Dont Wait Project

“Expenses advertising 453 4,088 5 office expense 1,778 567 travel 1,359 76 total 8,326”

“The don't wait project (dwp), founded in 2011, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to raising community awareness about how positive life choices can impact the health and welfare of individuals, organizations and communities.”

“Don't wait to unmake a bully students write, direct, produce and star in anti-bullying psas based on their own experience. They use a professional quality film camera and other equipment while learning valuable teamwork and industry skills throughout production. Since partnering with filmmaker, educator and unmake a bully creator mike feurstein in 2012, don't wait to unmake a bully has worked with more than 10,000 k-12 students at schools throughout the country, producing hundreds of psas. The dwp has also hosted multiple premieres at donated venues (i.e. Numerica performing arts center in wenatchee, wa; as well as screenings at movie theaters in wenatchee and albany, ny) where students, teachers, administrators, families and entire local communities are invited to screen the student-produced psas and behind the scenes footage. Throughout the spring and fall semesters of 2020 and into spring semester of 2021 school year, numerous schools canceled booked programs due to covid-19 school closures and budget cuts. In 2020, the dwp helped develop a virtual program that was successfully conducted in a few schools when students gathered in google classrooms for brainstorming, scriptwriting and plot discussion. The students were also individually assigned in-home or outdoor filming scavenger hunts (i.e. Students were assigned a list of scenes to film with their own devices, then that footage was used when producing the psa). The psas were then edited and premiered throughout the country via zoom, so students, families, administrators and teachers could view the students' creativity and hard work during a time when gathering virtually was sometimes a challenge. Students responded with comments like, "we made the psa while apart, but this makes us feel like we're all together again." one teacher said, "the project surrounds topics that my kids are facing, making every part of the process a teachable moment."”

“The don't wait project tour the don't wait project (dwp) has told hundreds of stories and reached millions of people through its website, video, print, social media, youtube and vimeo. From local community leaders to oscar award-winning actors, project founder lisa bradshaw has interviewed people from all walks of life who have thought-provoking and life-changing stories. In partnership with town toyota auto group, a local car dealership in the wenatchee, wa, community, bradshaw launched a seven-state, six-week tour in search of people living don't wait lives throughout wa, or, ca, az, ut, co and id. She embarked on the journey alone with only a dslr camera and a tripod, her mac computer for editing footage and her toyota rav4, pulling a nucamp tag trailer. Throughout the tour, bradshaw focused on don't wait stories, inspiring people to revisit the nouns in life: the people, places, things and ideas we sometimes give up on along the way. These stories were shared on dwp social media platforms and aired on bradshaw's television talk show, life with lisa bradshaw, on charter/spectrum and local ncw life channel. After the success of the first tour in 2018, town toyota auto group sponsored a second tour in 2019, this time bradshaw traveled eight southern states, including texas, louisiana, mississippi, alabama, georgia, tennessee, arkansas, north carolina and oklahoma. Toyota national's grassroots program match also allowed for a professional cinematographer to travel with bradshaw and film the storytelling mission. In addition, nucamp rv sponsored the tour and provided two teardrop trailers, one for bradshaw and one for the newly-hired cinematographer. Bradshaw interviewed people throughout the tour about their don't wait stories related to health, career, family, community and philanthropy. Town toyota auto group had committed to sponsoring the 2020 tour when lisa bradshaw and a cinematographer would've traveled 10 states from missouri to massachusetts, april 1-30, 2020, but the tour was postponed due to covid- 19. The tour was scheduled to resume in october 2021, but due to the nature of the tour, traveling to a new city every 2-3 days and interacting with numerous people for interviews, town auto group and the don't wait project decided in august 2021 to delay the tour again due to the increase in covid-19 cases and hospitalizations throughout the country. Both town auto group and the dwp are optimistic for the tour's launch in 2022.”

“This beautiful life, the song dwp founder lisa bradshaw met singer wendy moten during the don't wait project tour 2019's stop in nashville, tn. They met on the night of moten's debut performance on the grand ol' opry, and bradshaw interviewed moten about her story. The two became friends and stayed in touch, so when covid-19 caused the shutdown of all gatherings and travel, including music concerts, bradshaw reached out to moten and invited her as a guest on her television show to talk about her downtime during the covid-19 shutdown since she'd been used to traveling and singing backup for headliners like vince gill. Soon after their interview, bradshaw reached out to moten again about one line of a song she'd written in 1992 that she'd like to finish, but bradshaw doesn't sing or play an instrument. Moten put bradshaw in touch with her longtime partner, bass guitar player and songwriter david santos, who was also home during the covid-19 shutdowns, along with all performers and musicians in nashville. Santos liked the one line bradshaw had written about her grandfather's death in 1992 and the two collaborated on the writing the rest of the song, now titled this beautiful life. Santos has worked with some of the greats, like bob seger, elton john and crosby, stills & nash so he reached out to his friends in the business in nashville when it came time to produce the song. By now, in its finished form, it had become a song about the loss of bradshaw's husband after receiving a double-lung transplant at the age of 35 and bradshaw raising their young son without him, who was now 21 years old. Santos wrote and produced the music for this beautiful life; bradshaw wrote the melody and lyrics; and he called in some favors to his musician friends, including producer peter young; denny hemingson (steel guitar player with tim mcgraw); and jimmy nichols (faith hill's music director). Aly cutter performed vocals. Bradshaw then reached out to donate life america (dla), a nonprofit organization leading its national partners and donate life state teams to increase the number of donated organs, eyes and tissues available to save and heal lives through transplantation while developing a culture where donation is embraced as a fundamental human responsibility. Bradshaw proposed that the dwp and dla partner on the release of the song through their social media platforms and websites, and share any donations raised from downloads of the song. The two organizations partnered and also did a call out for people connected to organ donation (as recipients or families of donors) to send photos of themselves and loved ones for inclusion in the music video for this beautiful life. We received 100s of photos and included as many as possible in the video. The song and message shared the common goal of people who are involved in either side of organ donation. Not everyone survives, but organ donation gives families a change to try and go on to live a don't wait life. After the initial release of this beautiful life and its music video on the dwp and dla websites, bradshaw submitted it to streaming options, including spotify, itunes, amazon music and iheart radio, and the song remains a fundraiser for both the dwp and dla.”

“Don't wait to gather around the table in 2018, after the devastating carr fire that took place in northern california within shasta county, life of wood (a local furniture manufacturing company) reached out to the don't wait project regarding an idea to gift furniture to people who had lost their homes in the carr fire. This idea evolved into life of wood committing a donation of 50,000 to the manufacturing and distributing of dining tables made from the wood it imports from costa rica and manufactures in redding, california, which is located in shasta county. Life of wood paid for travel expenses for dwp founder lisa bradshaw to visit shasta county in november of 2018 and begin on-camera interviews with people who were impacted by the fire, including residents, first responders, volunteers and business owners. This began phase one of the gathering around the table project. Phase two took place in november of 2019 when bradshaw returned to redding for progress interviews within the community. At this time, life of wood and the don't wait project launched gathering around the table, inviting shasta county residents through the support of local media and social media to share their carr fire stories. These stories were later read by a volunteer committee, then families were selected to receive a donated dining table from life of wood. The effort of this project is both storytelling and encouraging family togetherness in the aftermath of this tragic fire. The collected interviews became part of an ongoing video project produced by the don't wait project. The selection of winners of the tables was delayed in 2020 due to covid-19. Travel and gathering restrictions made traveling to redding and filming the stories of various submissions impossible, so the process was delayed but resumed in the summer of 2020 when six families were selected by the committee based on the stories submitted either by the families themselves or members of the community who nominated them. On september 18 and 25, 2020 the families were invited as guests on the dwp founder's television show, life with lisa bradshaw, via zoom. They were interviewed by lisa bradshaw and joined remotely by life of wood owner jerry agee. The families told their stories, and at the end of the interview, each family was surprised when told they had been selected as the winners of a dining room table. Each of them cried tears of joy, not only for the tables, but for the opportunity to share their stories and come together as a community, focusing on the good that can come from such a tragedy. While supply chain and import delays, as well as covid-19 cases amongst life of wood employees, caused unavoidable delays into 2021, so far, three of the six custom-made tables have been delivered to the selected families and the remaining four tables will be delivered by the end of december 2021.”