A Shining Example of Helping Under-Resourced Communities Become Self Sufficient

Lightforce One is a shining example of the difference one human being can make when they concentrate a laser-like focus on doing that very thing. The name of the organization is perfectly fitting, because its founder, Dave Bauer, is quite simply a focused force bringing light, help, and solutions to underprivileged and underserved people and cultures around the globe. 

Although it initially grew out of Bauer’s own spiritual evolution, Lightforce One has made a significant impact on the most impoverished people in the most under-resourced places. Feeling increasingly disillusioned by organized religion, Bauer one day found himself down the rabbit hole of YouTube, when he stumbled upon a series of videos about poaching in Africa. Seeing the brutality visited upon rhinos and elephants for their ivory and horns, Bauer was so moved that he sprung into action, and contacted an organization that rescued and treated animal victims of failed poaching attempts. 

When Bauer discovered that the perpetrators were actually locals who simply lacked economic opportunity, he set out to help solve that problem. A week later, he was already helping an orphanage in Uganda. “I always find myself fighting for the underdog,” Bauer says. He discovered that he could contribute most by simply helping with basic needs: a well and irrigation system so that the community could grow more food. He sent the director of the orphanage the money to build a well and said, “just send me a picture of the progress.” A week later he had a picture of a 40-foot hole with water in the bottom. “When I saw that picture I knew that I had made a lasting difference in a thousand lives, and the feeling you get from that is completely indescribable.” 

Lightforce One was born out of Bauer’s deep-rooted desire to give people the opportunity to  feel what he had felt, to do “God’s work,”  as he says, without any deference or devotion to a particular religion, denomination, or dogma. 

Once the well was finished, Bauer focused on what else he could do to make that community more self-sufficient. They built a chicken house that continues to raise 400 chickens yearly, who produce eggs and can also be sold for profit to be reinvested in the community. That led to a metal fabrication project that is now underway. When completed, the community will be able to produce their own metal fixtures, which will allow them to build their own houses, as well as sell to communities beyond theirs. Lightforce One has also funded a brick-making machine for the same community, enabling them to make and sell bricks for structures in the community. This has led community members to start their own bricklaying business.