What does it take to inspire an inspirational speaker?

For Woodstock resident Ellie Drake, it was a short promo for a reality game show.

Within days of seeing a spot for Oprah Winfrey's new program about giving away piles of philanthropic money to help strangers, Drake, 34, decided it wasn't just a game, and it wasn't just for superstars.

She'd compiled quite a Rolodex of contacts in her 17 years as a consultant, sometimes working by phone with far-flung clients. As the founder of BraveHeart Productions, she encourages entrepreneurs, primarily women, to be more, do more and give more.

She put that extensive list to a new use, sending out a mass e-mail earlier this month:

Meet me at 8:45 p.m. Eastern on Sunday night for a different conference call. I won't be teaching you as usual, she told them, but I'll be learning with you.

She set up a connection to accommodate 700 people. She sent out a second e-mail, a reminder to "party hearty with me."

Have a cup of tea, a glass of wine, chips and salsa and get ready to be inspired.

Just before the first airing of "Oprah's Big Give," Drake found the phone lines packed with people as far away as Dubai and Australia. She asked them all to tune in the show, and she cranked up the volume on her end for those who couldn't pick it up.

They watched as competing do-gooders set out to help the needy —- the homeless and hungry.

This is the greatest country on the planet, she told them during the first commercial break. It's given me so much, and I want to give back, she said as tears rolled down her face. During the second break, she told callers she wanted to create a new team for a specific purpose: Let's give to people in the New Orleans area.

At the end of the show, she asked them to visit a Web site she and her husband hastily set up that morning: inspiredbythebiggive.com. As an incentive to give, Drake offered her services for free.

In the next hour, participants donated $25,000; in two hours, the total stood at $40,000. She awoke the next morning fired up. She worked the phone from 8 in the morning until 10 at night, without stopping for meals. Twenty-four hours after the show ended, Drake had raised $100,000.

She called the director of the St. Bernard Project, a nonprofit rebuilding the homes of people in St. Bernard Parish displaced by Katrina.

Being able to contribute to the community in such a large way in part fulfills a promise she made to herself when she and her family were crammed in a Tehran bomb shelter with 600 others: Be successful and give back.

Her full first name, Elham, means "inspiration," and she knew her future was in teaching others to believe in themselves, to hope. She relied on hope as she grew up in Iran, where almost daily bombings threatened her life and her dreams. She relied on hope as she walked two miles on a dirt road to catch a bus, teaching herself a word of English one day at a time, dreaming of coming to America.

The day she and her family left Iran and the bombs and sirens, she never looked back. It was August 1990. Ellie was 17.

She graduated high school the following year and from Life College in Marietta in 2000. But she proudly handed her chiropractic degree to her parents on graduation day and proceeded to hit the speaking circuit full time because she saw her destiny in inspirational speaking, not the musculoskeletal system.

Still, her work was never really just about talking. It was about giving others a chance to dream. That's why the "Big Give" resonated so deeply in her, she said. And her efforts will continue to resonate in the close-knit community just downriver from New Orleans.

"This means the world to us," said Zack Rosenburg, director of the St. Bernard Project, "and proves Americans are good people. They want to be part of the solution. Ellie certainly did."

On April 11, she will travel to the New Orleans area with the top 30 donors to her campaign. They will help rebuild 10 homes, restoring the hope of 10 families.

Restoring hope. It's not just an idea to which Ellie Drake has dedicated her life. It's how she lives.

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