Joe Lake - The Miracle Worker

Rob Lowe & Joe Lake at a Fundraiser
for  Children's Miracle Network

As Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of the Children's Miracle Network (CMN), Joe Lake helped raise more than five billion dollars for children in need.  Yes, that's a "B" as in billion. Validating his leadership in the non-profit world, USA Today recently called CMN the number one charity in America.

Pulling Lake out of retirement, Operation Underground Railroad is hoping to harness his 32 years of experience to help rescue more children. “Having Joe on the team is invaluable. He is the Stephen Spielberg of non-profit and cause marketing,” said Tim Ballard, O.U.R. Founder and CEO. 

With a tounge and cheek grin, Lake smiles when he tells people he “flunked” retirement. “I haven’t been this excited about a charity since I started CMN,” Lake exclaims. “I started with CMN, I’ll end my career here. OUR will be my swan song,” Lake adds.  

“I was just blown away when I heard what Tim Ballard had been doing as a CIA guy and helping that father from Haiti whose little boy was taken from church. I said, ‘Absolutely. Whatever I can do.’”

Since then, Lake has been working at a fast and furious pace, organizing fundraisers and running training meetings to help people who know how to rescue children figure out how to run a non-profit organization like a fortune 500 company.

Lake is currently planning two huge fundraising galas, one on each coast.  The first one will be held October 17^th in Los Angeles at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel in Century City.

Hyatt Regency Century Plaza where the L.A. Gala will be Held

The contract is signed. Some of the talent is already committed. We’re working on a list of celebrities to attend, walk the red carpet and sit at a sponsor’s table so that there’s a celebrity at most of the tables. It will be a blockbuster event!

We’re trying to get corporations to underwrite all of the hard costs like travel for the celebrities, music, licensing rights, whatever are the costs of doing this thing we want a corporation to underwrite it. We’re going after title sponsors first. It’s easier to have one company pay for everything than it is to go after 15 different sponsors for little segments. What we want is one hundred percent of the ticket price for each individual to go to these rescues.

The gala in L.A. is expected to attract at least four hundred guests and will be covered by ABC7 Los Angeles.  The TV station will be making public service announcements and using their own on-air talent to cover the event which will provide a lot of exposure for O.U.R. The recorded footage will then be edited and used for other types of fundraisers.

“I’m a great believer in monetizing what we do over and over and over again.  If we film it in high definition quality then we can monetize it by selling advertising for a TV station,” said Lake.

The second fundraising gala is planned for Washington D.C. November 1^st and will be packed with high profile politicians and influencers. Joe Lake is working just as hard to get this east cost project off the ground.

“I’m helping to get sponsors for it and doing the media and the black-tie thing, putting together the package for them to use in the sales kit to show sponsors what they can get. It’s really difficult for me to comprehend doing two black-tie galas two weeks apart on two different coasts. I haven’t done that before quite that quick.”

The Abolitionists Film Crew in Nicaragua

And if that isn’t enough, Lake is planning a third event in New York City to coincide with the major release of the movie about O.U.R. called The Abolitionists that is expected to come out some time in the beginning of the new year. The exact date is still to be determined.

The enthusiasm Joe Lake has for O.U.R. and their mission of rescuing trafficked children is obvious. “It is the biggest epidemic on the planet as it affects children and future lives for generations. We save one kid, we’re saving a generation. Imagine the number of kids we’re going to save with the number of kids we’re rescuing.”

Yes, just imagine.