please be sure to check out these other popular Trek World videos when you finish this one also if you hit that little like button on the screen right now you will be helping YouTube to show it to more people and give them a chance to discover these unique and fascinating videos as well now I want to take a moment to discuss something far more fundamental to Star Trek fandom now it’s no secret that we live in a world today that is filled with hate fear grief anger and pain in many ways it’s the same world the Gene Roddenberry was living in when he created Star Trek in the 1960s and because of our new moral compass we have a tendency to only look at the negative things a person does in Star Trek this is clearly shown in the way that common fans view Gene Roddenberry today the fact is Gene did many things that as a man we simply cannot condone
but if we set the Judgment aside for just a moment and look at the creative side of Gene Roddenberry we will discover the very fabric of Star Trek that has bound us to each other even after almost 60 years so we’re going to take a look at Gene rhineberry and a humanitarian Outreach that he helped set up before he left us the story will remind us that even today why we called him the great bird of the Galaxy Now ladies and gentlemen allow me to introduce you to Bentley irons his daily life was pretty much just the same as yours or I until an illness took away his ability to walk about a decade ago now family and friends were taking care of his needs that involved walking and I can tell you one thing not being able to walk on your own puts an emotional strain on everyone in your home which is something I discovered for myself about 10 years ago as I was recovering from a motorcycle accident but mentally had an idea and he reached out to the
International Federation of Trekkers in Ohio with a special request what Bentley wanted was a special tricycle that would allow him to use his hands to Pedal the bike rather than his feet now the resulting bike would be much lighter and far more convenient for him to go about with than a traditional motorized wheelchair the Federation started actively fundraising and thanks to donation of Star Trek fans from all around the country the custom-made bike was given to him free of charge by mid-summer now I’d like to introduce you to Mr Russ hassledge like many of us he fostered a desire to be part of something with a larger meaning within the Star Trek community so he reached out to Gene ryanberry in the early 1980s with an idea to start an organization for Star Trek fans but he wanted it to be different from all the little user groups that are already all over the world by that point so he picked up the phone and he called Paramount Pictures where he probably has
to speak to Gene rhineberry while Gene did not answer the phone Susan Sackett did and she took his information and promised she’d pass it on to Gene just shy of two weeks would go by before he answers the phone one day to find himself talking to the great bird of the Galaxy not only did Roddenberry approve of the idea but he committed to work with Russ to get it set up to make a real difference the mission that he gave them go places and help people now over the years rush and Jane formed a strong relationship the kind that may develop between two people who doing something that they both believe would make the world a better place I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I was to hear this from Russ because it reminded me even this hypersensitive world that we have today that it’s nice to be able to step back and see Gene in such a positive light now I spoke with
Russ about the federation’s activities and here’s a synopsis of some of the things that he told me about we currently have 53 chapters around the world that focus on the local needs of the community when there’s a major disaster our HQ offices coordinate all of our assets and volunteers to dispatch aid supplies funds and volunteers to the affected areas some of the most notable missions that I’ve seen in the 38 years of being with the Federation includes several chapters that gave up their holidays to feed a holiday meals to homeless and needy another one is our ongoing mission to Zimbabwe where we have an orphanage that since covet has struck is also take taking care of the elderly we also have several chapters that serve as the local Toys for Tots Center when there’s not a U.S Marines contingent available all chapters are powered by our offices in Huron Ohio from here we dispatch funds and secure other assets via the Internet for our
chapters to use so now as I finish this tale you’ll notice that I have put contact information on the screen I’ve done this before in other videos but I feel pretty strongly about this one because this one isn’t just about being kind to other people this one is about Star Trek fans helping other Star Trek fans and the communities that they live in if you’re looking for a charity whether it’s time you want to volunteer money that you want to volunteer reach out to these folks and have a discussion with them together we can remind the world and ourselves exactly what it is that makes Star Trek fandom so special please be sure to check out these other popular videos about season one and our series covering Star Trek in the 1960s and also please be sure to hit that like button below the video so that YouTube will recommend this video to other folks who have not yet discovered it
however if there is only one video that you watch at all today on YouTube I recommend this one