Champions of Inspiration - David and Jordana Gresen

foreign you know didn't like Hebrew school after Barbara Mitzvah didn't really do much as far as religion except for the high holy days I always say like we would have the brisket at the holiday and that was the holiday but there was really no meaning behind it so I always felt really proud to be Jewish but I also felt disconnected we started to get involved just in our own religion more when our daughter said she wanted to go to Hebrew school we sent our daughter to the Chabad and she loved it and I said you know what I maybe I should go meet the rabbi see what this is all about I got involved became friendly with him and that's when I guess the spark started in me where I was getting more interested of just meeting some wonderful people it kind of wet my appetite when I met my business associate at the at the business event and he told me about the jwrp trip that's what I said you know maybe I'll check it out and he came home like a changed person he couldn't stop talking about the trip and how amazing it was and how amazing the guys were and the presentations and how much Israel was so wonderful he had never been there before and so he said you have to go on this trip and I said I don't know I'm not really sure if I want to go and I'm nervous about it and he literally signed me up the trip really was amazing but I was sick unfortunately I think I got sick after maybe just the second day on the trip fever the whole deal the second level trip came up and then at that point I called her and I said I know you had a very awkward uncomfortable situation your first trip and I said would you care to do a do-over and be my roommate and she said I would love to so that was the beginning of our friendship and we became ultimately best friends and since then we have been on many trips together we've always roomed together and we're like Inseparable I just keep learning and now I just want to learn more and more all of what I've learned all of the Judaism through project inspire all of the inspirational talks and everything put together it's really just made me a better person and I think that's what it's all about and that's what I'm working on for the average certainly from person but for anybody you get to a certain age in life and you tend to think like hey this is who I am and I'm just gonna kind of ride it out and I think if there's one thing you can learn from Dave and Jordana that's a really unfortunate and misguided way to view life it's just never too late to be able to say I'm going to change now Jordana and Dave are incredible people they are such givers and they are so open to learning and growing they've opened up their home to us so many times and my wife and I have become very close with them every time we leave there we feel a little more inspired or a little smarter or just a little more connected he's just learned and grown and changed just you know a better person for it now he goes to shul every every weekend he's there every Saturday he's actually now the Gabby in our shul my life looks very different because of him he's very real uh he is he has a great sense of humor he will bust your chops and he will also be as supportive of a friend as uh as you could ever have he's very sincere and he's so good you know he's just such a good guy he's so easy to like he just brings a lighthearted attitude towards everything and he is someone who is a you know is a role model for me Jordana is one of the most humble loving caring people I know she always knows where my glasses are when I can't find them she's really stuck with it you know and she's and she's grown and she wants to learn and she wants to turn her life you know you know eval she is the one that deserves to be honored because of you know if it wasn't for for Jordana I wouldn't have been able to go she is definitely the spearhead in our family she brings it all together she organizes whatever needs to be organized everybody loves Jordana it was the end of 2018 into 2019 I had sinus cancer and it was pretty pretty uh you know stage four and went through some pretty difficult physical treatments I remember when Dave got sick I didn't understand it I didn't understand why I didn't understand how um and I was I was very very very very very upset and our whole Community was upset um and people came together to Rally around him to give him the strength to to go to get through you know whatever he needed to get through um and I saw people you know coming to his house to to to to learn I they were they were you know prayer group started on his behalf our trip from 2018 did a regular learning on lotion Hara uh for for a year and that was kind of first of all the the lessons were wonderful but the inspiration and seeing David get better as we were learning about that was certainly something uh you know beyond this realm having the project Inspire friends praying and and learning on his behalf and then he was able to see that really kept him kept his strength and he was really the strongest person I've ever seen you know going through what he went through he really stayed tough the reason why I knew it was going to be okay is because of all the learning that I've done the way he carried him himself through that time was inspiring you know he never complained he always was looking forward he was like Bring it on Bring on the medication give me what I need because I got a lot of living to do and I got a lot of things to do and and I found that to be you know very inspiring for me and and really helped you know shape how I see the world today to be honored like this and to be able to support an organization such as project conspire it's it's a no-brainer can't thank them enough I wish for Dave and Jordana that they should continue their growth that they should continue to embrace their community and reach out to their community and make a a big connection and continue their link with project inspire and inspire their children and their families and continue to inspire their friends [Music]