The Little Pins That Could

The Little Pins
Dena's Traveling "Pinistry"


In division there is weakness
In oneness there is strength
Terri Marie


It was February of 2001. Dena Van Slyke was attending a motivational
workshop on making a difference in the world. Some motivational
workshops leave participants high for a day or two.
Dena choose a different experience.

The seminar leaders divided the 1000 attendees into areas of interests.
One group was Global Awareness, the group Dena was drawn to.
Throughout the week, they focused on visioning and ideas on this topic.
At the end of the week they were given a challenge.
What they could do individually to make a difference?

When Dena closed her eyes, she could see bumper stickers. She
thought, ”Most bumper stickers separate people. What if there were
no boundaries. If we were all one with no separation.
We shouldn’t be dividing one another.”

Dena decided she couldn’t use English since not everyone around
the world speaks English. She quickly drew a picture of a heart. a globe,
and the number 1 - three symbols recognized internationally.
Dena made a commitment to do something about this.
The idea gelled. It took six months.

Then 9/11 happened. People from 80 countries died. Rather than
saying, “It’s us against them,” Dena loved the idea of connecting,
and pulling together as one. She knew it needed to be an international
effort. Dena went back to her notebook and saw the image she drew
6 months earlier. She took the drawing to Emblematics to make an
image from it. She choose three colors, purple, yellow and blue,
so “nobody could say, ‘That’s my flag,‘”

Then Dena asked, “How am I going to display these?” She ordered a
thousand, wrote a poem and registered the name - One Global Heart.
The pins arrived at Christmas. She put them on Christmas cards with
her poem. One card went to professional musicians friends who set
her poem to music. Dena found a recording studio and put the song
on a CD. “I’d never done anything like this before, but I was pulled
by this pin.”

One Global Heart’s mission is to recognize each other as brothers and
kindred souls. “We’re all in the club as human beings, “ Dena said.
‘People are a lot more alike than different. We cry about the same things.
We love the same things. We laugh about the same things.
We all descended from people in Africa.”

A year later the same conference came again. Dena bought a booth,
took the microphone and shared her story. Everyone was amazed that
she took an idea and ran with it. There was a ceremony to honor the
action steps people took to make a difference in the world.
Everyone was given a pin. The leader read the poem.
Dena sold 100’s of pins.

“I decided to do a gathering on the anniversary of 9/11.” Dena got
more products including T-shirts, cups, and candles. The event
was held in her backyard. Jennifer Hart sang for the 70 people there.

Lee, her husband, said it was time to “Take it on the road.” This
became her traveling “Pinistry.” They’ve traveled all over the world
to give away pins “Everyone loves the pins,” Dena said. “It’s a
universal symbol of uniting. The pins carry a message of
compassion and tolerance.

Orders poured in. A minister that took 200 pins to Russia for an
opening of a new church. A visiting international artist from the
Orange County Performing Arts Center ordered pins.
Schoolteachers use them as rewards for their students.
A woman minister is sending pins to spiritual leaders.
She sings “One Global Heart” every Sunday.

Dena has been a real-estate broker since 1979. She lived in
Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands. In 1993 she and Lee bought
a historic home to fix. She specializes in this type of property.
“I grew up in a house just like it.” Dena has put on 10 historic
home tours. She was past president of the Historical Society
Preservation Committee. “ I like to see these historic homes
preserved. “When I came to town, people used to treat these
homes as if they were a burden. It was considered too much
work to own one.”

“I’m open to where it’s going. Its been leading me. We continue
to travel and give away pins. Last October, we went to Vietnam.
I’m amazed to see how much people loved them. They wanted
pins right off my chest. I gave them pins to give away, so whenever
anyone was touched by an act of kindness they could
give them away too.”

Dena’s pins are in Thailand, Bermuda, St. Martin, and Fiji. In
Branson, Missouri, Dena and Lee went to the International
Festival of Cultures. People from all over the world did a dance.
“ I went up to the leaders of the dance and gave them the pin.
I tried to say, 'One global heart,’ He got tears in his eyes.”

What’s next? Dena’s recording another song. She wants to make
a 10-minute film showing people of different nationalities and
our common human connection. She’s still thinking big. Her
dream is at the next Olympics, all the athletes would walk into
the arena wearing pins, in effect saying, ‘We’re a gathering of
nations, but we’re all one. ”

"I’d love to have it as an International Flag," Dena says, “Wear it
and share it. The world would completely change. I feel it.”

Live like a global hero,

Terri Marie
Award-winning author of “Be the Hero of Your Own Game’
www.apiritualarena.com

Dena’s Tips

1. Take Action on a Dream
With the impetus of 9/11, Dena’ became committed to
doing something about Global Awarness in her way.
And that’s what each of us can do. Do something
in our way and it WILL be the right way.

2. Connect People
We have a common human bond. “Peace needs to start
with individuals, not other people,” said Dena.
“You are the only one who can change.”

3. Preserve the Good of the Past
Dena brought to light the valuable assets the historical
homes of San Clemente are. “I think it’s important that
we treasure them.”

4. Visualize the Good of the Future
It was in Dena getting quiet and considering what most
mattered to her that she came up with the big question
that started this all. A symbol for international Unity.

5. If Your Vision is Big, Match it
She’d like to get the pin in flag form and fly it at the
Olympics. That’s not just big – that’s Huge!