H.E.L.P. is Hope Extended by Loving People

What is H.E.L.P.?

H.E.L.P is the non-profit arm of the Succelsior brand which is dedicated to changing the way we look at "help."

All too often in today's world, the concept of "help" has changed into a synonym for unwarranted assistance. Too many of us now see "help" from a negative perspective: Someone who needs "help" is someone looking for a handout, to be given something they aren't willing to work for themselves Someone who offers "help" to one of these people is a sucker for doing it.

The mission of Succelsior H.E.L.P. is to change this mindset regarding "help" back to its original form.  Help is assistance offered to someone who needs it by someone who can provide it.  So, in its purest form, HELP truly is "Hope Extended by Loving People." 

History of Succelsior H.E.L.P.

In Oct 2008, Jeff's wife Melissa was diagnosed with a severe case of Multiple Sclerosis.  In a single moment, this diagnosis forever changed not only Melissa's life, but the lives of Jeff and their soon to be family as well.  Many of their life plans needed to be modified or scrapped completely due to the new course their life was set on - a life now lived with Multiple Sclerosis.

Immediately after my wife's diagnosis, I felt a wave of helplessness unlike any I had ever felt before.  My wife now had MS and there wasn't anything I could do about it.  I loved her, hugged her and comforted her as much as humanly possible but this wasn't helping me deal with her diagnosis. I have always been a person of action and solutions, but with MS, there weren't any actions or solutions I could take to help her deal with her disease.

In searching for answers to the unanswerable question of "Why?", I came across what I believed to be my answer of how I could help.  If my wife had just joined the population of this world afflicted by Multiple Sclerosis, then I would join the population dedicated to fighting the disease by helping those who have it, those who help treat it and those who are searching for a cure for it.

This answer led me to fundraising, which led me to my first marathon. In June of 2009, I ran my first marathon and in June of 2010, I ran the same marathon again and both improved my time and my performance. The purpose of both marathons was to inspire people to join me in my cause to help the fight against MS. With these two marathons, I raised more than $13,000 to help the fight against MS. During my training for the second marathon, I had a great desire to continue inspiring people to help.

Due to this, I had a vision of finding a consistent and effective way for people to offer HOPE to others who need it - and don't we all need a little HOPE at some point in our lives?

Thus, Succelsior H.E.L.P. was born!

H.E.L.P. Programs:

HELP for M.S. - next HELP for MS program info coming soon

HELP Mentoring - the next inspiration for HELP