My name is Ian Daelucian.

I am a son, a brother, a life-long student, a lover of nature and all beings. I am a dreamer. I long for a world with less suffering and more love. I am a human being, with two hands, often bare. I feel, perhaps too much; this energizes me to serve others. As long as another being suffers from the blight of poverty, I cannot rest.

For most of my youth, I generally accepted homelessness as an unavoidable aspect of society, my mind justified it but my heart always felt uneasy. Through development of the spirit, this discomfort of the heart grew over time to draw questions in my mind until all the artificial reasons for why homelessness exists in our world were stripped away, leaving a vividly stark reality and igniting the hope that we collectively have enough resources to provide for all beings.

I am fortunate to have been raised by a loving mother that held compassion at the pinnacle of life’s pursuits and I am to succeed in upholding this virtue in my own life’s journey. Like any being at the beginning of its journey, I started in ignorance, a state of unknowing. It was through the perspective and caring persistence of friends that awakened me to the unbearable reality of poverty that grips citizens in the shadowy facade of America’s prosperity. One friend in particular led me to the Walk of Honor in Civic Center Santa Ana on a cold, dark night to reveal the underbelly of misfortune in one of the most affluent regions in America.

I was jolted with the same adrenaline that courses through the veins of someone who is witness to another being subject to a life threatening calamity, indeed, I saw poverty as a threat to life and existence itself.

This shock continues to grip my heart and electrifies my conviction in following through to end the calamities that unnecessarily subjected fellow beings to the arresting conditions of poverty starting locally and scaling globally.

At that time, I was an MFA grad student, working full-time, and executor of the fledgling organization. The only resources I had at my disposal to fund my life’s calling was the income from my full-time employment which was already heavily strained by a plethora of needs from supporting oneself through higher-education and supplementing the needs of the immediate family. Despite the financial burdens, I persevered through creative financing, pooling everything I can, wherever I can find it, to heed the shock that my heart continues to feel, urging me to do everything I can to quickly establish the organization and to take immediate action.

I knew that alleviating poverty and homelessness will not be an easy task. Yet, the easiest and simultaneously most difficult thing to do is to take the first step. I realized that helping people doesn’t necessarily entail satisfying a practical need but it could also take the form of a kind gesture or to give something in the spirit of elevating someone’s hope. Something that is symbolic, even merely being present with someone can help ward off loneliness. With this in mind…

During the holiday season of 2012, together with the help of a friend, we pooled our resources, asked local toy shops for donations, and spent the night before Christmas Eve assembling all of the toys—gift-wrapping over a hundred packages—and loaded my car full of presents. We drove to Nevada on Christmas Eve and set off on Christmas Day to children’s hospitals, half-way houses, abused women and children’s shelters, and opened our hearts to the spirit of giving.

We succeeded in giving away every toy that we wrapped, making the journey worth much more than the time, effort, and resources that we poured into this endeavor.

The experience was bittersweet because once we came the children did not want us to leave. We saw all kinds of kids– autistic, abused, and displaced– come to life and lit with hope because we showed that there are people who cared for them.

I truly believe that this is the spirit of the holidays.

These were the first steps on an incredible journey leading up to now…

I’m a graduate of the University of California, Irvine with an MFA in Drama: Stage Management and B.A. in Drama: Acting, and Philosophy. Theatre has been a long-time passion of mine since childhood and it occurred to me that I could combine my passion for the arts with the compassionate work of helping beings in need. I strongly believe that the arts is not something exclusive to the wealthy, privileged, or middle to upper-class. In fact, historically, the arts were available for everyone to enjoy and it was something that was integral to people’s lives and society at large.

While the people still recognize its importance and influence on the development of our culture today, it remains only as a partition of cultural development reserved for a prescribed audience and is typically associated with affluent communities. The essence of the arts, and specifically of the theatre, is lost. We no longer produce theatre for the sake of the people but rather the appeal is more focused on profit and popularity. My desire is to resurrect localized, community theatre in the broadest sense which is to include street performance and performing in places that are not considered traditional theatre venues (homeless shelters, children’s hospitals, convalescent homes, town squares, etc…).

Our community of local theatre artists, musicians, and crafters, primarily comprised of students at community colleges, universities, theatre professionals, craftsmiths, and lifelong learners including the range of the passionate youth to the young at heart, all eager for an opportunity to imprint a positive impact on society. We want to contribute to a public project using our skills and abilities not only to further our own personal development, but equally as well to enrich the lives of the people in the community with the spark of delight.

We are students, the passionate youth and the young at heart alike, inspired by love and working to build a better future, especially for the unfortunate. We are committed to the effort and dedicate as much as we can within our own span of resources. However, we need outside sources that can empower our resolve. The decision to become a non-profit organization is one that holds practical value since, in doing so, it would affirm the legitimacy and commitment of the work, while empowering us to enlist help from other organizations.

Such a scenario gains benefit for everyone: for our non-profit organization who is passionate about our cause and willing to dedicate our time and talents, for other organizations who have an abundance of resources to offer and do so in good will with added economic benefit, and last but not least, the children and senescent citizens in need of love and inspiration to live productive and fulfilling lives.

The Heart of Delight is an experience combining practical benefits (food, clothing, etc…) with art-driven activities (plays, music, acts of intrigue, etc…) that bring genuine delight back into the hearts of the people. We fill in the common gaps in the world of charity. With our unique training, talents, and dedication to uplifting the spirit of those in need, the work of our organization is  complimentary to other organizations also dedicated to giving back to the community.