Reasons
Why
You’ll Love
Scott Harrison
ISPA
CONFE
REN
KEYNO CE
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SPEAKE
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WEDNE
SDAY, O
CT. 21
BY MAE MAÑACAP-JOHNSON
s founder of charity:water and this year’s ISPA
Conference & Expo General Session Keynote
speaker, Scott Harrison has lived a life as inspiring as the stories he tells. Raised in a Christian
home, he strayed and lived a worldly life as a
nightlife promoter for 10 years before he realized how empty and meaningless his life was. “I was always
chasing the wrong things,” he recalls.
Lost but committed to finding his way back, he took a leap of
faith, gave up his lavish lifestyle and committed one year of his
life to service. Little did he know that one year was merely the
beginning of a lifetime of commitment to charity and service.
With his inspiring journey, there are many more reasons to
love Harrison—let us count the ways.
1.
He became his mother’s
caregiver at a young age.
When Harrison was only four
years old, his mother—then a journalist—suffered irreparable damage to her
immune system due to carbon monoxide
poisoning. The family just moved to their
new house when the poisonous gas
leaked from a tiny crack in a furnace. “I
basically watched my mom go from this
vibrant woman to an invalid. Anything
with chemicals—soap, fragrance or even
ink from books—made her sick,” he says.
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October 2015
2.
He went through and
survived a rebellious
phase.
He grew up very active in church as a
young kid, but took a wayward path
during his adolescent years. At 18, he
moved to New York and was quickly
drawn into the nightlife scene, working as
a club promoter. He was living large in the
company of the rich and beautiful, partying hard and drinking harder. “I was a
mess,” he admits, recalling the lifestyle he
lived.
A decade later, he had a rude awakening: Despite all the status and money, he
realized he was emotionally, morally and
spiritually bankrupt. It was then he
decided to give a year in service as a way
to slowly redeem himself for wasting 10
years of his life.
3.
He was turned down by
every single humanitarian organization he
applied for as a volunteer—
except Mercy Ships.