“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”

-Maya Angelou

“I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for.

-Lou Gehrig

Welcome to September, 2026. This is a landmark month for me and many others, born in September 1963, and this year is a landmark year for the peoples of Kenya. I am celebrating my Beddian birthday this month, on September 21st, when I will turn 63. And, I have noted that 21 x 3 is 63. It is also sometimes called a Platinum birthday or a Jubilee birthday. It’s a really special day.

I am lucky. Not everyone gets to live to see their Beddian Birthday, or think to celebrate it in a larger way. Why is this birthday called a Beddian Birthday? It is named after a New York firefighter, Bobby Beddia (a fellow Virgo), who was born on September 7th, 1953. On September 7th, 2006, he celebrated his birthday, and took notice that he was born in 1953 and was at that time 53 years old, and for the following year, it was cause for him to reflect and appreciate it. Why nobody made note of it earlier in history or who had the ability to share it widely or it was not effectively carried forward in the historical trajectory is a little bit of a puzzle to me.

Unfortunately the following August of 2007, while still in his 53rd year, tragedy struck: he died, along with firefighter, Joe Graffagnino, fighting the Deutsche Bank Fire, which occurred across the street from the September 11th World Trade Center buildings.

Earlier that day, August 18th, 2006, a woman named Rhonda Roland Shearer, who happened to be the widow of famed paleontologist, Steven Jay Gould, was on her way back from walking in the park with her daughter and two grandsons. They stopped by the fire station, at Sixth and Houston, to see the firetrucks and where Bobby Beddia and Joey Graffagnino worked. Beddia shared with Rhonda Shearer that he was a lucky man because he had lived to see and enjoy his birth year: 53. Later that day, Rhonda learned that Bobby and Joey had died fighting a fire.

The idea of “being born in the year of your age,” then made an even more significant impact on Ms. Shearer. She became curious about the math behind it and contacted a retired NYU Physicist, Richard Brandt, and a Minnesota freelance Math writer, Barry Cipra. Cipra called it “the Beddian Year” in an essay. It has also become known as the Beddian Theorom and a “Firefigher’s Theorem.” It was noted that Beddian Birthdays can only occur in even years. So, next year, there will be no Beddian birthdays.

It has taken off- somewhat. I Love Ice Cream Cakes encourages people to celebrate their Beddian Birthday, but I don’t know of too many others. They will need to develop an additional marketing strategy for next year.

On July 4th, 1939, 35 days before my mom was born, making me possible, and 1086 days after my Dad was born, also making me possible, Lou Gehrig gave a famous speech, during Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day, at Yankee Stadium. It’s called the “Luckiest Man On the Face of the Earth” Speech. Despite being diagnosed with ALS (which came to be known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, he said, “Today I consider myself to be the luckiest man on the face of the earth…. I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for.” He died less than two years later, at the age of 37.

Born in 1903, at almost 14 pounds, Lou Gehrig had his Beddian birthday in 1906, 47 years before Bobby Beddia was born, and 100 years before Beddia's tragic story led it to be circulated a little more widely. If a man (“an Iron Horse” albeit) with a really “bad break” had a lot to live for, it seems to me that those of us, who have had really good breaks over and over again, have a “lot to give for.”

So, in recognition of my Beddian birthday (September 21st), and Kenya’s Beddian birthday year -1963 when Kenya became independent from the United Kingdom, we want to celebrate in an impactful way. Kenya is unique: it has sort of two Beddian (Jubilee) birthdays: the first on June 1st when Kenya obtained internal self-rule and a second Beddian Birthday (December 12, 1964), when it became a republic and got its first President, Jomo Kenyatta).

I am asking you to help me celebrate by sharing the joy with many of our students and other students in the Mulusi/Sabatia area. We have a lot to give for and they have a lot to live for and give for as well.

Since our music program is stunning the region and nation with back to back yearly magnificent performances in the National Music Festival, we want to take our music students and some music students from nearby schools (72 of them) to the annual Piano Soiree performance by the Kenya Conservatoire of Music at the National Theater in Nairobi, on September 27th. It is entitled Pop, Props and Pixels. I am sure it will be a wonderful experience for our young musicians and others nearby. it is an opportunity to reward our students and their teachers for their hard and successful work and inspire them to keep growing in their musical journeys.

In addition, we intend to take the students to the Museum of Illusions in Nairobi, the Nairobi Arboretum, and a place called Adventure Farm.

The Museum of Illusions is an extraordinarily unique museum that encourages visitors to advance their understanding of the science of perspective. They will participate in additional activities, working as teams, that help advance their skills in logic, creativity, communication and collaboration. They will come back to school with follow-up activities so the experience is a seed of future growth.

It is shaping up to be a one of a kind educational adventure for our students, who have limited opportunities for such experiences.

We also need a new bus for the school. Our bus pickup and drop off schedule is very tight, and the first bus needs to leave an hour earlier than otherwise, shortening the school day for some of our students. Additionally, we have little to no flexibility for after school trips for music and sports and expeditions.

I want to raise at least $63,000 in celebration of Kenya’s and my Beddian Birthdays. We want to do this with contributions from at least 63 people and within 63 days. That is by Friday November 23rd, 2026.

Additionally, we honor all the fallen firefighters and all the living firefighters and all the climate change fighters, who are fighting for a cooler planet with fewer fires.

We estimate it will cost $7500 for a 3 night trip to Nairobi for 72 students and several teachers/chaperones/others. This will cover tickets, hostel stay, transport to and from Nairobi, transport within Nairobi and food for the trip, along with entrance fees. We will also bring a handful of students from a neighboring public primary school, with which we have built a strong relationship with. That’s $98 per person. I think that’s a pretty good deal.

I want to apply $50,000 from this campaign’s hoped for collection toward the new bus (estimated at $75,000) and the remainder will go toward boosting our “Care, Share and Explore” program (planting trees and bamboo and taking students on expeditions so they can learn the value of our natural world and explore ways to address climate change and additional amounts to our music program and all the myriad other needs we have.

This will allow us to make a significant deposit on a bus and allow it to be at our school and in service by the beginning of the next school year, in January 2027.

I’ve been able to “get” to my Beddian Birthday, thus, it is time to give.

So, please join me in making a trip to Nairobi possible to enjoy professional music in a national architectural treasure, with our precious students. Maybe we’ll have a cake and some ice cream in the evening. Furthermore, help us fund a new bus so we can have a more flexible transport system, allow more students to enjoy and learn at the magical Kijana School, and help us have more resources for our exploratory programs.

All the while,we will also be honoring those who protect us from the fires in our cities and the fires too increasingly common in our natural world, which destroy habitat, and multitudes of animal lives.

Confucius said, “Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.”

Thank you for making this special school possible and breeding so much goodness. Please keep it going.

Please click on the link attached and join us in celebrating with a gift of educational opportunity and confidence, and raise at least $63,000 for educational advancement, which is the source of all advancement.

Thank you for joining me and others in celebration, as almost 60 million Kenyans begin their national Beddian birthday year and many others and me begin our Beddian birthday year. Celebrations are always good. We will share with you pictures from the weekend experience.

In the spirit of breeding confidence, hope and peace and having a lot to give for.

With a desire for more robust global educational opportunities,

Jim

Registration #: CH15773 (State of Florida Division of Consumer Services)

“A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.”

James' Beddian Birthday Campaign

Celebrate Kijana Founder James' September 21st Birthday as he turns 63 and thus was born in 1963