Moments of Life #3 – Dave Rindl, Fundraising Manager for The Hunger Project UK

1. Could you tell us a bit about yourself? 

I was born and brought up in England. I think of myself as a global citizen, partly as I have a very mixed heritage background. I have an elder sister, and we had a golden retriever dog growing up – I love dogs!!! I worked as a chef and owned a catering company, and was also a staff member for Landmark, running the Customer Service, or Registration Fulfillment Department. I’m now working as an independent coach, consultant and trainer, and I also work three days per week for The Hunger Project UK. I have been involved in the Hunger Project for 30 years and in the autumn of 2014, I launched a campaign with the intention to raise £1,000,000 and to increase public awareness about world hunger.

One day, the Director of The Hunger Project UK invited me to work with them. I have been brought on board to build connections with companies who want to invest in The Hunger Project to end world hunger and to also engage individuals, both newly and past supporters. In the campaign, people take on doing challenges – athletic and non-athletic - to raise money.

The work of the Hunger Project is about empowering people to end their own hunger. We are engaging people to think about their life, empowering them to transform their life and the way they relate to themselves and each other.

2. What's your passion in life? 

I have a few passions in life. I’m passionate about enabling people to engage in fulfilling their dreams, to cause extraordinary results in the world. At a personal level, amongst other things, I’m passionate about food and cooking. I’m passionate about my relationship with my family and my friends. I’m passionate about being passionate.

3. What would you say was the most memorable and inspiring moment of your life? 

There are quite a few such moments and I know I’ll continue to have more in the future. Two of them are our wedding day and the day I completed the EST training (the course that existed before the Landmark Forum got created).

When I was younger, while I dreamt of getting together with someone and having a life with them, I didn’t think that was possible for me. I got bullied in school, and I didn’t have a great conversation in my head about myself at all. After the EST training, I felt more able to let people know how I feel about them. I just wanted to let someone into my life to love. I’m glad to now have someone in my life with whom I have an extraordinary partnership – and there have been ups and downs.

Another one would be my first marathon. I didn’t think I could complete it when I started, and I took six hours to complete it. My wife rode a bike by my side telling me that she loves me for the whole of the second half.

Interviewer's note: Truly 'no filter'!

Some other inspiring and memorable moments would be when people thanked me that I have made a difference in their life or when we celebrated my sister’s 60th birthday, and I created something special for her. There are quite a few other memorable and inspiring moments. I know I’ll continue to have more in the future.

4. What's the toughest period you had when pursuing your passion? How did you overcome it? What did you learn from it?  

In my teens particularly and as a young man, I found it really tough being me. 

People responded me in a certain way, and I experienced their response as tough to handle. I don’t think it’s very different from a lot of teenagers when we try to find our place in life or finding our feet. I was desperately unhappy for quite a lot of the time as a teenager.

There are also the tough times where I have to give everything to accomplish something. There was one time when I was working in the Customer Service Department in Landmark Worldwide; we had people coming from Netherlands, and they wanted to quit the course before coming to London. I gave everything I had on the calls and each of them got something in their life and came.

5. What's a personal breakthrough you had in a relationship, eg. with a family member or friend or other half? What did you discover about the relationship or yourself that was the turning point for the breakthrough to happen?

A personal breakthrough I had was being straightforward with telling people what I want, including with my other half. 

My automatic inclination is to be nice with people and not upset them. I would adjust what I want to make it okay with someone. I still do occasionally!

6. What's next for you? 

Expanding the Hunger Project in the UK and exceeding our targets. Our target is to have a big team of people participating in and supporting our work on the ground in our programme countries. I’m also relaunching my business as an independent coach to bring in personal clients. I want to work with people who are up for extraordinary results and want coaching to accomplish something beyond what they see is possible. I also have some personal challenges in restoring my health so that I can start doing the triathlons.

If you want to find out more about Dave, you can check him out here: his LinkedIn profile 

Photo credits: First photo - Nick Elvery, Second photo - Dave Rindl