- There's a quote by the Dalai Lama that I absolutely love.
And it goes like this.
"My religion is very simple.
My religion is kindness."
It's a beautiful quote, and I thought it was
absolutely perfect to start off this episode
as I share with you how a random act of kindness
with a stranger in Haiti took me to Boston
for the very first time.
(upbeat music)
So this past December, I was in Haiti
with my art bound team.
And on one of the days of visiting
the three schools where we're funding the arts programs,
I was flying my drone around, capturing
some beautiful landscape aerial footage,
and I bumped into a woman named Gisela.
And she was also photographing the school.
I asked her what are you shooting?
And it turns out that Gisela funded
the solar panels on top of the school
through her charity foundation Luke's Lights.
And she explained to me that she was about
to climb up this big hill so she can get
the right vantage point to shoot the roof.
And then, she was gonna have to wait up there
until it got dark so she could shoot the school
when sun goes down, and you could clearly see
how the light in these solar panels
are lighting up the whole community.
Well I said to her, rather than you go up the hill
and climb back down in the dark, how about
I just fly my drone?
I'll get some great aerial footage
of the school for you, and I've got my tripod
and my camera, so I can get a clear
nice shot of the school lit up at night
that you can take home and show
at your charity event.
Later that day, I sent her the images,
and didn't really think much of it.
Didn't know if I'd see her again.
Well sure enough, the next day,
we were leaving Hinche, and we were
driving down to Port-au-Prince.
And as I get in the car, Gisela was sitting
in the same truck.
And turns out that we were gonna spend
the next three hours together.
On the way down to Port-au-Prince,
she had to stop at a village to hand out some lights.
During that hour together, we walked around
this village, and she handed out her little
solar powered lamps that she's been donating
to villages and towns that have no hydro
or electricity so that at night when the sun goes down,
the children can still study,
or the moms and the families can still cook.
And doctors have even been known to wear these
lamps around their necks so they can give birth
to babies in the middle of the night.
I got some amazing footage of Gisela
in action handing out these lights,
showing the children how these lamps work
and it was absolutely magical.
And when I got home and I saw this footage,
I was just blown away.
I said to my buddy Zach, I need you
to make magic with this footage.
And sure enough, he did.
We created an incredible video
showing what Gisela does with Luke's Lights
so she can play it at her charity event
that she was holding in Boston.
Alright, on my way back to Pearson Airport.
Sometimes I feel like I go to the airport
more than I go anywhere else.
But the good news is, I'm not late for my flight.
Yeah, I got an hour and ten minutes.
Traveling carry on, so.
I really hope it's sunny in Boston.
(upbeat music)
And of course, I'm the last one getting on this plane.
But hey, at least I made it.
Off to Boston.
(upbeat music)
Just touched down in Boston.
That was a super quick flight.
To be honest, I kind of wish it was
actually a longer flight.
I needed a longer nap.
I haven't slept enough, I'm super tired.
And I could've slept another two hours easily.
Now I need to get an Uber, get to my hotel
to nap or to walk around.
I think a nap might work.
It is definitely as cold here, Boston
as it is in Toronto.
Freezing.
- [Driver] How are you?
- [Zark] I'm good, how are you doing?
- [Driver] Not too bad.
- [Zark] Alright.
- [Driver] It's getting cold.
- [Zark] Yeah, it's getting cold.
I come from Canada I know about cold.
- Oh you from Canada.
- [Zark] I know a thing or two about the cold.
There he is, Dom doggie.
Yeah, flight was easy, super quick.
Kinda wish it was longer, I could've used more sleep.
(laughing)
- [Dom] Alright man, you on the way to the hotel?
- Yeah, they said it's about 10 minutes away
so I should be there quick.
- [Dom] Okay great.
- Alright.
- [Dom] Alright buddy, I'll see you soon.
- Alright man, thanks man, looking forward to it.
Alright Dom, see you.
Always a bonus when the room is ready when you arrive.
Nothing worse than showing up and having
to sit around the lobby.
Now the question is do I nap,
or do I go get a coffee?
Nap or coffee?
Nap, coffee?
I'm gonna think about it here for a second.
Only two days here, gotta make the most of it.
I'm gonna get a coffee, head out there,
roll around with my boy Dom doggie
and check out what Boston has to offer.
These things are such a bitch to get off.
There, aww.
Got my cushion socks on.
Ugh, ugh, ugh, woo!
Ahh.
Much better, let's go.
Alright, so my buddy Dominic.
I've known him for probably, I don't know,
10, 12 years, and he's always said
you gotta come to Boston, you gotta check it out.
And never really taken him up on that.
So glad I'm finally here, and he's available
to take me out.
They're gonna show me around and yeah.
I haven't seen Dom doggie in awhile.
He's a good dude.
Super fun, and classy Boston guy.
There he is, Dom doggie.
What's happening, good to see you buddy.
Looks good on you, man.
- Thanks, man.
- [Zark] Look at you!
(upbeat music)
- All Italian pastries, they say that's the best kind
only in Boston.
And you can see the lines already lined up.
- [Zark] It's not cantelloni, what's it called?
- Cannoli.
- [Zark] Cannoli, yeah we gotta go.
Do you want to talk to me about Mike's Pastries?
- Cannolis.
- [Zark] Cannolis
- Cannolis and cavatelli.
- And this is what, while we're here this is what
we gotta do?
- Let's do it.
- [Zark] We gotta go?
Alright.
So Dom doggie says Mike's Pastries is an absolute must
when you're here.
Well it must be good if there's a line.
- Lobster tail.
- [Zark] Lobster tail?
- Right here.
- This is like a world famous cannoli?
- [Dom] Yeah.
What do you think?
- Yeah.
Yeah, that's good.
There is such a thing as too many options.
We've been walking for about 20 minutes
and it's food vendor after food vendor
and I can't quite decide what the hell I wanna eat.
I think I'm gonna default to what I know best.
Pizza, pizza.
Always safe, pepper pizza.
- [Dom] Do you want some straight whiskey, or?
- [Zark] It kinda makes sense, you know?
- [Dom] No, I gotta have something stronger.
- [Zark] Irish whiskey?
- Let's do it, tell them what to.
(clinking glasses)
- That's good.
- Alright, so that was a lot of fun.
I gotta say, if they had Irish bars like that
in Toronto, I might be drinking whiskey
a little bit more often, because not only
do I feel warm, but man that was quite the welcome.
- You were like let's go.
- [Zark] You guys are good.
- Alright, so I'm on my way to meet Gisela
and her family right now.
Going to be playing the Luke's Lights video for her.
And can't wait to see her reaction
and get her feedback.
I'm pretty sure she's gonna be blown away.
I'm really moved and touched and inspired by it.
So I can just imagine how she's gonna feel.
Can't wait to see her reaction.
Hey there.
- Should you guys be coming in, hi!
- [Zark] Alright, I'm excited for you to watch this.
- [Girl] Are you videotaping her watching it?
- [Zark] I'm gonna videotape you guys watching
it yeah, I wanna, yeah, I wanna be able to see
her reaction, yeah.
(inspiring music)
- [Man] That's amazing.
- I know, yeah.
Yeah and that girl.
Madeline, in that house I couldn't really check.
I can't imagine any, it's beautiful.
Thank you.
Hi.
(laughing)
- [Zark] Tell me a bit about, tell us all
everything, how did Luke's Lights charity
fundraiser initiative come to be?
- Luke's Lights, this movement
to bring light to the world began with
a cataclysmic event in our family.
Sort of at a moment when the world cracked open,
and we lost our son.
It was very difficult to come up with
what we could possibly do to continue to live on,
to bring light, not just to our darkness,
but to the darkness that people live in.
This idea of lights came to be, and it was
just perfect for Luke's personality.
Because he seemed to shine from within.
Luke's Lights, the movement to bring light to the world
got started almost immediately after his passing
because it seemed natural for people
to wanna give money to something.
And the very first event we held was
that December year on his half birthday.
December 21st, which is the darkest night of the year.
We decided that was the perfect moment
in which to host the first event.
Since then, we've raised about 60,000 lights
that have gone to places that make sense to my family.
Because I was born in Peru.
Kenya, because we had traveled there with Luke.
Most recently Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
And what has become very near and dear to my heart,
the country of Haiti has received the lion's share
of them, because I've gone every year for four years now.
There was a huge lesson learned from losing Luke.
And that was that we could've just stayed
in that darkness ourselves, and hidden under a hole.
But we needed to do something
with the love we had for him.
And so this way, we're spreading it around.
And you can help us do that.
- I'm truly so happy that I met Gisela
and offered to send her those photos
because had I not sent those photos,
I wouldn't have gone to Boston and met her family
and learned more about the Luke's Lights
foundation, and I'm really happy and grateful
that I did, and I invite you to extend
a random act of kindness to a stranger.
To someone who you see might need a helping hand.
You never know how it's gonna impact them.
And you never know what it's gonna bring into your life.
So stop, be kind when you can.
Trust me, it's worth it.
And thank you, thank you for watching.
If you liked the video, please hit like.
If you wanna see more of my videos,
hit subscribe.
And if you'd like to know more
about the Luke's Lights foundation,
there's a link down below.
Thanks for watching, and we'll see you
in the next episode.
- This gentleman was there.
I mean I'm already a martian from outer space
coming with a little light that you turn on and off.
There's this guy there, and he's got a drone,
and he's flying.
Anyway, that's who Zark is, that's how we met.
He's now here, which is totally a gift.
And I wanna show you a video that he's created
of, I've never seen myself in the film, but
here we are, here we all are, because you're all
with me when I'm there.
Delivering lights in Haiti.