'Real World's' Nies, promotes hope with organization

photos courtesy of Sara Dai

By Marilee Movius
On-line Forty-Niner

The cell phone with a 212 area code rang only twice when a man picked up the phone with a relaxed voice and said, "hello." He is 32 years old, a native New Yorker and has been in "The Brady Bunch," the original cast of MTV's "Real World New York," a former host of MTV's "The Grind" for three years and created work-out videos for "The Grind."
Eric Nies is sitting on a tour bus with eight other cast mates of "Real World" and "Road Rules," traveling 50 states and making appearances on campuses and documenting every step of the way.

Last March, Nies produced a similar project creating a DVD titled, "The Road to Reality," which will be released next fall, where he gathered four other ex-MTV reality figures. The crew went to Miami Beach, Fla., during spring break with no money and no place to stay, trying to find ways to receive money by using their fame. The crew documented what most people think about reality television and what it is really like.

"A lot of people don't know that we received only a small amount of money up front from MTV before the reality shows with no back end sales," Nies said. "So I got a group together and each person will receive a percent of the sales, which is something I am giving back that MTV didn't."

One may think that Nies would continue speaking of the greatness of his DVD, however, this was contrary.

"Dealing with the different personalities can be difficult," Nies said, "Once you have been on the show, you are a different person and many have this attitude that they are bigger and better, so whiny and complaining situations will occur. It is difficult in the entertainment business when peoples' egos have gotten too big for themselves. I have avoided this by doing different things. The main reason that I have come back [to the media] is to build an awareness for my non-profit organization."

His non-profit organization, A Moment of Hope, was established after Sept.11, 2001 with the goal of empowering and educating youth globally, through community service, online networking and cultural understanding.

"After 9/11, I went through some hard times in my career trusting people and going through traumatic experiences asking myself, 'why this happened and who am I?'" Nies said. "This [celebrity] kind of came to me, I never always wanted it."

Nies discovered an eighth generation, Vietnamese Buddhist, who he has lived with the past five years during five to eight month increments, studying the art of Buddhist meditation.
"I began looking at the purpose of life and why I am here, it is during my meditation that A Moment of Hope happened," Nies said. "My existence in my lifetime is to make this world a better place for children of all countries so that kids have an empowering destiny and avoid catastrophic events as those of 9/11."

The organization's co-founder, Rick Corn started raising money for families and handing out checks door-to-door to help after Sept. 11. Along the way, Corn met children that wanted to do something and be heard. Corn also worked with Carl Perkins in the late '90s, whose idea was to let the world know that music can heal, and it was this inspiration that created the organization's current marketing project.

Corn and Nies worked together with Brad Smith, a high school student and founder of Teen for Teens, who presented an idea called "Voices of Inspiration."

The idea came into fruition. Four teenagers, including Smith, who lost their parents on Sept. 11 interview celebrities, doctors, actors and children with diseases to connect with people that have experienced trauma in their lives and have used music as a healing force in a documentary entitled, "The Healing Power of Music." The documentary will end with a concert by professional musicians and children who have experienced traumatic events. This will be made into a 13-episode series, which will be televised this spring.

The first organization of its kind, A Moment of Hope is working to target college campuses across the nation for students to form foundations and be role models for younger children Nies said.

"I want MOH to teach the information that the education system doesn't set up," he said. "The system is setup wrong. [Students] leave school, live in the 9 to 5 rat race and do not exercise. If your mind and body do not communicate, it shuts down your spirit and it is your spirit that moves you."

The goals for MOH are to build spiritual, mental and physical growth and create an annual worldwide moment of silence on Sept. 11 to support the idea of unity on that day and forever, Nies said.

"I wish I could wake up in the morning and be happy, but the truth is, I don't know how anyone could because of everything that is going on in the world," Nies said. "We want to create such a day that we will start working together, which I hope is infectious to everybody so that we feel secure on this planet. This is what I hope for before I leave this planet."

For more information on A Moment of Hope log on to www.momentofhope.com.