The Angel of Hollywood
TV Producer, Zane Buzby, makes a personal mission to save Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe

Actor and producer in Hollywood, Zane Buzby found fate revealing a reality most people are not aware of. “Scattered across Eastern Europe there are thousands of Holocaust survivors living still, in their 80s and 90s, and living without food, medicine, heat, and shelter. Time is running out.” Survivor Mitzvah Project was created as a 100% charity to try and give these dying Holocaust survivors the dignity they deserve. Zane describes how she fell into a mission to save the survivors and do it with a charity that gives 100% of the donation in this interview.

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Segment 1
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Peter: Yes indeed – whooping it up for Peter Morris, the Business Shrink! Good afternoon to you. I’m Peter Laufer, in for the Business Shrink, Peter Morris. We are so pleased to have you listening to the Business Shrink program.I’m going to tell you just a little bit more about what the Business Shrink is all about, because we do have so many new listeners who have joined us since we joined the Lifestyle Talk Radio Network.

The Business Shrink, Peter Morris, is a businessman who’s been doing business for well over 35 years, internationally. He’s headquartered in Chicago, and he’s one of these old-time businessmen: the guy who has the cigar in his mouth that he’s chomping, and talks that gritty, Midwestern, take care of business talk. At the same time, he’s completely fluent in all the new technology and all of the new ways of doing business with new media. That’s why the Business Shrink is about to roll out the Business Shrink Social Networking site, and it will be an opportunity for you to meet others who are interested in business, engaged in business, and want to grow a virtual business community.

Business Shrink, Peter Morris, isn’t just this cigar-chomping guy. He is a guy with the kind of stellar academic credentials that most people would like to be privileged to have. He did his undergraduate work at Princeton, studying Far East affairs and other international relations. Then he went off to Harvard Law School – not with the intention of becoming a lawyer, but with the intention of learning the law in order to help him do business, consciously not doing his work in the Harvard Business School, but rather in the Harvard Law School.

That’s a little on the background of Peter Morris to get you titillated about what this show is all about. If you’re just tuning in, we hope that’s intriguing to you. You’re always welcome to join the show and talk about business – I’ll give you the telephone numbers a little bit later on in the hour – but I also want you to know the website address, TheBusinessShrink.com. At that site, you can learn more about the stellar biography of Peter Morris, the Business Shrink. You can also subscribe to the free weekly Business Shrink Newsletter and be kept posted as the Business Shrink Social Networking Site is developed.

Now, I understand we have hooked in with Zane Buzby. Are you there, Zane?

Zane: Hi. How are you?

Peter: Hi. Just terrific. This is Peter Laufer. I’m in for Peter Morris today, and we’re so pleased to have you joining us this hour to talk about your project, the Survivor Mitzvah Project. Before we do that, you’ve got an intriguing Hollywood background to fill us in on, because you’ve been both an actor and a producer. Tell us what you’ve done in Hollywood over the years.

Zane: Well, I started as an actress, and I was in such crazy films as Up in Smoke and Americathon and This is Spinal Tap. Then I went on to be a….

Peter: Stop for a second! What did you play in This is Spinal Tap?

Zane: The crazy Rolling Stone reporter who asked them if this was their last tour or were they going to milk it for a few more years in Europe…

Peter: Oh that’s wonderful. It’s a spectacular movie.

Zane: It was fun. It was a lot of fun.

Peter: I love “turning it up to eleven.”

Zane: Yes, “up to eleven” is the most famous moment of the film.

Peter: It has to be, yes.

Zane: Uh-hmm, and no one knew that it was going to be such a big hit. That was what was so amazing about it.

Peter: It spawned off all of the others that have come since, right?

Zane: Right – the mock-umentaries, that’s right.

Peter: Yes, wonderful. Anyway, I interrupted you. You were telling us about what else you do.

Zane: Well, then I went on to become a sit-com director, and I’ve directed over 200 situation comedies on all the major networks. Also I became a producer, so it was going from Up in Smoke to becoming a sit-com producer/director is a pretty amazing trip.

Peter: The situation comedy, as a genre, is really fascinating. Is it fair to say, from a business standpoint – we’re always looking for how we can tie things into business here on the Business Shrink program – from a Business Shrink standpoint, is that pretty much an American creation? Is that something indigenous to us that we’ve pushed out on the world the same way the tele-novella is indigenous to Mexico and they’ve pushed that out on the world?

Zane: A lot of the situation comedies came from radio. So, you’d have to go back into radio history – Fibber McGee and Molly, all those things that came out of radio, Amos and Andy – were the first sit-coms.

Peter: And you think that those qualify as being identified as, characterized as, situation comedies?

Zane: Oh absolutely! They were some of the first, and then England spawned a lot of them as well. It goes back and forth. It’s a very different art form that was really indigenous to television only.

Peter: Yes, and “art form” really is the right word. What role does it play within society, aside from making us laugh? I think about All in the Family. and that really was a program that could be called a sit-com – I think – and at the same time, it moved social awareness, didn’t it?

Zane: Absolutely. If you look at All in the Family, they did a lot of things about integration. They did one of the first shows about rape, ever, on broadcast television. They tackled abortion and all kinds of issues that plagued our society, especially that came to the fore in the 60s and 70s. It was a very, very, very avant garde show, a show that probably would have a big problem getting on the air today.

Peter: Yes, interesting to think of it that way.

Zane: Because today, so much is based on what is politically correct.

Peter: Right. Interesting to think of it in that context. So, with that kind of a description, one could make a case for the situation comedy being not just entertainment, but an important aspect of our culture, like journalism, like politics. This is something that has some consequence.

Zane: Yes. You know, it’s a real touchstone to our times and a mirror to American, if you want to look at it like that – apart from it being just fun and silly.

Peter: One of the intriguing aspects of YouTube is to be able to look back on segments of sit-coms gone by, and as you say, it’s a mirror on the culture and the society. For those who didn’t live through the 50s and 60s, they can get at least a sliver of a sense of what that era was like by looking at the costumes, looking at the set designs, listening to the dialog.

Zane: Absolutely. Absolutely. It was a very innocent time. It was a very different time than the world is now.

Peter: Yes, innocent is the right word. In a way, it’s easy to be nostalgic for that period of innocence.

Zane: Oh yeah! It was great when you could go to Europe when you graduated high school or college, and stick your thumb out to hitchhike across the globe, and not be afraid that anybody was going to do you any harm. These are things that you would never even do in our country today.

Peter: Is that in your history? Did you leave high school and…

Zane: Certainly! Everyone I know did that, and you never thought twice about it, but you would never do that now. The world is a much more dangerous place.

Peter: Or if you were going to do it, you would throw a Canadian flag on your backpack.

Zane: Absolutely!

Peter: You are listening to the Business Shrink! The Business Shrink is Peter Morris. Peter Morris is engaged in what he does best, and that’s business today. I’m Peter Laufer, pleased to be sitting in for him and talking with Zane Buzby, producer and actor, about her career.

However, we’ve brought you here for other reasons, and that is to talk about the Survivor Mitzvah Project that you’re engaged in. Please give us some background on what that’s all about. What’s the elevator pitch on the Survivor Mitzvah Project, Zane?

Zane: One thing you have to know first is that scattered across Eastern Europe there are thousands of Holocaust survivors living still, but they’re in their 80s and 90s, and living without food, medicine, heat, and shelter. This is an astounding fact and something that a lot of people don’t know.

I’ll tell you a little story. I was directing a sit-com – I think it was at Paramount – and I had a two week hiatus from the show. I decided to go to Eastern Europe just to see where my grandparents were from. When I got over there, I met a professor who had gone into Eastern Europe to visit all these tiny little towns. He said, “Oh, I hear that you’re going to cross the border into Belarus, tomorrow.” Remember that Belarus was a police state. He said, “Do me a favor. If you wouldn’t mind, could you visit these eight old people? They really have nothing. They live in these tiny huts in the middle of nowhere. Could you just do me a favor and visit them?” I said, “Sure.”

Then he said, “If you wouldn’t mind, could you go to the bank and bring some fresh dollar bills and ten dollar bills and hand them out to these people. They really could use some help.” Again, I said, “Sure!”

Then he said, “If you wouldn’t mind, could you please go and get some medicines, aspirin, arthritis creams….” He just kept saying, “If you wouldn’t mind….if you wouldn’t mind….” so I ended up carrying all these bags. I went into this country and started going around the back roads with my guide, and we saw all these 90 and 95 year olds, 85 year olds, out digging up potatoes because that was the only food that they had.

Peter: That’s astounding. Now, a bunch of questions come to mind for me, just regarding that aspect of what got you into this project. Part of it comes from the fact that I had an opportunity to spend some time in Belarus in the early 90s. It was such a devastated, ghastly experience. I mean it was a spectacular experience, obviously, from the curiosity standpoint, but the place was so devastated. As I recall, it was one of the locales in Eastern Europe where the Holocaust was at its worst in proportionality. There were no Jews left there after the war.

Zane: Right. All the towns that I’ve visited, virtually there are no Jews left. You have to understand that the German mobile killing squads systematically went into the Ukraine and Belarus and burned all of the towns with all of the people in them. So, they destroyed 600 to 700 towns just at a pop.

So now half these towns are burned and half are like they were before the war. It’s like going back in time 100 years. This is devastation. This looks like the war happened yesterday. We live here, we think about World War II, we think about some of the older veterans, and it’s a long time ago for us, but when you go there – as you well know – it’s like it happened yesterday.

Peter: Indeed it is.

Zane: These people are living as if the war never really ended.

Peter: We’re going to learn more about what you discovered there – that trip – and how it led to what you’re doing now, the Survivor Mitzvah Project. We will continue that with you, Zane Buzby, momentarily here on the Business Shrink.

The Business Shrink is Peter Morris. Peter Morris is off today doing business. I’m Peter Laufer, pleased to be sitting in for him, and pleased to remind you that if you’d like to learn more about Peter Morris, the Business Shrink, and the Business Shrink operation, we invite you to come join us at TheBusinessShrink.com.

We’re also going to try to reconnect with Zane Buzby here, because we have an awful telephone line. We’re going to try to reconnect you so that we can hear you clearer.

While that’s happening, I want you to know that at TheBusinessShrink.com address, you can subscribe to the free Business Shrink Newsletter, which comes out once a week and is available to you if you like. You can also learn more about the biography of the work of the Business Shrink, Peter Morris. Learn about the Business Shrink series of books coming out starting a couple of months from now, from Adams Media in Boston. The Business Shrink takes from the radio programs over the last few years some of the stellar interviews that he has enjoyed with eminent guests from academia and the business world. He puts these into prescriptive volumes to help you deal with the day-to-day affairs of business. You can learn about all of that at TheBusinessShrink.com.

As promised, you’re always welcome to join the program. It is live, wherever you’re listening. You can join by giving a call to 888-454-3378. Peter Morris is your Business Shrink. Check him out at TheBusinessShrink.com.

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Segment 2
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You are listening to the Business Shrink, and the Business Shrink is Peter Morris. Peter Morris is off doing what he knows how to do. That’s business. I’m Peter Laufer, most pleased to be sitting in for him. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to talk with actor and producer, Zane Buzby.

We’re talking now about her Survivor Mitzvah Project. Zane, I think we have a better telephone line now. When we were last talking, you had us in Belarus, and you were piled high with food and crisp dollars and medicines, as you were finding aged survivors of the Holocaust, left behind and lacking in some basic social needs. How did you go about finding these people? You didn’t just wander around the back roads and run into them?

Zane: Now there are hundreds and hundreds, but the first eight people I found were given to me on a piece of paper. It was a list from Professor Dovid Katz of Vilnius University, who had gone into Belarus and found those eight people when he was looking to document their life histories on film.

Peter: Now that you have developed this database of hundreds, what’s the logistics of that? What’s the process? How did you come up with this list?

Zane: As Professor Katz goes into Eastern Europe, he studies languages, so he’s looking for the oldest people to discover certain dialects that, when they die, are going to die with them. He also looks in these little towns and cities for the oldest living survivors that he can find to see if they need help or need foods or medicines. He went into Lithuania and Belarus and Slovakia and Ukraine and Latvia and Russia. Every time he goes there, he emails me and says, “Zane, I’ve found 38 new people,” “I’ve found 100 more people,” “I’ve found 250 people in Maldova,” “I’ve found 300 people…” here or there. He keeps updating the list, and the good thing about this is that each person is visited. Now there are over a thousand people that we’re trying to help.

Peter: The timeline is really severe, I would imagine, because the actuary realities are working against you in some ways. These people are aged, consequentially aged, and if you’re going to be in a position to help them toward the end of their lives, you’ve got to act quickly because they’re dying, right?

Zane: Time is running out. Like I said, this is the truth. No one helped these people in 1939. No one helped them, and now we can help them. If someone says “what can I do about the Holocaust? It happened 60 years ago,” they can help save the life of an elderly survivor today. One hundred percent of their donation will go directly into the hands of an elderly survivor.

Let me tell you a little bit about the survivors. These people are the unluckiest of people. This generation is the unluckiest generation in the world. They’re sole survivors of the killing fields, sole survivors of their families. Some fought as the partisans in the forests of Belarus. Some were slaves in the Gulag long after the war ended. In every case, the German war machine decimated lives, crushed families and communities and left them with nothing.

So, these are the people who – if you think about it like this – if they’re 95 today, that means that during the first world war, they were youngsters and experienced war as youngsters. When that war ended, and now we’re in the 1920s, they were subjected to the great famines that swept across Eastern Europe in the 20s. When they survived that, then guess what? The rise of Hitlerism! If they survived that, then came the Holocaust where their families were decimated. If they survived that and they were caught behind the Iron Curtain, then came Stalinism.

Peter: Now with the Iron Curtain down, there’s the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe.

Zane: there is huge, huge anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe. If these people then survived all that and weren’t sent off as some of them were after the war to the Gulag, and got back in 1958, then they survived that and they were in the Ukraine, then they were subject to Chernobyl. Right? So now they have radiation poisoning and cancer.

If they survived all of that, then guess what? They’ve got perestroika, which means one day, an 85 to 90 year old woke up, and their bank accounts were gone. So, they have nothing…nothing but the kindness of strangers.

Peter: We’re going to talk more about that, Zane Buzby, as we continue here. One of the things I want to ask you momentarily here, before we learn more about the work that you’re doing and learn more about the Survivor Mitzvah Project, is why it is that the governments that are in control in these regions, now, are not providing the needed social services for them. We’ll get to that momentarily, here on the Business Shrink.

The Business Shrink is Peter Morris. Peter Morris is the Business Shrink. You can learn more about why that’s so at the TheBusinessShrink.com. I’m Peter Laufer, sitting in for him today while he’s taking care of business, but we do urge you, if you’re interested, to take a look at TheBusinessShrink.com to subscribe to the free weekly Business Shrink newsletter and to learn more about Peter Morris’s biography and why it’s intriguing to keep track of business ideas via the Business Shrink, Peter Morris.

Peter: Peter Morris is not here today, but I’m Peter Laufer. I’m pleased to be here, and fascinated to be speaking with producer and actor, Zane Buzby, who also has founded and operates the Survivor Mitzvah Project. Zane, we will definitely get your website and contact information out a few times before the hour is over. Let’s do that once now for those who have been listening and may not stay with us for the whole hour. If somebody wants to learn more about the Survivor Mitzvah Project. Will you do that?

Zane: Yes, you can go online at www.SurvivorMitzvah.org.

Peter: It might be helpful for you to tell those who may not know why it’s called the Survivor Mitzvah Project. What’s “Mitzvah?”

Zane: “Mitzvah” means good deed. It’s a not easy to do good deed. It’s a good deed that’s hard to do, and if it’s not hard to do, it wouldn’t be a mitzvah.

Peter: It maybe arguably wouldn’t be a good deed.

Zane: Yes. So, that’s what we’re trying to do, do something good for these survivors, who in the last years of their lives – as I’ve said before – have really not had one good moment with the world, one good interaction.

Peter: Now, why is it that the inheriting governments in this region – whether it be Belarus or Latvia, Lithuania, wherever you’re finding these problems in the former Soviet bloc – why aren’t the social services being provided by the inheriting governments?

Zane: Well, in a lot of cases – if you’re talking about the former Soviet Union – the entire infrastructures of these countries has fallen down. In Ukraine, for example, I have people write to me that say, “It’s terrible because I’m sick, but I can’t be sick because if I want to get an ambulance, I have to pay for one. If the ambulance comes and I pay for it and it takes me to the hospital, then when I get to the hospital, they say to me, ‘Do you have the medications you need?’ If I don’t, then I don’t get treated. If I say yes I do, they say ‘And do you have the delivery system?’” In other words, “do you have the syringe,” because they don’t even have the syringes in the hospital.

So these countries are totally without anything. I was in one of these hospitals.They have nothing there. It’s just a cement room with a bed. There’s nothing there for them. In countries like Belarus, just this week they stopped giving the old people, the pensioners as they call them, any kind of a break in terms of getting medication, heat, or food. Now they have to pay full price for everything. These are old people, and no one really cares about them. Time is running out, and everyone is just waiting for them to die so they don’t have to deal with it, and that’s the God’s truth.

Peter: Yes, it’s just a terrible situation there, and of course, not just for Holocaust survivors. It’s a terrible situation for the people who are pensioners who were not Holocaust survivors. It’s a terrible situation for people who are in the middle of their working careers and have found their industries abandoned because, in the post-Soviet era, they are no longer state supported, and they can’t be competitive in the world economy.

Zane: Yes, it’s a terrible situation for everyone, but what makes it worse for the Holocaust survivors is that all of their families, their social structures, their support systems, were destroyed. These people are sole survivors, stuck in one town, where they have no family to rely on, no help, no community center, no religious community. They have no one to rely on, so they truly are alone. Now, in their 80s and 90s, they have outlived their children. They have outlived their grandchildren. There is no one caring for them. There are no social services.

Peter: Yes, and as we continue talking about the Survivor Mitzvah Project with producer and actor, Zane Buzby, we’ll learn more about what she’s doing to actively help on the ground, and also what kinds of complications may exist because of the rising anti-Semitism in so much of the former Soviet bloc, as we mentioned earlier.

All of that is coming up right here with the Business Shrink. Your Business Shrink is Peter Morris. Peter Morris is off today, taking care of business. I am Peter Laufer, pleased to be here for him, and suggesting that if you’re interested, you can check out more at TheBusinessShrink.com.

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Segment 3
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Peter: It is the Business Shrink. The Business Shrink is Peter Morris. Peter Morris is working today on other business. I’m Peter Laufer, pleased to be sitting in for him and particularly pleased because today we have with us Zane Buzby, actor and producer, and founder and Director – I guess is the correct title — of the Survivor Mitzvah Project, Zane?

Zane: That is correct.

Peter: One of the reasons I’m so pleased to be having this opportunity to talk with you is that, as I mentioned, I was in Belarus in the early 90s, and then followed a not dissimilar story for a book that I wrote, called Exodus to Berlin. It is about those Jews in the former Soviet bloc who chose to take advantage of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the laws in Germany, to move into Germany to spend the rest of their lives in a place where, oddly enough because who would think from years back that Germany would be a place of refuge , but where they were able to take advantage of the social services and language training. They received a welcome, at least officially, from the government.

One of the things I learned working on that project was some discomforting detail about the rise of anti-Semitism in the former Soviet bloc. So, how does that play into the work that you’re doing? These people are not just hungry, in need of medical attention, in need of other social help, but potentially, they’re in danger.

Zane: Yes, we have to be very, very careful. We have to be very careful how we get aid to these people, because in certain situations and certain places, it’s important that their neighbors don’t know that they are getting aid, or that their neighbors don’t know that they’re Jewish. There are a lot of things like that. Interestingly enough, the anti-Semitism is one of the reasons why the people have never told their life stories to anybody. Before we asked, and they wrote to us, they never told anyone what happened to them during the war, because they were afraid. They were afraid to let it out. They were afraid who would know about it. They were afraid what would happen to them.

So, now on our website – if anyone is interested in going there – they can read the life histories of the people. They can see pictures of the people. We have an extensive collection, thousands of letters and life histories that have come in, that are astounding.

We have people who write about jumping off the train to Auschwitz and then hiding in the woods. We have people who were lost on trains. We have people who hid in haystacks for years and breathed through straws. These are just amazing stories.

Peter: Again, that website address?

Zane: www.SurvivorMitzvah.org.

Peter: And Zane Buzby, when you’re talking about people who are aged, decrepit, in need of medical attention, do you – from your hands-on experience being in the region – really feel that this growing or resurging anti-Semitism could be a danger to them or is it more to those who are the strapping, strong ones of working age, that would be looked at perhaps as some kind of threat for some reason?

Zane: In these areas, there really are no strapping, strong ones. These are enclaves where there are very, very few if any young people. These are parents and grandparents and great-grandparents that got left behind when there were opportunities for young people to leave.

So, in answer to your question, no, they’re in danger. It’s not someone else in danger.

Peter: How can you ascertain that there really is a danger for them?

Zane: Well, I’ll tell you a story. It didn’t happen under my watch on this Project, but in about 1991 or 1998 – I’m not really sure, but I could find out for you – there were two things that happened. One women who was receiving aid was murdered by her neighbors when they found out that American Jews were sending her money. They wrote on the walls in her blood, “American Jewish Pigs.” This woman was in her 80s or 90s. So, this happens, even in this day and age.

Peter: Yes, and of course it is really important to point out that as heinous as something like that is, it is an anomaly. That’s not the norm, and there are these anti-Semite skinhead types that are growing in numbers – not inconsequential – and they commit those kinds of crimes, but it is still the anomaly.

Zane: Right.

Peter: Now, you said earlier that 100% of the money that’s donated to the Survivor Mitzvah Project goes directly to survivors. That’s an astounding number for any charity. What covers the costs? What covers the infrastructure? What covers the transport of the goods?

Zane: What I do is I have someone who donates the postage, and there are no costs in terms of any kind of infrastructure – salaries or anything like that – because everything is volunteer. It really operates on a shoestring so we can give every single penny to the Holocaust survivors. That’s really an amazing new way of giving. It’s kind of a new model for philanthropy, because if you go to CharityNavigator.com, you might find that your favorite charity is maybe giving 5% to the people who need it and takes 95% for their own administrative and mailing fees.

I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted all the money to go to the people, because like I said, time is running out.

Peter: Yes.

Zane: I also wanted to say that people can call us if they’re not on the Internet, at 1-800-905-6160, and we can send them any kind of information they would like.

Peter: Okay. Terrific! Now, do you have any sense, Zane Buzby, of what percentage you’re getting to? You’re dealing with some thousands, but how many more are there?

Zane: I think that there are probably hundreds of thousands out there.

Peter: Really?

Zane: We’re only in certain areas in Belarus, Slovakia, Maldova, Lithuania, Russia, and only in certain cities. You can go look on the website and see all of those cities that we’re in. This is just places where we’ve vetted everybody and visited everybody. So, we’re not in Romania; we’re not in Hungary; we’re not in Poland; we’re not anywhere else, but this is the other amazing thing. It’s the only organization in the world where direct financial aid goes into the hands of needy survivors. It’s the only one.

Peter: It’s fantastic that that’s going on, and we will conclude with some more information about what you are doing, Zane Buzby, as the hour ends – a fascinating hour, ranging from the role of the sit-com in American culture to the realities of Holocaust survivors in ghastly places like Belarus.

We are here with the Business Shrink, and the Business Shrink is Peter Morris. Peter Morris is not here today. I’m Peter Laufer, glad to be sitting in for him and learning about the Survivor Mitzvah Project. Again, if you want to know more about it, you can see it at www.SurvivorMitzvah.org, or call 1-800-905-6160.

If you’d like to know more about the Business Shrink, Peter Morris, and what he’s up to, we do encourage you to come check out TheBusinessShrink.com. There you can write to the Business Shrink if you have questions or comments. You can subscribe to the free weekly newsletter, and you can keep track of the upcoming series of Business Shrink books published by Adams Media.

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Segment 4
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Peter: Indeed, Peter Morris is the Business Shrink, but he is not here today. I’m Peter Laufer, glad to be talking with Zane Buzby, actor, producer and founder and Director of the Survivor Mitzvah Project. Zane, we just have a couple of minutes left in this hour that has been fascinating. Thank you so much for teaching us so much about what’s going on over there and what you have been doing.

If you could isolate for us an example person or couple that really for you personifies what you’re experiencing in Eastern Europe and you try to help these survivors of the Holocaust, what would that story be?

Zane: Well, we helped this man, and he wrote to us. He said, “I received your letter, and while I was opening the envelope, my hands shook with emotion because there were no words to express my gratitude toward you for your attention. There is a lump in my throat that there are strangers out there helping us.”

Now, he couldn’t see, so when I went over to Belarus recently, it was asked of me could I find a 3X magnifying. I said sure, because even if they had money to buy one, there are no goods in a lot of these countries. So, I went online and I got a 5X magnifier, and it was really great. You could put it down on a piece of paper and it would really illuminate the whole page. I brought it with me and gave it to this old man. He was looking it over, and he couldn’t figure out how to work it. He wanted to give it back because he was frustrated and couldn’t see. I told him, “Just keep it, and if by tomorrow, you can’t figure out how to work it, I’ll take it back and give it to someone else.”

By the next day, he had already called and said – in another language, of course, translated – “I can see. I can see! For the first time in twelve years, I can read!” This dramatically changed his life, and it cost $38 online. It dramatically changed his life. It’s totally different now! He goes and reads the newspaper. He socializes. He can leave his apartment. For twelve years, he didn’t leave his apartment.

Peter: It’s amazing to put it into that precise context, Zane, because this morning, I had breakfast – it’s not my usual breakfast, but it was no big deal at a hotel here in San Francisco. You know the fancy hotels can charge a lot, and it happens that the breakfast at the hotel for one was $38. To think that for that swanky breakfast in a San Francisco downtown hotel, somebody’s life can be changed as radically as you just described is really a beautiful thing.

Zane: It’s amazing.

Peter: Congratulations on your work. Let’s take the last of the time to remind folks if they want to learn more, it’s the SurvivorMitzvah.org. If all of that’s too much to deal with, just pick up the telephone and call 800-905-6160. It’s just a delight to talk with you. Congratulations for your fine work, Zane Buzby. I hope we get a chance to meet sometime.

Zane: I do too, and I hope everyone will realize time is running out for these people. Please help them.

Peter: Indeed. The Survivor Mitzvah Project on the Business Shrink. The Business Shrink is Peter Morris and Peter Morris will be back soon. In the meantime, I’m most pleased to be sitting in with him and to be working with him when he’s here. I’m Peter Laufer.

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