Friday, October 12, 2012

Read an excerpt from 'Your Mark on the World'

Welcome to the Promotional Book Tours' presentation of Your Mark on the World. Check out an excerpt of this book and then enter the Rafflecopter below!


Your Mark On The World

Your Mark On The World combines inspiring stories of ordinary people doing remarkable things to make the world a better place with practical advice to empower anyone to give more to a cause (charity, non-profit or social venture) without giving up a career or family.

The inspiring stories include:

Botevy's life and death struggle through Pol Pot's killing fields that led her ultimately to create an orphanage in Phnom Penh.

Rick's personal crusade to cure cystic fibrosis to ensure that his two afflicted grandchildren will attend his funeral and not the other way around.

The eight-member Smith family's world service tour.

David's decision to walk away from a successful career as an international executive to volunteer to care for victims of leprosy in rural India.

These stories are combined with practical financial advice to empower you to give more to a cause without giving up your family or your career.

The book answers these questions:

How do I get out of debt and stay out of debt?

Which charity or cause do I choose to make my donation?

How do I decide where to volunteer?

How can our family plan a volunteer vacation?

How can I save money for retirement?

How much should I contribute to my 401k?

Can I use Mint to manage my budget?

How to retire early enough to devote healthy years to volunteering?

This must-read book provides an overview of philanthropy in America and around the world, providing you with a clear picture of charity and its fruits. You'll learn the ability to leave your mark on the world.

Read an excerpt:

Chapter 3
Rabbi with HEART

Nathan Pingor was completely out of control. He admits it. At seventeen, he was smoking cigarettes, sleeping around, street racing cars, flunking out of school and had completely abandoned his Jewish faith. i
The root of Nathan’s troubles may lie in his parents’ divorce at age two. Though he doesn’t recall that being so difficult, when he and his mother moved from El Paso, where his father lived, to Houston, when he was seven, he began to feel his world unwind.
As a reform Jew, Nathan’s mother, Melissa Fertel, felt strongly that she wanted to have her son educated in a Jewish day school where he would be taught values and history that would provide a “familial” connection, she felt was especially important following the divorce and the move to Houston. Ultimately, they chose a conservative Jewish day school that felt warm and welcoming. ii
Although Nathan had a bar mitzvah at age thirteen, as is the custom, the family was not particularly religious; they didn’t keep kosher or attend Shabbat services weekly.
By the tenth grade, Nathan was in real trouble. While he is very bright and even won the school-wide poetry contest that year, he failed every class. He was acting out, desperate to find a foundation for his life.
Finally, when he was 17, his mother sent him to Utah to participate in a short-term program for troubled teens at Outback Therapeutic Expeditions. Why Utah? Utah law allows parents to send their minor children to residential treatment centers where the teens are not allowed to leave; most other states allow the teens to walk out if they choose.
The program helped, but trouble continued so Melissa began looking for a boarding school in Utah where he could get the help he needed to finish high school and get his life back. While virtually every program she considered was non-denominational, she wanted to find a school where he would not be the only Jewish teen and where the program would be open to religious practice. She settled on Discovery Academy Boarding School in Provo, Utah when they told her about a Rabbi that regularly visited the school.
Nathan had been at the school just a few days, feeling angry and isolated, when one of the faculty told him that he had a visitor. Nathan says, “I had nothing else to do.” He then met Rabbi Benny Zippel for the first time.
Within three weeks, Nathan had completely reconnected to his Jewish roots, he says he “picked up all the religion that I’d totally lost.”
Before long, Nathan wrote a letter home asking his mother to send his siddur (prayer book), Hebrew dictionary and tefillin (artifacts used for a Jewish tradition that connects participants to God and to their heritage). Melissa was blown away by the request, and took it as a sign that her son was not only connecting with his roots, but finding a purpose in his future.

i Phone interview with Nathan Pingor, July 3, 2012.

ii Phone interview with Melissa Fertel, July 3, 2012.

Purchase on Kindle / Paperback / Nook / Smashwords
 
Follow Devin D. Thorpe
Twitter: @devindthorpe or #yourmarkontheworld
Newsletter Sign Up: http://bit.ly/NLQBn6
 
Follow the Tour Tour Prize - 50 Amazon Giftcard and 5 Autographed Books Open US/ Can ends 11/18/2012

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

No comments:

Post a Comment

Due to tremendous amounts of spam, all comments are moderated and will be approved and published throughout the day.