Sam Garber
My Fundraising Page
Message from Sam Garber:
Eleven years ago, in February 2003, it snowed in Jerusalem.
Robin and I had been in Zichron Yaakov, Israel, for three weeks. In the fourth and final week of our trip, we had rented a car and were taking in as much of the land and culture as we could. We had spent an afternoon watching kite surfers jumping the Mediterranean waves north of Tel Aviv. We had almost gotten stuck in 8" of snow on the road to a ski resort near Mt. Hermon.
It was just the two of us. Robin was pregnant with our first child. We were near the old city and all of the unique hats and robes of a million religious manifestos had dampened our spirits considerably. So we chilled for an hour in a small cafe over crumpets and drinks, because this was our last day and we didn't want it to be spoiled by fanatics.
We felt that our whole lives to this point had been spoiled by fanatics. We were in the city for the same reason the fanatics were there. Yahweh had staged so much there in the past.
We thought Israel to be a great place to pursue our quest for the keys to life and happiness. We were fanatics. LOL
I had been called a, what was it... oh, a heretic, because that's the most degenerate synonym of unorthodox. Mavericks are cool, radicals are tolerable, but there is no hope for a heretic.
I blogged about it. I claimed that Yeshua was a heretic, too, and that I was simply falling in line. That sealed the deal.
So here we are, the wife of my youth and I, in the city whose peace gets prayed for more than any other. And it is snowing peacefully.
In search of a topographical map, we found ourselves in this beautiful courtyard of a small campus bookstore. There were evergreen trees, stone walls with ivy, and it was the quietest place in the world. We stayed there for a thousand years.
It was in that instant that I knew I wanted to work for SonLight Power, making light! I looked at Robin and asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" And she said, "Yes. We will never be independently wealthy enough to work for SonLight Power. You will have to ask our friends and acquaintances for their prayers and financial support."
And I said, "My darling, you are wonderful tonight."
So, on our 15th anniversary, we were in Cincinnati together without our four delightful children, who were at my mom and dad's. It was 19 September and we were multitasking. We picked up a Maker's Mark barrel in Hebron, Kentucky for our second dog cave.
In like '07 when we were in Hebron for the first time, I foolishly dreamed there would be an old city, or a wailing wall, or at least a falafel cart. There may be falafels in Hebron. I'm not sure. But there is a cool guy who sold us a Maker’s Mark barrel off Craig's List.
And there's an Ace Hardware where we purchased 2 medium padlocks and 4 small padlocks to lock on the very center of the Purple People Bridge over the Ohio River.
It was on that evening, on the road from Cincinnati to Hebron, that I took a call from our friend Patrick Sherwin, who is from Cincinnati.
Patrick was a solar proprietor before me. In fact, Patrick coined the term: Solar Proprietor. I met Patrick when we were both subcontracted to work on a commercial solar electric installation for the Dull Farm in Brookville, Ohio.
So Patrick called, and said that he'd committed to a trip to install solar electric in some remote part of southern Mexico, and that due to another of his solar projects, he was wondering if I would be up for it.
He said it was for SonLight Power. I hadn't registered them in my mind before.
He said ‘Son’ in SonLight was spelled S-O-N as in Christ. I said, “That's cool.”
He said that he really liked the SonLight people and would have really loved to go, but his GoSun Stove was going so well that he really couldn't go. I said, “That's cool.”
I was thinking, “Man, I would love to go, but we can't possibly afford for me to go, so I'll have to pray about it and this might be disappointing.”
Then he said the trip was paid for. It would cost me nothing but my time.
“I was going to say I'll have to pray about that, but I’m pretty sure God has already answered!"
I went on that trip and had a wonderful time! Left for Chiapas, Mexico on 20 November and landed back at the international airport nearest our house at 8:30pm Thanksgiving Day.
Not the most orthodox way to celebrate Thanksgiving, but hey, orthodoxy left me behind in Jerusalem.
I had been on several mission trips before and they were all life-changing, life-improving. I love to experience different cultures, analyze new people (just kidding (sort of)), and try not to look like a dumb tourist. Of course, I am a dumb tourist in the true sense of the word, because I'm monolingual.
That is about to change due to DuoLingo, and the fact that I now have new friends whose first language is Espanól.
So, we didn't have any idea back in Jerusalem in 2003 that this opportunity with SonLight Power was going to present itself on our anniversary in 2013. While I'm back-peddling, I may as well admit that we didn't stay in that snowy garden for a thousand years, either. Everything else is true though.
Circa 2003, I wore out a Bible or two and gained the nickname "the Walking Concordance" from a few of my peers. I had a Bible in my back pocket almost all the time and read it at lunch and 4-way stops. I had the Bible on pocket PC and I was eSword’s biggest fan. I tried to learn Hebrew; I still know the alefbet and words like, boker tov, halleluyah, Yeshua, and shalom (שלים). All of our kids have Hebrew names with awesome meanings.
I wanted to be a preacher, but how does an unorthodox heretic become one? Well, my Dad said, "If you build it they will come״, or was it, "If you apply yourself to research and practice, the opportunities will present themselves.”
It was probably early 2000 when Dad said that to me. And look at me now: I'm a ravishing success!
In 2008, when Tov was just five weeks old, Robin and I attended a conference in Goshen, Indiana called "Everything Must Change." The conference featured Brian McLaren who wrote: A Generous Orthodoxy, the Secret Message of Jesus, and Everything Must Change.
I especially remember lunch at that conference, sitting in a circle on the lawn in May with about 11 super-cool Christian peeps, including Brian McLaren. Eating sandwiches and brainstorming how to move the Christian conversation from disputes of orthodoxy to initiatives of compassion.
There was fair trade coffee and fresh folk music with deep points and long story lines. It was inspiramental.
There was talk of global crises in regards to relative wealth and energy. We watched a clip from the Sierra Club about destroying 750 miles of stream beds in Appalachia by strip mining coal to be used and wasted on electricity. Renewable energy might be a solution! And I was in construction and a decent learner of new things. That's when we coined the term: "Let's do this!"
We had gone to the conference because we wanted to establish goals for our lives and careers that would integrate our faith and practice.
So we founded Inspiramental Company, which would contract solar energy system installations. I took online courses from Solar Energy International and we went to Paonia, Colorado for a week of hands-on training by SEI. We joined Green Energy Ohio. I passed the rigorous NABCEP tests. We made friends in the solar industry. We installed some nice solar systems.
http://inspiramental.com/
This is an ongoing business. The solar energy trade in Ohio, combined with our lack of a marketing budget, and my weak sales skills, add up to not being busy full time in solar energy.
We've had several really nice jobs each year including, among my favorites, a Solar Hot Water system on OSU's Stone Lab on Gibraltar Island, Put-In-Bay.
We've installed solar PV and solar water heating systems at residential and commercial sites. We’ve installed natural lighting, solar air heating, and solar pool heating systems.
When I'm not doing solar energy, I'm either plumbing, electrical wiring, excavating, hardscaping, insulating, roofing, building, or building maintenance. My work is generally construction related, though I would accept payment for my writing.
As of November 2013, Allen Rainey and Kevin Sasson have graciously offered me the opportunity to go on 5 to 10 SonLight Power missions each year as lead installer of solar electric systems. I will be involved in designing the systems, as well. You can find lots of info about SonLight Power on the web.
Because I can't afford to go 10 to 15 weeks without pay each year, I'm asking you for a job. I'm asking you to hire me to work for SonLight Power. I will be working for you and SonLight Power 10 to 15 weeks out of the year. You will be paying forward, which means there's no guarantee of payback. You will be hiring me to install solar electric systems for schools, clinics, and community centers in Haiti, Mexico, Panama, and God knows where else. I will also be teaching the art of solar cooking. I will be working for you. And I will love my job!
Any money that you put toward this project by 31 December will be matched by another donor!
Thank you in advance!
Here's a link to photos of the 2013 mission to Chiapas: http://tinyurl.com/ChiapasPhotos
P.S. If this site is giving you problems or you are uncomfortable donating online, then please feel free to call (513) 285-9960 or send a check. You can make the check out to SonLight Power with my name listed in the memo.
The address is:
SonLight Power Inc.
7100 Dixie Highway
Fairfield, OH 45014
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FUNDRAISING RESULTS
My Fundraising Goal: $15,000
Total Raised to Date: $0