Hello friends!
By near miracle, I’m sitting at the office writing to you post-Rescue, surrounded by the noisy hum of roadies, interns and staff working steadfastly to the end, getting in all the thank yous, tying up loose ends, reuniting after weeks and weeks on the road. It feels surreal to be on the other end of the Rescue- we really did it. For a lot of us, this is our final week in the office, so the Rescue wrap-up is bittersweet. For those of you who aren’t here to celebrate the Rescue victory with us, we are eternally grateful to you, and you will surely be hearing from us soon. Thank you for being apart of the movement with us.
April 25th found us scattered across the globe, hosting Rescue rallies from Sydney, Australia to Toronto, Canada to Los Angeles, California. 100 cities came together in solidarity with child soldiers in central East Africa, symbollically abducting ourselves for the abducted. Thousands of you came out to show your support. We were committed. We weren’t leaving until every city was rescued. Just weeks before the Rescue, we came up with the idea of Rescue Riders. Inspired by revolutionaries that championed the civil rights movement as ‘Freedom Riders’ we knew we had a heavy torch to carry, and we could only go by bus. For every city that waited to be ‘rescued’ by a mogul (see: celebrity/senator/public figure) we would roll up in their town as reinforcements, travelling across the country in fleets: the Rescue Riders courageously fought through near-tornados, broken down vehicles, caution of peers and parents who awaited calls from Denny’s restaurants across the country. But we soldiered on.
We slept in parks, our numbers grew, and the world took notice. We were the most twittered for days, CNN tracked us from city to city. Celebrities came out to lend a hand. Senators soon followed. Our mogulus livefeed turned resident staffers into internet wonders, leaving thousands captivated by the real-time play by play of the Rescue as it unfolded. From office antics, to a spontaneous road-trip tracking rescue rider stories along the way. The world watched, and we waited.
The final unrescued city was none other than Chicago, Illinois. Home of the deep dish pizza, ms. Oprah Winfrey and that relentless wind. We united in a Braveheart-esque scene, running towards the Chicago group (hundreds strong) with our flags and banners; this is the part where you watch in slow motion and swallow tears because this is history, and we’re making it. Hundreds of us rallied together, bundled in northface jackets, rain boots and scarves (the sunny California crew prepared for the worst). Our mission: Oprah Winfrey to the Rescue. We weren’t sure what that would look like, but we knew it was Ms. Winfrey or Bust.
A product of sheer exhaustion, desperation and simple genius- Jason Russell choreographed a little number for all 400 of us to perform right outside Harpo Studios, resurrecting the war cry of Bono himself through a Rescue version of (Pride) In the Name of Love…Oprah Come and Rescue Us! And we did, marching the streets, cheering and singing, redefining activism, rewriting the rules- no violence, no silent fasting, we were singing and screaming it.
It wasn’t over then. Lady O didn’t show, but we refused to give up. Despite the rain that soaked our last pair of socks, and the thin and palpable doubt that began to slip from our tongues (would this really work? was she ever going to show? will we be left in Chicago for good?) No one had the answers, but we still had to believe.
At 11pm that night, we devised a ridiculous plan that could either be our biggest failure or our greatest success. We rooted for the latter. We would surround her studio once again and stand with parted fingers in the air- peace signs up, and wait. For hours we stood in silence, reflecting on this epic ride, on our fleeting energy, on our last hope riding all on this one woman.
At 6am Oprah emerged, like a glorious sunrise in her yellow tracksuit (too much? too much.) No one moved, we stood stoically. Once she found out why were were there, in less than an hour we were on Oprah live- as she opened her show, just before Hugh Jackman, she talked with Bobby about why we were there. With an Oprah-approved clap she recited our website “invisiblechildren.com”. We couldn’t believe it, 7 minutes of Oprah time. We never imagined we would be on the show! Looking out at the faces of every Rescue Rider, Roadie, Staff- there was a collective relief, a sense of accomplishment, the tears and laughter of the hundreds who listened to the word impossible, but never believed it. We did it. 100 cities rescued, with a final hooray sung by a choir of renegades, to the tune of Oprah Winfrey and millions who had just seen our faces. It was nothing short of magical, the kind of end none of us could’ve dreamed up, so we had to believe there was a bigger hand over all of it.
As we wearily travelled home, dropping off Rescue Riders in all their homestates, we planted our feet back on San Diego ground, a place that felt a little more like home with people that felt a little more like family. We couldn’t have done any of it without the thousands who joined us. Our words will never do, but we want you all to know that you are apart of this community, you are the hands and the feet, you’re the snacks and the couches and phonecalls, you are the ones we laughed with and knew only briefly, you are the ones who moved this movement. We thank you, and we’re honored to have you with us as we begin the next chapter: Hello Lobby Days!
Our dear friends at Causecast Rescue Rode with us and made this supercool video- Thanks Levi! Check it out!
The Rescue was more than an event, it was more than Oprah, it was the witness of that bigger thing- the thing some people only catch in glimpses, it was the whole world watching us laugh at doubt and dance in hope.
