The MORE Project: A Miracle in the Mountains
by Dallin Larsen

As I write these words, I am traveling home with my wife (Karree) and daughter (Bailey) from Brazil. We spent a magical and emotional week working with the MORE Project in the mountainous slums outside Rio de Janeiro. Angel Matos said it best when he described the MORE Project as "a miracle in the mountains!" That's exactly what it is.

Gaining the Vision
Very early in MonaVie's history, Karree and I felt the need to seek out an organization that worked among disadvantaged children. As the company began to grow, and our distributors began to achieve success, we always wanted to be able to give back to those who were less fortunate.

Having spent nearly the last 20 years of my life in the relationship or networking business, I've, unfortunately, seen some companies and distributors become prideful as they achieved higher levels of success. I didn't want the culture of MonaVie to foster or contribute to prideful hearts. In fact, everywhere I go and every time I'm called upon to speak, I let our distributors know that pride comes before the fall; as long as we remain humble and willing to do the right things, I believe we will be blessed as a people and as a company. I remember my beautiful wife Karree telling me that if we were fortunate enough to make a significant amount of money, she wanted us to give back and make a difference. It's that loving heart of hers that is so attractive to me. Simply stated, when you become blessed, you should, in turn, become a blessing. Karree is most alive when she is with the children. Kids—more than piloting a jet or any other activity—are her greatest passion in life, and I love that about her.

Non-Profit Organizations 101
Soon after MonaVie began operations in January 2005, the company experienced tremendous growth. Both Karree and I felt an increased sense of urgency to find a non-profit organization that we could encourage our distributors to participate in and contribute their time and resources to. We felt strongly that it should be an organization that reached out to children.

I was new to the business of non-profit organizations, and I realize now that I was also naïve because I believed that I could simply pick up the telephone and call any organization and they'd gladly partner with MonaVie. What actually happened made me both sad and, unfortunately, angry. I called an organization that a former company I worked for partnered with to help children in various parts of the world. After telling them about my desire to give back to needy children (although we were just a new and small company), they responded by saying they would give it some thought and get back to me. I thought this was strange, and as I hung up the phone I thought to myself, "Why would they need to think about accepting money for kids?" I assumed that they would just call me back with instructions on how to proceed—filling out applications and so forth. Well, they did call me back in a few days, but they delivered an altogether different message than I had anticipated. They told me that they were not interested in our company giving money to their non-profit organization! Yes, it is true; that was the message they delivered. I was absolutely stunned, as it was obvious to me that the person delivering this news was also quite embarrassed about having the assignment to call me. I admit that my emotions got the best of me. Before he hung up the phone, I said to him, "So your organization really isn't so much about helping hungry and homeless children as it is about marketing advantages for certain companies, is it?" In my mind their answer was inexcusable.

This was a quick lesson on the politics of non-profit organizations and how, sadly, the desires or demands of companies who contribute to non-profit organizations sometimes override the needs of the children. To me, an individual or company is much better off not contributing to a non-profit organization than to give with the wrong motive or intent. I got off the phone that day and believed that somehow we would be directed to a right-hearted, non-profit organization that puts the needs of disadvantaged children above everything else. Karree and I began praying for such an organization to enter our minds and hearts. A few months later, Brig Hart, who had become MonaVie's top distributor, called and introduced me to Doug Rowland. Doug had a ministry that helped children and, through his travels to Brazil, had come across a most unusual and caring individual.

A Long Distance, Long-Lasting Connection
A spiritual event happened in our lives the day that Doug Rowland and Brig Hart put me and Karree on the phone with Sergio Ponce from Brazil. I was interested in one thing—finding the person or organization that God wanted us to work with to make a difference in the world. I felt we were being led to Brazil because this was the country we were receiving the açai berry from, and, as such, we felt that it was only right to give back to this nation that was blessing so many through MonaVie. Our hearts were being prepared to receive just the right person into our lives. This happened the day we spoke to Sergio on the phone.

We didn't have the best connection, and even though his English was a bit difficult to understand, I could "feel" his heart as I listened to him. He told me, Karree, Doug, and Brig that he was an orthodontist but that his heart was really in the slums of Brazil. More to the point, his heart was broken for the kids who were perishing in the slums. He shared how he had given of his time and resources to go into the slums to help the kids. As he told me about kids as young as eight years old who were already into drugs and prostitution and how murders occurred frequently because of the various gangs, I could feel his heartache. He said that he had been on his knees over the past few weeks praying to God saying, "God, I have done all I can do. If your desire for me is to continue in the slums, I want to do this. But you need to provide me a way. I have no more money, only a willing heart." Sergio had all but turned away from his practice as an orthodontist to spend time working in the slums. He was a husband to his wife, Silvia, and a father to Stephen and Rebecca, his two beautiful children. Shortly after his prayer, a miracle unfolded.

Several thousand miles from Brazil, Karree and I were asking for the right person with the right heart-a heart only for fulfilling God's purposes—to be brought into our lives and into the lives of our distributors. When we were on that telephone call with Sergio and I felt his heart, I got goose bumps. Although I didn't make any commitments to Sergio then and there, I got off the phone and shared with Karree what had happened to me. She was completely supportive because she also felt his heart. Whenever I need to make big decisions that potentially impact hundreds of thousands of people, God has a way of letting me know which direction to go.

Sergio Ponce-A Man Filled with Purpose
That phone call on that day was definitely a message to me and Karree that Sergio Ponce, although I hadn't yet met him, was a person appointed for a high and mighty purpose. It is a purpose that the natural eyes cannot comprehend, for God's ways are not man's ways. Sergio carries with him gifts that I have never seen anyone else possess, and I've met tens of thousands of people around the world. His heart is pure, as are his motives and intentions. He has one purpose-to change a generation of God's children who live in some of the most dangerous and desperate situations in the world by helping them find their vision and purpose.

His work, the MORE Project (MonaVie's Operation Rescue), is not a glamorous work. It's not intended to provide a marketing advantage for MonaVie. We have no interest in profiting as a company from the plight of children. In fact, as a company, we have made a commitment to pay for 100% of the administrative costs of the MORE Project. This way, 100% of our distributors' contributions to this great cause go directly to the source. It's a beautiful model. Most importantly, it's a model that's working!

All throughout MonaVie's history, the right people have come into our lives at what seemed to be just the right time, and for very specific purposes. Some came for a short season and others for a longer period of time, but each has played a role in helping MonaVie grow as a company—the type of company we can all be proud to represent. (If you acquire all the riches in the world and yet have nothing to show for your efforts outside of things acquired versus people blessed, is it really worth the effort? I think not.)

My First Trip to Brazil
Although the crown jewel in the MonaVie blend, the açai berry, is grown and harvested in Brazil, I had never been there. My brother and business partner, Randy Larsen, had visited several times securing the açai berry and other fruits for our product. He told me about the country, how much poverty he was seeing in Brazil, and how MonaVie was already dramatically blessing the lives of people in the Amazon who pick and harvest the fruit for us. I talked to Brig about Brazil, and he shared with me some of his experiences in the country. His heart had been broken many times because of the poverty he saw while traveling there over the previous two decades. As I reflect on these conversations, I can see now that God was preparing me and Karree for the right moment when our dreams and desires would come to pass.

I will never forget my first trip to Brazil for the MORE Project. I thought I had seen poverty as I've traveled to over 40 countries in the world; but, when I spent several days on MonaVie's first humanitarian visit to Brazil with Karree and a handful of dedicated MonaVie distributors, I was moved in a way that is impossible for me to fully articulate. Special thanks to those distributors, and others, who joined me and Karree on that trip in May of 2006: Alan Lassiter, Beckee VanWagner, Darlene Marshall, Ron Corbin, Mailin Spicola, Elizabeth Hall, Penny Frecoe, Russ Relyea, and Harris Done. One of the highlights of that trip was seeing Sergio's friend, "Popcorn," dressed in a clown costume to entertain the kids during a "Happy Day." It must have been 90 degrees, but his energy was amazing and the kids laughed and had fun.

Karree and I, and our group, fed approximately 500 of the kids during that "Happy Day"; we painted their faces and even held many of them in our laps. I remember one young girl, in particular, who refused to get off of Karree's lap. I sensed that perhaps she was feeling loved for the first time in her life, or at least for the first time in a long time. This young girl was in need of love and attention, and Karree was just the person to provide it for her.

I was also privileged to witness how Sergio radiates with love for the kids. They would come up to him, and Sergio would put his arms around them, gently touch them on the cheek and love them. It was a beautiful, poignant site to behold. We could see the men from the slums hiding behind the shadows, but Sergio, through the Grace of God, had been given permission to enter into their slum to minister love and basic needs to the orphans and widows.

After all the children had left and returned to their respective shacks—dirt floors, no running water, no toilet facilities, and probably less than 100 square feet for as many as five or six people to live—Popcorn approached us. He wept and said, "Thank you, Sergio. For many years now I've dreamed of this day...a day when I could come into the slums with you and play with the children!" Sergio rested Popcorn's head on his shoulder, kissed his cheek, and thanked him. His clothes drenched with sweat and his face wet with tears, Popcorn embodied the spirit of the MORE Project that day.

Better To Give Than To Receive
Having witnessed this tender moment, I was reminded of the scripture that states: it is more blessed to give than to receive. Oh, the blessings that Karree and I received being in the slums on that day and witnessing firsthand with absolute assurance that all souls, regardless of riches or poverty, are born with a spirit of goodness. Even the most hardened among us still has a flicker of light. Sergio Ponce, full of purpose, is living up to the measure of his creation, as we all do when we find our purpose in life and, equally important, live that purpose. Sergio found his purpose and his funding through MonaVie and the MORE Project. He has shared with me on many occasions (as he's spoken at the funerals of many who have been gunned down in the slums) that whether he lives or whether he dies, he needs to live the purpose God has for his life. Thank God for Sergio Ponce and his vision for the MORE Project. We are all the beneficiaries of his enormous work and passion.

Of all the pictures that hang on the walls of my office and our home, perhaps none is more valuable to me and Karree than a photo taken of us by Russ Relyea. He captured the moment that Karree and I were leaving the slum, completely and emotionally exhausted, after having given and received much from those dear children. Although we traveled thousands of miles to give to the kids, we, and those who traveled with us, were truly the ones who received. We received a change in our hearts, and I left Brazil with a greater sense of urgency that God was calling us to give MORE. I knew we had to be prepared for this most important work or the opportunity would be taken from us and given to others more prepared and willing to do MORE.

A Worthy Cause
In a world of starters and few finishers, my greatest desire for the MORE Project is to finish what we've started. We have various projects currently underway and others in the pipeline, each for a specific purpose and to fill a particular need. My desire is for all our distributors to contribute monthly to the MORE Project. When someone is blessed and achieves success through MonaVie, I believe they have an obligation to become a blessing. The greatest joys I have experienced in my almost 50 years of life are those moments in my life when I totally forgot myself in the service of others. I sincerely hope that every MonaVie distributor who wants to have a life-changing experience will have the opportunity to travel to Brazil and to roll up their sleeves and lose themselves in the service of our kids for a week or two. They, too, would return from Brazil as Karree and I, and others, have—changed for the better.

I realize there are many worthwhile causes in the world desperate for resources; however, at MonaVie, we are going to remain laser-focused on the enormous needs in Brazil. We can spend our entire lifetime just working in one corner of Brazil and there would still be more work to do! Because this country has provided MonaVie with the açai berry, we are going to remain true and faithful to Brazil and our commitment to the MORE Project. I want to do all I can to help the MORE Project and Sergio change a generation of kids in Brazil! My mother and father, married now for almost 58 years, taught us, their children, to leave this place a little better than the way we found it. I'm trying to honor my parents by leaving this place a little better. If each of us individually contributes monthly through the MORE Project AutoShip program, we can collectively make a difference. We can create real and lasting change! It's a cause definitely worth our best efforts.

If not MonaVie, who? If not now, when? Kids are dying each week in the slums of Brazil, and we can help. It's time to do MORE, be MORE, and give MORE. Won't you join us? I give you my word that I will do everything in my power to make sure each dollar you contribute to the MORE Project is multiplied and planted in good soil.

As we reach our goals with the MORE Project, we will help change a generation of kids in Brazil. We will feel a great sense of accomplishment, and (of extreme importance to me and all those who understand the heart and culture of MonaVie and the MORE Project) we will become the best company we can become—not necessarily the best company in the world, but more importantly, for the world.