A soft glow of a brilliant sunset stretches across the plains of Zambia, Africa. The persistent rushing of a waterfall calms the spirit of young workers putting their blistering, working hands to rest. Meanwhile hundreds of children roam the dirt roads longing for nourishment gazing up at the sky talking to the stars. Some of them will not make it home tonight.
A Manhattan sunrise awakes businessmen in a high-rise apartment complex as the light peaks in their windows. The glimmering flash of sunlight bounces off the massive glass planes on seemingly every skyscraper. New York City looks flashy, especially today. The population is out spending money on the latest fashions and their morning cup of coffee at Starbucks.
The walk to work is tedious and anyone stopping a New Yorker’s stride is quickly thrown to the side like a dead animal. A man dressed in a button-down shirt and khakis with a lanyard that reads “Dylan” desperately tries to catch even an eye’s peripheral of attention. He is friendly, outgoing, and funny and attracts even the most stubborn of individuals. His mission is simple, to reach the hundreds of children in third-world countries across the globe by recruiting New Yorkers to adopt a child who needs 70 cent a day. 70 cents a day will provide the child with better healthcare, a nutritious meal, an education, and a higher self-esteem.
Dylan Marshall Chapman was born October 5th, 1983 in Amite, Louisiana. His accent is heavy, but so is the weight he must carry in order to carry out his mission. With two children, both of them girls, a 19th month old and a 2-week old, Chapman hardly has the strength to stand on the corners of New York City all day and get ruthlessly denied. Chapman’s role model is his wife of 3 years, attributing most of his outstanding qualities to her.
Chapman grew up in the church, attending a small private school K-12, Oakforest Academy. He is heavily involved doing volunteer work for his church to this day plans to be a regular staff member. His pastor of his church, whom he spiritually and personally relates to, moved to New York City. Chapman followed in this righteous path and worked at Orpheus, a drugstore in New York City.
Working retail at Orpheus, although a meaningless job to most, actually attributes to most of Chapman’s desire to help people. “I loved working with people, I always was in some kind of sales getting people to take action with something,” he said. Chapman returned to his hometown to work at a plant. After spending some time in Louisiana, Chapman moved back to New York to job hunt online.
Dialogue Direct, a fundraising company affiliated with other organizations appeared under Chapman’s job hunt. Chapman needed a job to support his wife and his two little girls and Dialogue Direct seemed to fit his need. “I figured I could be much more passionate about helping children than selling clothes…,” he said. Children International was Chapman’s epiphany.
Chapman’s mission is to try to recruit individuals who would be willing to sponsor a child living in a third-world country. For less than the daily trip to Starbucks, a New Yorker can step outside their urban mindset and give back to the world. To put the numbers in perspective, 70 cents is $22 per month and $264 per year. Or, as Chapman so New York-ly put it, 2 martini’s a month.
Hundreds of beggars and salespeople flood the jungles of New York every day, so Chapman expects rejection. New York’s fast paced, money driven nature makes Chapman’s task a hit-or-miss. “They may dressed in the business suits, but that doesn’t mean everything’s going great for them.” “They are nice people, it’s a numbers game, and you present yourself in such a way when a nice person sees you they can’t help, but stop.”
With the hustle and bustle of New York City, charities hold a spot in the back of the heads of even the best of people. “Since working here it has opened my eyes a lot, so I can identify with people on the street that I meet on the street that aren’t bad people because they never thought about it, I’ve been in their shoes,” Chapman pointed out.
Chapman supports his family with his job at Children International and is able to expand the dreams of hundreds of children all over the world. “There’s a difference between believing in it and actually stepping out and doing it,” he said. Chapman’s passion for helping people came from a little retail store and for just a fraction of the cost of a little cup of coffee, New Yorkers can change the world.
