The Man Who Chose To Help 14,000 Michigan Kids | Joe Savalle

Michigan has about 14,000 kids in the foster care system on any given day.Joe wasn't a nonprofit guy. He was a marketing professional in a cubicle, being laid off for the sixth time in nine years, miserable by his own admission. He'd started Love for a Child as a one-week-a-summer passion project.Then his wife looked at him and said: go full time with Love for a Child.He spent the next six months without a paycheck, newly married with a child on the way, and poured everything he had into making it work. It did.Joe's story is what happens when you stop treating your purpose like a part-time commitment.We covered:→ Why Michigan is one of the five worst states in the country for foster care development, and what that actually means for the 14,000 kids in the system→ How Love for a Child specifically targets children who are statistically 95% likely to never be adopted before 18→ A story about a nine-year-old girl chained in a basement three blocks from a suburban Michigan high school, and how she ended up in the Love for a Child program→ What Joe is doing behind the scenes to investigate CPS neglect and fight for children the system has written offJoe said there's a difference between your work and your job: your work is the 9-to-5. Your job is the people you help.Joe, thank you for trusting me with these stories. The weight of what you carry for these kids came through in every answer, and I'm grateful you're doing it.Chapters0:00 - Welcome & Intro1:48 - Meet Joe Savalle and Love for a Child3:53 - The Reality of Foster Care in Michigan8:16 - Who Love for a Child Actually Serves (and Why)11:14 - How the Camp Program Works16:13 - How Kids Get Selected and What Camp Day One Looks Like22:51 - Little Joey Goes to Camp: The Book Behind the Character26:02 - How Joe and the Host Met (and the Vista Connection)29:21 - Why Most Nonprofits Fail in Year One32:49 - How a Failed Music Career Led to Foster Care38:38 - Faith, Mission, and the Heart of the Organization44:20 - Fighting CPS Neglect Behind the Scenes55:04 - What "Purpose Over Paycheck" Actually Looks Like1:01:08 - Plans to Scale Love for a Child Nationally1:06:29 - The Basement Story: Foster Care Right in Our Backyards1:13:58 - How to Get Involved, Donate, or Partner~~~This episode is powered by Auxiom.Finally ready to outsmart your IT chaos?https://auxiom.com/