Posted on September 7, 2012 @ 1:14 pm by tmeyers

RALLY REDUX! Kenny Lapins on His EPIC Experience(s)

Writer Kenny Lapins has volunteered for not one but two EPIC rallies. And we certainly are lucky to have this brilliant dude in our orbit. (So are the nonprofits he worked with.) We recently asked the hat-loving poet to explain how and why he found time in his busy schedule to be an EPIC volunteer — two times over.

EPIC: You’re a busy guy. Why did you apply to be an EPIC rally team? In your case, you’ve been on two eight-week rallies. How in the world did that happen?

KENNY: As an advertising copywriter, I ply my art in the name of commerce. The terrifying specter hangs over my head every day that I could be called upon at my agency to write copy selling cigarettes or some other equally unrewarding product. So I jumped at the opportunity to participate in an EPIC rally that benefited a charitable nonprofit. As a matter of fact, participating in a rally benefits two nonprofits: the client and EPIC itself. The idea behind EPIC is brilliant: tap into the jaded but eminently talented pool of creatives in a big city and provide them with a humanitarian release by pairing them with a client who can’t afford to work with a huge agency. On my way home from every EPIC meeting — where I did as much hard, creative work as I did during the day at my agency — I felt renewed, refreshed and empowered.

As for having had the opportunity to work on two rallies, how that came about was simple. After my first experience, I hounded and begged my EPIC contacts by email every month until they relented and invited me back. I fully intend to do that again next year. As a matter of fact, let this serve as my first poke at you, EPIC. Pleeeease, pleeeeease let me do another rally. My heart and soul need it.

EPIC: Kenny, you’re welcome any time. Tell us, what did you learn? What were some of the takeaways?

KENNY: As Moliere said, “A man’s true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.” While it feels great to write a check to the United Way, or donate some old clothes to Goodwill, to freely give back to the community using the thing that makes me unique in the world — my ability to write — is the most rewarding. Seeing the look on clients’ faces when we present their new tagline, hearing the gasps in the audience as we show them new designs that will remake their organization and noticing the tears rolling down their cheeks as we unveil their new logo, that is where true professional satisfaction can be found. That’s my main takeaway: EPIC is a force for good — and to be associated with it has been the most rewarding experience of my career.

Kenny’s pretty awesome, isn’t he? Check out his work and Facebook page. 

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