Hi, there.

I am a friend and, well, admirer of someone I would like you to support because his entire life's journey has led him to a place where he seems to live and breathe one inspiration.

Daniel Armstrong (I know him as Danny) travels the globe (literally) to speak to young and old alike to encourage them to move themselves to follow not the path someone else has set for them but the path they want to travel themselves.

I have known Danny for 40 years.

When I was a sophomore at Columbia University, he inspired me to protest the injustice of American corporations doing business in South Africa. He was a co-chair of the Columbia Coalition for a Free Southern Africa.

Two years later because of his leadership and the leadership of a dozen others, like him, I would, as Danny might say, "find my tree."

I became focused on not what would enrich me, but that which might inspire, well, a revolution of thought in myself to accept all of myself and every possibility I had to change the world.

I only make this connection as I write, but without Danny and my fellow activists I would not have had the courage to liberate myself, in a manner of speaking.

I am Black and gay and genuinely believed that those two identities were incompatible with love, acceptance, and power.

Danny and I were only two but there were more amongst a Steering Committee who forced Columbia to be the first Ivy League university to divest from U.S. corporations doing business in South Africa.

More than a dozen became more than we knew we could be led by Danny and Barbara Ransby, who was the Coalition for a Free Southern Africa co-chair at the time.

Both Danny and Barbara moved fellow students like Tanaquil and Laird and Rob and Whitney and Lorraine and Dave and Adrian and Vilna and Whitney and Joe and me.

Together, we moved mountains we dared to think we could but were never sure we would. But, we did.

Helping others move themselves to action against all odds is what Danny does every single day of his life.

He helps mostly children (adolescents really) who live in impoverished areas throughout the world believe they can move mountains.

Danny's work started in the United States (see two photos above on the right), but earlier this year he has inspired children in Ghana (photo on the left).

Most recently he visited Argentina.

To watch Danny speak is something to behold.

He captivates and you can see the exact moment a child starts to believe that they can achieve more than they ever thought. It's in the eyes.

Once darting and evasive, these kids become fixated on what Danny believes they can do, and then they start to believe it is possible for them.

It's like a light turns on inside their mind's eye. You can see the very moment when what was unthinkable yesterday to these kids becomes possible if not probable or certain.

What a gift to give a child.

They start to believe that they have within themselves the power to change not only their destiny but the destiny of others.

Danny speaks in the language of finding meaning by what one can envision not what is “supposed to be” and planting a seed within to help that dream grow—hence the name of his organization, “Find a Tree.”

He encourages pre-teens, adolescents, young adults and, really, folks of all ages, not only to find that tree—that which would give their life purpose—but to then nurture it until it matures.

The goal? To help them become world citizens that care enough to move themselves and their communities, collectively, to rise above what others thought they could not build in their lives and the lives of those they most care about.

I marvel at some of Danny's videos in which one can tell that there is still that self-doubt in the person to whom he is speaking.

When the kid cannot imagine they could not even imagine yet alone Find a Tree—

When they cannot envision themselves as sturdy, immovable, resilient to that which would blight their ambitions—

Danny lets them speak.

Then, he reframes what they have told him, so they know he is not only listening to but also hearing what they share.

Humbly, Danny listens.

Then, he says: "I believe you are hurting, AND..."

What comes after that one word—"AND"—is followed by Danny adding a vision that allows those listening not to remain stuck.

That right there?

That is what Danny does so well.

He gives folks the language to both speak their reality and to change it to something else that moves them forward.

His words matter to them.

I kid you not.

Watching a recording of Danny with these kids, young adults, and adults, one can freeze frame the exact moment where doubt becomes belief.

A stutter is silenced, gently, sometimes midsentence, by Danny.

The student pauses.

Then, with Danny's guidance, change—though not promised—is possible and that capacity to move toward change is made real. A bit more self-assured, at that moment, they accept the seed as planted:

"I not only can but will hold as foundation what I once thought was not achievable. I can trust in myself to create what I cannot trust the world to create for me."

We need young leaders unafraid to challenge those who would not create a safe world where no matter one's race, gender, sexual orientation, gender-identity, binary vs. non-binary status, national origin, creed (including belief or nonbelief in a God or gods), disability, or ethnicity, we move not with a believe that one race or creed in supremacy shall subjugate another.

Personal liberation is, of course, possible but that is made certain only by the hands of those who can—as Danny would put it—"Find A Tree."

That dream that becomes inspiration that has children and adults alike believing that change within and outside themselves is probable.

If one can imagine it, they can do it.

This is what Danny inspired me to do 40 years ago, and I have never forgotten it.

Please help Danny because he helps others see that their dream is not what others would have them do or be but that which inspires them every day to want to move mountains.

Support Daniel Armstrong and his organization FIND A TREE LLC.

Danny would not ever let folks know that he spends so much of his own personal income on travelling the world and that on some days, when there’s not a promise that he will be able to continue to do what he does, then, simply, he trusts that the universe will provide.

Danny just keeps on moving.

Hopefully, I have moved you to help him keep moving.

Please.

Please, donate generously.

Help someone find a tree.

Donate to FIND A TREE LLC.

Thank you in advance for any amount you give.

No amount is too small: $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 or more if you would help Danny continue this important work.

All fund will go toward expenses related to producing materials, providing them to those to whom Danny speaks, and offsetting costs related to travel as Danny brings his Find A Tree program to those in need.

Cheers, and many thanks,

Tony Glover