Highlighting The Forge

Good Morning {{first_name}},

Today I want to pull back the curtain a little on The Forge, what it actually is, and where I'm taking it.

What The Forge Is

The Forge is a weekly men's brotherhood group here in Fort Wayne, online too if you're not local. Guys show up and talk about what's actually going on. Wins, challenges, the stuff most of us carry alone. No fixing unless it's asked for. No performance. Just men being honest about where they're at.

It's for any man who's tired of carrying it by himself. Doesn't matter what "it" is. Divorce, a career transition, grief, or just the quiet weight of not having anywhere to put things down.

Where I'm Taking It

Here's the part I don't think I've said publicly yet.

A weekly hour of conversation is powerful. I've seen it change guys. But I don't think an hour a week is the whole answer, and I don't want to pretend it is.

So every quarter, The Forge is adding three more touchpoints beyond our regular weekly meetings:

• One physical event, something active, done together
• One social event, no agenda, just guys enjoying each other's company
• One educational event, learning something real, together

Here's why. This isn't therapy, and it isn't a support group. Those matter, and they're not what I'm building. I'm building a brotherhood. Brotherhood isn't built in an hour of talking once a week. It's built shoulder to shoulder, doing things together, outside of just processing hard stuff.

Why I Keep Groups Small

I cap each group at 10 men. On purpose.

Ten is small enough that you actually know every guy's name, his story, what he's carrying. Small enough to build real esprit de corps, the kind you don't get in a room of fifty.

But My Vision Is Bigger Than 10 Men

Here's how I think about it.

Picture a pond. Someone drops something into the water. Doesn't have to be big, just something. What happens? Ripples. They move outward, further than you'd expect from something that small.

Now picture several of those, dropped in different places across the same pond, at the same time.

At first, they're just separate ripples. But eventually, they reach each other. They merge. The impact of all of them together becomes something bigger than any one of them could have made alone.

That's what I'm building. Not just one group of 10 men. Several groups of 10, each with its own brotherhood, its own esprit de corps, all moving outward, until eventually those ripples meet.

That's not just a support group. That's a community that's actually stronger, one man at a time, one brotherhood at a time.

If You Want In

If any of this resonates, and you know a man, maybe that man is you, who could use a room like this, just reply to this email and I'll get you the details.

If You Want to Support the Mission

I know not everyone on this list is going to walk into The Forge, and that's okay. A lot of you have told me you believe in this even if it's not for you directly, and I hear that. If you're one of those people, here's how you can actually help carry it:

• Venue sponsorship — help cover the cost of the space where we meet each week
• Scholarship sponsorship — help cover membership for a man who wants to be here but is tight on money right now
• Event sponsorship — underwrite one of the quarterly physical, social, or educational events, and be part of what makes those days happen

None of this is a big ask, and none of it requires you to understand exactly what happens in the room. It just requires believing that a man having somewhere to belong matters. If that's you, reply to this email and I'll tell you more about what it looks like.

-Matt