James H. White - Born to Rise

After Hurricane Helene, I helped organize a local drop-off point at New Century Festivals for a relief drive throughout New York State led by Army Sgt. Michael Sharpes (Unknown Entity Coffee). What I witnessed there—veterans and active-duty military showing up with quiet, determined service—left a lasting impression. At the same time, veteran-led groups like Aerial Recovery and Save Our Allies were risking their lives on the front lines of the disaster response, bringing hope where it was desperately needed.

Those experiences inspired me to co-write “Born to Rise” with David English—a tribute to the courage, unity, and selflessness that define true service.

I entered the story and song into Gan Jing World's 2024 #kindnessiscool campaign and was honored to win the top $10,000 award. I’m sharing that prize with Aerial Recovery and Save Our Allies — two organizations I deeply respect for their life-saving work around the world.

My hope is to continue working alongside Aerial Recovery and its trusted partners to raise support for their mission to ‘save lives, stop evil.’

God bless, JHW

Born to Rise

Floods and fires and hurricanes,
Remind me we’re a family of states,
Oh a family of states

Carolina to Tennessee
Georgia to Tallahassee
Mountain folk to city streets

And we’re born with freedom
And we’re born from sacrifice
And we’re born to fight with all of our might
Baby, we were born to rise

Men and women are headin’ south
Oh, it’s all done by word of mouth
Friends by word of mouth

Service over self we bind
No one is left behind
Yeah, you seek, He finds

And we’re born with freedom
And we’re born from sacrifice
And we’re born to fight with all of our might
Baby, we were born to rise

Floods and fires and hurricanes
Can’t keep us down
High winds and dire straits
Can’t keep us down

‘Cause we’re born with freedom
‘Cause we’re born from sacrifice
‘Cause we’re born to fight with all of our might
Yeah, baby, we were born to rise

Oohh ooohh oohhh
Oohh ooohh oohhh
Oohh ooohh oohhh

Song Credits:
Written by: James H. White, David English
Produced by: James H. White, Lord English Music
Performed by: James H. White
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass, Percussion, Organ: Lord English
Drums: Adam Alesi (via Musiversal)
BVs: Vic May
Arrangement & Mixing: Lord English
Mastering: Taylor Deupree (12K Mastering)

#KindnessIsCool #BornToRise #MusicForChange #SongsThatInspire #HumanitarianRelief #ResilienceInAction #Music #HurricaneHelene