General Session
General Session
Don’t miss our sure-to-be-inspiring General Session at AAPA 2020! Join Keynote Speaker Alex Sheen, founder and CEO of because I said I would, an international social movement and nonprofit inspiring millions of people around the world to keep their promises.
Sheen’s father died of small cell lung cancer in 2012. Asked to give his father’s eulogy, he chose to speak about his father and how he treated his promise.
“My father was an average man. He was no war hero. He never wrote a book. He never ran marathons. He was a pharmacist. No recognition. No fame. But for everything that made my father ‘average’ and ‘everyday,’ there was one thing he did exceptionally well. He kept his promises. My father was a man of his word.”
“On that day, I handed out for the first time what I would call ‘promise cards’ to help remind people of the importance of our commitments. Simply write a promise on the card and use it as a symbol of your honor. I offered to send 10 promise cards to anyone anywhere in the world at no cost to them.”
Tired of living in a world of broken promises and sparked by the loss of his father in 2012, Sheen began sending promise cards to anyone who requested them at no cost. That led to establishment of because I said I would, an organization dedicated to changing the world through promises kept.
Since his father’s death, because I said I would has sent 11.3 million promise cards to 153 countries. The nonprofit also hosts chapters with programming for high school and college students, plus individuals at adult communities and correctional facilities.