay of his father who pulled his body from the arms of firefighters and left screaming and crying amid the mire. The scene moved residents and the team who participated in the rescue.

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Shante

MonaVie Chief Blogger

It’s funny how people can go to work and for the most part, know very little about the people we work around. Of course, some may like it that way, but I believe there are compelling stories to be found all around us.

For Vincent Romney, Senior IT Project Manager at MonaVie, running and staying in shape was a way of life and some might say “he could run all day long.” And now…he’s gonna try!  This weekend, Vincent is going to participate in the 24 Hours of Utah, that’s right…running for 24 hours in beautiful Moab, Utah! I'd call him crazy if he wasn't doing it for the coolest reason on the planet.

Why would someone do such a thing?

I’ll let Vincent answer that with an excerpt from his blog:

“Now enter my daughter Paislee, who wants to do something to make the world a better place, and I introduce her to the MORE Project. We dropped by and talked to Valerie, and she mentioned the “MORE Expeditions”, and instantly, Paislee had her volunteer opportunity. Now she just needed a way to start raising funds… see the pending convergence?

So I pay my entry fee for the 24 hours of MOAB, and we start collecting pledges from anyone and everyone willing to support this combo of philanthropy and insanity. Sounded simple enough, but now the concept of logistics set in. I need support for the entire 24 hours including; pacers, food preparation, sleeping arrangements for the pacers and support crew, etc. I initially sent out a request for volunteer help to the entire IT department I work in, and WOW! I work with some great people!”

Isn’t it great to hear other MonaVie employees helping out their co-worker? Kudos to the following MonaVie employees who are going to help out:

Bruce Arnett, Director of Software Development - Pacer

Daniel Eastman, Change Control Manager – Pacer/Co-team Captain

Chandler Childs, Senior Technical Writer - Pacer

Steven Proffit, Technical Business Analyst - Pacer

Joshua Jackson, Technical Business Analyst - Pacer

Steve Brigham, IT Help Desk Assistant – Logistical Support

We’ll be following Vincent and the team this weekend on his challenge and you can follow along too as we give updates on Twitter, or you can follow Vincent @vinceromney.

For those who want to donate to help Paislee’s MORE Project Expedition trip, you can go to Vincent’s blog,  http://www.ultraoldguy.blogspot.com/ (love that title!), and click on the MORE Donations link underneath the picture. If there are any who would like to donate per mile, you can email Vincent directly at vincentr@monavie.com.

Go Team Vincent!

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Shante

MonaVie Chief Blogger

Well, today wraps up the MORE Project Expedition to Brazil.  It has been both an exhausting and an exhilarating week.

For days, we kept a schedule with only about 4 hours of sleep per night.  We saw some of the most remarkable sites in the world, including the Amazon rainforest, the Amazon River, the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro, but the most moving thing we saw was the reaction of children to a little love and respect.

The Black Diamonds completed a service project that involved real heavy lifting, moving dirt and debris in preparation for the construction of another home for the less fortunate in the favelas.

The trip ended today with the Regional in Sao Paulo.  What great energy!  The four hour event featured Dallin articulating the vision for MonaVie, including tips on building the business without treating people like nails—“don’t pound people into this business!”

Everyone had high praise for Mauricio’s leadership in Brazil.  As the GM, he has successfully laid a foundation for success in one of the world’s largest direct selling markets.

Personally, I had fun.  After studying Portuguese for the last six months, I delivered an 8 minute presentation on the Preferred Customer Program – in Portuguese.  I don’t think anyone focused much on my message, but they seemed pleased that I would take the time to learn enough Portuguese to be able to give my talk in their language.

As I wrap up my reporting, I want to thank Katy, Valerie and Andrea for the great job they did in organizing this week.  It was a non-stop adventure!

Finally, I want to thank MonaVie’s great distributors, not just the Black Diamonds, for their support of the MORE Project.  By teaching them to read and write, to do math and to see the world through an international lens, we enable them to become highly productive members of society who have options beyond drugs and prostitution.  While we won’t end poverty in our lifetimes, we will end poverty for our kids for the rest of their lives.  Together, we make a difference.

Devin Thorpe

Chief Financial Officer, MonaVie

Today I left the MORE Project with Dallin one day ahead of the rest of the group to head for Sao Paulo in preparation for the Regional event here tomorrow.

It was a shame to leave the MORE Project early, but we left a great group of close friends to stay there in service. Karree, who stayed, reported that they were working very hard doing manual labor at the new professional school, which is slated to open soon.

Meanwhile, Dallin was taking a group of four Brazilian leaders to Sao Paulo on the MonaVie Jet. It was exciting for me to go along for the ride.

Most of us will live and die without ever getting a chance to ride on a private jet. The world’s most successful corporations routinely fly their chief executives around on such planes because they are more efficient—meaning that despite the cost of the planes, they save more money than they cost. MonaVie is no different, but by taking distributors along for the ride the impact goes from efficiency to synergy as the jet becomes a part of the compensation plan.

Our four leaders, Marcelo Serakides, Luis Soares, Francisco Nunes, and Bruno Grilo work synergistically across lines to build the Brazilian market. Weekly volume has nearly tripled in the last six months as these great leaders have built their personal success. If four guys ever deserved a quick flight on the MonaVie jet, these four did!

You can find photos of the day below:

Devin Thorpe

Chief Financial Officer, MonaVie

For me, today was the pinnacle of the MORE Project Expedition. We visited the Villa Iparanga favela, the Believers Project school, the Nehemiah House built by funding from MonaVie Management and the Larsen Lodge, where we are staying tonight. These are all key parts of the MORE Project.

In the Villa Iparanga, we saw firsthand the challenges we face and the impact we are having. Amidst abject poverty—the stuff of television commercials—we found the Nehemiah House funded by the MonaVie Corporate Management, including General Managers who met here one year ago. The home is now occupied by a woman who was trained by the MORE Project to read and write and who, upon completing this training at age 50, obtained her first permanent job as a city sanitation worker—a position she holds proudly and that blesses her family.

We visited the school at the Believers Project, which must be the happiest place on earth. Disney’s parks do not hold a candle to this place. It is an absolute sanctuary. The kids are safe here. Some have now been attending the school for four years. Their entire lives have already been changed. They are not only learning to read and write and do math, but are learning foreign languages, a global perspective and self confidence. They will not only graduate from school, they will graduate from the favelas and become great contributors to making Brazil an even more wonderful country.

Tonight, we are staying in the Larsen Family Lodge, which was funded by Dallin and Karree and is used to house those visiting the MORE Project as volunteers. It is a wonderful, safe and Spartan lodge that truly makes it easier for the volunteers to come and serve. A modest and informal dedication ceremony took place tonight. Dallin and Karree were both emotional in describing their vision for the use of the property to bless the lives of both the volunteers and those they volunteer to serve.

[Due to technology issues, I’m afraid more photos and video will have to wait at least 24 hours.]

Devin Thorpe

Chief Financial Officer, MonaVie

Words can hardly express the feelings that we all shared today here in Brazil.

We started the day very early—5:00 AM to see the acai market in full swing. It is winding down by sunup so we have to get out there early to experience it. While the rest of the world sleeps, acai harvesters are hard at work getting their products down the Amazon River to the market place in Belem. What a sight to behold.

After a quick breakfast break, we were headed up river in a small boat to visit a village on an island in the river. There, we visited a school chosen by the MORE Project and delivered much needed school supplies and visited briefly with the beautiful children there. I was impressed by how well mannered the children were; my wife is a school teacher in the U.S. and I can assure you that kids aren’t so well behaved in her school! Clearly, we were all more touched by these darling children than they were by us. I am grateful that we had a chance to visit them.

Then, strolling through the jungle, we saw a local man harvest Brazil nuts from their almost impermiable shell. Amazing! Then, the same 67-year-old zipped up an acai palm just to show off. Tim Marks gave it a try, too. He wasn’t bleeding too badly after his attempt, but enough to keep anyone else from making a serious attempt to duplicate the heroics of the local.
Following our excursion up river, we went to see a plant where acai is processed for MonaVie. We were very impressed by what we saw. The operations are genuinely first rate and just what you’d hope to see in a food processing plant anywhere in the world. The operation was genuinely, religiously clean and operates to world-class standards.

As with yesterday’s post, you can find some photos of the day below.

Devin Thorpe

Chief Financial Officer, MonaVie