Although this is my fifth interview with Paul Greene (find links to my other interviews with him at the end of this article), please note that this one is a bit different from the previous ones. As some of you may be aware, Paul is an amazing advocate for ALS, a disease which claimed the life of his father a few years ago. Because Paul is a man of action, he decided to create a tangible way to raise funds for an organization that is leading the way in ALS research. Paul’s event, Art for ALS, has been underway for a few weeks at this point, and when he requested assistance in spreading the word through an impromptu interview, I immediately jumped at the chance.

RH: Paul, I’m glad we are able to chat tonight about your current project, which seems to be keeping you quite busy.

PG: Yes, the Art for ALS auction is going on currently, and people are asking me if this will be an annual thing. My response is, “Well, it’s a great deal of work for sure for everyone involved.” So I’m not certain if this will be an annual thing. It’s quite a bit of a time commitment every day to make this thing continue to move forward. But hopefully, we’ll be up for doing it every year. When you’re in the throes of doing it, it’s hard to say. But I’m sure when it’s done and we’re all excited, we’ll all be like, “Yeah, all right, let’s do it again.”

I’ve not ever done anything like you’re doing on such a grand scale. I once was involved in a local high school live auction, but it’s clear this is much bigger than what you’re doing.

I have to say I’m learning quite a lot through the process. I’m really learning a lot about the social media aspect of it, and so that’s a great outcome of this event. And of course, I really believe in the cause. I have a lot at stake with the cause, so that’s why I’m doing it. I have a great deal of respect for people who do nothing but nonprofit stuff ’cause there is a lot of work.

And it’s uncomfortable. You’re asking people to volunteer their money or their time. It’s good because you’re daily challenging yourself to get out of your comfort zone. And that’s kind of what I live for.

I can relate. I regularly step outside of my comfort zone as well, so I understand in a way. Over the past couple of years, I have done a lot of things that I would never thought of doing nor even thought I could do. 

Thanks for doing this. I just think it can’t hurt to get a little bit of extra word out. Your audience is very similar to the audience we would be interested in reaching. We are expanding beyond the Hearties because we are getting some other prizes in that might relate to a broader audience. But there’s no shortage of fun things for Hearties to experience. I appreciate when you and anyone else share our items. Retweeting and sharing organically really helps get the word out. Sometimes it just takes a bunch of shares to find the one person who is going to donate or bid on something, so that’s really helpful.

I know that the Hearties and I, as well as others, are only happy to share when we can. I also like the fact that we can just donate if we don’t want to bid on anything or buy a raffle ticket. And I was really glad when you guys expanded to Instagram because I’ve been able to share on there too, and I’m sure others have as well.  I have found that Instagram can be good for marketing. 

Yes, it’s a different type of involvement than Twitter or Facebook. It’s interesting how social media has changed so much over the past couple of years. People use all these platforms for things that were never used before. I think Twitter especially is being used as a communication tool, whereas before I don’t think it was used quite in that way. In fact, I understand that Twitter is now used in Nielsen ratings for When Calls the Heart and other shows. Somehow they value tweets in terms of how they raise a show for views, though I don’t know how that works.

Yeah, I’ve heard that too, but I don’t understand it all either. Now, someone did ask me a question about the process of going to the page and bidding on something. They’d like to know how they are going to know if they won or not.

That’s a great question. We have a random number generator that’s going to generate the winning number. Whenever someone buys a ticket, it generates a digital coupon, a digital code for us to track. We have everyone’s email and everyone’s name and some people’s phone numbers. Every ticket is assigned to the account that purchased it. So if they buy ten, twenty, or however many tickets, each one of those numbers is associated with their specific user name and email that they put into the system. That’s why they have to create an account. So we have a random number generator that’s going to generate numbers. And then that random number generator will pick the winner. And then the winner will be contacted.

Eric Roberts recently donated a thirty-minute Skype phone call; that was very generous of him. It’s just so freaking cool. I did a movie with him a little while back, and so he just did that, and it is up on the site right now. You can buy a raffle ticket for the chance. He’s a big philanthropist, and he likes to help out when he can.

We are working on a bunch of other cool things too. The reason we wanted to do a raffle is that it’s like a sweepstakes. It’s so people wouldn’t think they had to come up with a large amount of money to be in the game. For just ten dollars, they are able to have the possibility of winning the whole prize. But the more tickets they buy, the more their odds of winning go up.

Originally the event was supposed to last a week, but now it’s been extended to a month. Can you explain why that happened?

We extended it to end March 21st because we only gave ourselves a week. Once we got started, we realized that the company we had chosen had no sharing ability. We weren’t able to do any social sharing. You might remember that Facebook did a big update, and that messed up all their code for nonprofit companies when they share. So the company had to rebuild and reshare all of their share tokens. We just got shareability a little over a week ago. So that’s one of the reasons we extended the event.

Another reason is that we were looking to connect with bigger news outlets in order to get more momentum and more visibility. We realized that a week was just not enough time to do that. You know, the Ice Bucket Challenge lasted a year or more. And now that we look at it, we’re actually thinking we should have maybe given ourselves more time, but you know how it is. It does take time for some big things to happen sometimes. I guess we’ll know better next time. But we are moving along and that’s a good thing. Thankfully, we did give ourselves more time.

We also extended it just because we needed more momentum. We needed more visibility. We needed to be able to get this event in front of more people. Initially, we misgauged a little bit in light of the size of our goal which is $200,000. We realized we needed more time to make this a success and to reach our goal. And really, this is still a lofty goal for us.

Well, I would say that if you’re gonna have a goal, you might as well go for a big one. I still think it’s attainable. I’ve thought a lot about it, and even if all the Hearties were to give one dollar, we’d easily surpass that goal. I think sometimes people don’t realize the impact of giving small gifts. Sometimes you feel like giving five dollars is nothing. But if everyone gives five dollars, think of the difference it would make.

And that’s what our next phase is. We want to inspire the five to twenty-five dollar donations and the ten dollar raffles. As of late last week, there was still $144,000 left in those raffle tickets. If all of those sold, that’s how much money would be donated. If someone is willing to spend just ten dollars on a raffle ticket, they are then entered for one of these wonderful prizes. We want this to be fun and accessible while still raising money for ALS research. We are always open to other ideas if people are willing to share.

I am with you one hundred percent. There are some nice prizes, and if everyone can just purchase a ten-dollar raffle ticket, this is an amazing opportunity to give and to maybe get something really great. I’ve done enough of these giveaways on my blog to know this. When I have these giveaways, while some people will enter multiple times, when it’s time for the random number generator to pick the person who won, sometimes it’s not the person who entered the most. There are times when it was that person who only entered once. So you never know. I’m always amazed at who wins my giveaways, and no doubt, that will hold true with these raffles you’re doing. 

That’s a great story, Ruth. True, you never know who’s going to win. But also, giving to this charity really is making a difference. This disease really needs funding and they’re excited about the progress they’re making. Especially the people I’m working with–the TDI–they are just in phase one of human trials with this drug. Their need for money is quite dramatically large, but the amount of money that we have raised will really help them get to a milestone and to be able to get this drug to market quickly. The trouble is that ALS moves so fast. The truth is that these poor people who have it right now…it’s really a race against the clock because every day, they’re losing muscle from where the nerve is no longer firing properly. And the drug that they’ve developed at TDI is completely from their nonprofit. That’s the cool thing about it.

Now, if some people wonder why I chose TDI, I am happy to fill you in. I chose them because they are the only nonprofit biotech lab that’s one hundred percent dedicated to ALS. That’s all they do. They’re not in bed with big pharmaceutical companies or anybody. They’re just a family where this young guy was affected by ALS. Their family had money, and they had scientists in the family. And they raised money to get started on a lab that could help find a cure for ALS. And this lab is just for ALS. The TDI is a pretty cool story. And it’s the reason I chose them.

The money we raised last year went towards this precision medicine machine that really helped them get to the next level.  We want to help them get to the next level by the money we raise this year.

On a personal level, instead of just sitting around being scared of this disease, I decided I would do whatever I could and do something to create a possibility that other sons like me won’t have to lose their father or their uncle or their brother or their grandpa. It is a very quick, debilitating disease, and it’s scary. Every ninety minutes in the U.S., someone gets ALS. It’s definitely rising in its awareness and becoming a more prominent neurological disorder. But it’s not like MS or any of the other ones. This one takes you out within a year or two. Maybe three, if you’re lucky. The odd person will live if they have some other disease that keeps them alive. Like Stephen Hawking has a form of ALS.

So all that’s why I’m doing it. I have a son, and although we don’t think my dad’s case is familial–we think it was environmental toxicity from being in oil and gas for forty years and never detoxing. It’s caused us to go down the road of detoxification and environmental awareness of toxins that are in our air, water, and food and how that affects our nervous system once it reaches a level in our body where it can no longer hide in the bone marrow or the blood. So all of that has raised our awareness about how our bodies function. I want to make sure that I’m doing everything I can to move out of the fear zone into an action zone. Fear can either make you freeze with paralysis or it can get you into massive action. I just chose to do something about it.

And I’m glad you have chosen to do something about it, Paul. I only had heard of ALS through the Ice Bucket Challenge, but until I connected with you and heard your story, ALS was just something I knew about. I didn’t know anyone who had been affected by it or anything like that. And when you told your story, you put a face on the disease, and that caused me to want to help out in any way I could. When it’s not personal, it’s easy to be dismissive and think, “Well, it doesn’t affect me, so I don’t need to worry about it.” 

You are exactly right. There’s so much out there that is already affecting people in their lives and that are demanding their attention and their support. So how does someone support something that they don’t see and that isn’t affecting them? It’s not like cancer. Everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer. So when people come around requesting money for cancer charity work, people are typically willing to give. And that’s part of the challenge in funding the work around ALS and the race against time. For those that have it, every day is a big tick off of their time clock. So it’s an interesting challenge.

When I saw you on Home & Family talking about this, I wasn’t aware that you and Debbie {Matenopoulos} both lost your fathers to ALS. 

Yeah, and it really affects her too. You watch her, and you can just tell.

Oh, yeah, and I think watching both of you being so open and honest and sharing that really struck a chord with me and hopefully with others. It makes you not want anyone else to go through that. And I know people have also shared stories on the event page.

Oh yes, there’s around a hundred and forty different stories people have shared about how ALS has affected them and their families personally. The stories are so compelling and touching, so I would encourage people to read those stories. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do a Facebook live where I can read some of those stories.

And I understand that you guys are still actively adding things to the auction.

Yes, as things come in, we are adding them. There are some things that we have been working on for a while. And we are trying to broaden the scope a little beyond the scope of the Hearties. The Hearties have been so generous, but we also want to give other folks a chance who might not know about our show. We are still working on a few things, but as soon as we can, we’ll add them and share.

I know that sometimes people say they’ve already checked out the items, but they probably should check again if they haven’t in a while.

Yes, we will be continuing to update, sometimes daily when we can. While we don’t want to over-pound people with information, we still want to make sure that we get the word out and let people know. I understand it can be a bit of a challenge because there’s so much information out there right now and a lot that is happening in people’s lives every day. How do we break through the doorways without totally bombarding people?

Well, I do think that a lot of the Hearties understand that retweeting something is one of the best and easiest ways to get the word out. They know about trending stuff, and this is a similar principle to that. 

Absolutely. At the heart of this, I’m doing this for my dad so that other people will not have to go through what I did when I lost my dad to ALS. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate how much the Hearties have shared. I may still share some of my “movie memorabilia” as other raffle items. I know there’s the retractable nurse badge from my movie Anything For Love, and I’m considering offering that as an inexpensive raffle item. And I would say to be on the lookout for other items that continue to come in. I also cannot thank Jordan Blackstone and Janette Stephens enough for their hours of work behind the scenes. I couldn’t have done this event without their help. They have a ton of energy and enthusiasm, and I am lucky to have them on my team.

Paul, I will be sure to share all of this, and I cannot thank you enough for sharing. And just as a side note, I loved seeing Ali Liebert join the cast. I realize in this most recent episode that she left Hope Valley, but I still like seeing you both together. I thought she was a perfect fit for the show.

I agree. She’s a terrific actor. I guess you saw how this last episode played out. I wish I could give away more of the season.

No spoilers, please. I am one of the few who doesn’t like spoilers. I try to stay away from trailers and sneak peaks as much as possible. I know that most of the Hearties are pushing for Carson and Faith to be together.

True, but I will say to the Hearties that there really is no romantic relationship between those two characters as of yet.

True. I tend to think some of them have created the idea of romance in their minds.

Don’t get me wrong. Andrea {Brooks} is amazing too. But I hope that all of the Hearties stick around for the whole season and watch the plot unfold. I will not give anything away.

Paul, thank you again for your kindness. And I wish you all the best with this event.

Thank you, Ruth. I appreciate your support and the support of the Hearties and everyone else. Let’s end this debilitating disease together.

Again, while I realize this might be a somewhat unorthodox interview, I believe I can safely state that “extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.” Time is literally running out for this event as well as those affected by the disease. I seriously would not ask any of my readers to do anything that I myself wouldn’t do. So far, I have donated money twice (two small sums) and bought a raffle ticket (I just couldn’t help myself). I don’t expect all of my readers to be able or to be inclined to buy a raffle ticket or donate outright, but let me emphasize just as Paul did: No donation is too small, and even the purchase of one raffle ticket ensures that this money is going directly to help terminate this devastating disease. However, if you are unable to donate at this time, would you consider sharing either this post or perhaps visiting the event page and/or social media pages listed below and taking a moment to share/reshare? It is far too simple for us to get bogged down in our daily lives and become egocentric (not a criticism, I promise, as it happens to me too); after all, that’s just human nature. Notwithstanding, when you make the decision to forego your personal difficulties and concerns while focusing on others’ needs, it’s amazing how your perspective can shift. And there is nothing better than realizing that your modest gift and/or share has made a definite difference. In the Western world, we regularly neglect our sense of community and concentrate on the individual and what affects us personally. But these astounding statistics assure us (unfortunately) that if something does not change and a cure is not found, one day in the not-too-distant future, we will be the ones who are facing the death of a loved one or possibly even our own mortality. 

Thank you to everyone for taking a moment from your day and purposing to spend it reading and supporting this worthy cause. Check out all the links below and remember: This event ends March 21st! So let’s get sharing, donating, sharing, donating, and then do it all over again! Oh, and don’t forget to watch When Calls the Heart on the Hallmark Channel every Sunday night to see more of our favorite Dr. Carson played by the incomparable Paul Greene! I promise you, this man is a charming, generous anomaly in the world of acting, and I will be forever grateful that he continues to pursue his passions with an indefatigable ferocity that few possess in this sometimes cynical, unkind world of ours. Indeed, his inner light can illuminate and disperse the doldrums of any dreary, bleak day!

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MY PAST INTERVIEWS WITH PAUL

Interview With Actor Paul Greene

Interview With Actor Paul Greene, “When Calls the Heart”

Interview With Actor Paul Greene, “My Favorite Wedding”

Interview With Actor Paul Greene, “Christmas In Angel Falls”

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