"Someday Is Today" to be a Difference Maker

“Someday I’ll help. Someday I’ll do more. Someday I’ll make a difference.”

Those are familiar thoughts for most when faced with life’s many crossroads but for Joe Kakaty and his family, someday is today. The co-founder and president of Poker Central is following the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Dan Smith, household poker names that have also made enormous philanthropic efforts over the last few years, to benefit a cause that is everywhere and affects everyone.

At the beginning of the year, Kakaty was approached to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He knew the 10-week fundraising effort would be a huge commitment and while Kakaty already had much of his time invested in his wife, children and work; he knew they could do it together, as a family.

“For anyone who is a dad, or mom, you are the leader of your family,” Kakaty said, “The shouldering of molding your kids into great humans and sincere adults one day; kids don’t do what you say, they do what you do. I’ve always been motivated to show my children that they can make a difference and this was the perfect opportunity.”

The Kakaty children, Kenny, Bella and Joey, who make up KAKT3, took that opportunity and have been nothing short of perfect. Together, they wrote an original song, aptly titled, “Someday is Today” and over the last month, the band has received over 1,200,000 views on both YouTube and Facebook.

While he has always been motivated to give back, the LLS initiative is extremely personal to Kakaty. His father and three uncles are all cancer survivors and, as Kakaty puts it, “No one has an exception.”

That exception doesn’t just apply to those with friends or family members affected by cancer but also to those who can help and what that help may eventually lead to.

“You never know what it is that you’ve done that will contribute to a tipping point.” Kakaty said, which falls in line with the ideals that served as the basis for Dan Smith’s $1,700,000 charity drive at the end of last year.

Smith isn’t the only poker player to make charitable waves over the last few months and as president of Poker Central, Kakaty has a front row seat to see the effectiveness of philanthropic leaders in the poker industry. Poker Central Ambassadors Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Maria Ho are always giving back and Kakaty sees that same desire to make a difference in other industries as well.

“The media business has amazing philanthropic examples to draw from.” Kakaty said, “Publicis is the largest media company in the world and Dave Penski has been instrumental in their work with Autism Speaks. Companies, like Amazon, have run countless charitable initiatives and those efforts are personally motivating.”

While the initiatives of Publicis and Amazon are huge in comparison to what most individuals can do, Kakaty stresses that everyone should do something. Kakaty and his family have shown how doing something can turn into something big and he is humbled by the support that they’ve received so far.

Through five weeks, the Kakaty family have almost met their initial fundraising goal and they, not surprisingly, are now upping their goals heading into the second-half of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fundraising challenge. They are helping, they are doing more, they are making a difference and they aren’t waiting until someday, because for the Kakaty’s, someday is today.

Joe Kakaty’s charitable efforts were recently featured in a Success.com article and more information about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and donations can be found here.