Question: Can a cup of coffee raise immediate funding for your nonprofit, assist rural farmers in Africa and provide doctors for Africa?
Answer: Yes!
LETTER IN SUPPORT OF DIRECTFUND FROM
REV. DR. PETER LE JACQ, MARYKNOLL MISSIONARY
--- On Tue, 3/9/10, Le Jacq, Peter <PLeJacq@Maryknoll.org> wrote:
From: Le Jacq, Peter <PLeJacq@Maryknoll.org>
Subject: Direct Fund Message of Support
To: "'Chris Petrosino'" <nypaac@yahoo.com>
Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 3:25 PM
Dear Chris,
Thank you for all that you and DirectFund Foundation have accomplished for the sick, and those who care for the sick at Bugando Medical Center in Tanzania.
I would like to reflect back to you all that I have seen accomplished by you and DirectFund Foundation since you initiated this dedicated foundation.
DirectFund's mission to prevent premature death and relieve unnecessary pain and suffering in sub-Saharan Africa is certainly being realized. Since 2001, DirectFund has sent 100% of the funds it has raised directly to Bugando Hospital and Bugando University College of Health Sciences. Direct Fund transfers have been used to purchase pediatric cancer medications and specialized anesthetics, among other items currently unavailable in Tanzania . Funds sent by Direct Fund have been used to help build a fully accredited medical school, along with renovations to schools for other healthcare workers, that operates within the Hospital. Direct Fund also transfers a 100 thousand dollar grant, annually, which funds are used to feed the patients, staff and medical school students.
Without these funds it would be impossible to keep patients, staff and students as well fed. Bugando University College of Health Sciences (BUCHS) is a unique model for the Developing World to follow. In the last seven years, BUCHS has grown from ten MDs to nearly 800 students across eight disciplines. Postgraduate residencies (five specialties): undergraduate MD; and diploma courses in nursing, laboratory science, pharmacy, anesthesiology, assistant medical officer and radiography.
There are currently 277 medical students, 33 post-graduates, 89 AMO students, 101 medical laboratory students, 122 nursing students, 41 radiology students, 98 pharmacy students, and 16 anesthesiology students. (from BUCHS website)
The above review is evidence of the
need of DirectFund Foundation’s ongoing support of Bugando which
offers a unique educational opportunity for Tanzanian healthcare
workers.
Sincerely,
Rev. Dr. Peter Le Jacq
In the winter of 1995, my wife Joan and I attended a reunion of students from St. Mary's High School in Manhassett, NY. My wife had attended St. Mary's so I was along for the ride. I did know several of the people there, including the hosts, Daniel and Betty Gillen. It was a splendid evening at their home in Ridgewood, NJ. There was a light dusting of snow, the holiday lights were sparkling and there was ample food and warm conversation. I kept noticing one tall man walking among the crowd in a plaid shirt and jeans. He stuck out because he was about 6' 5" and weighed no more than 160 pounds. I heard people murmuring, "There's LeJacq...there's LeJacq." I asked Joan who he was and she said he was a year ahead of him and did not remember. She suggested I walk up to him and ask. "I'm not going to do that, Joan," I replied.
At the end of the evening, a friend noted there was no decaf coffee. I said, "Tommy, you had Chivas Regal, shrimp cocktail and finger sandwiches. What the heck are you complaining about?" It was at that moment that Peter LeJacq introduced himself.
Peter told us that he had just gotten back from Bugando Hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania, East Africa. His duty there was a rare career path combination: doctor/priest. The people called him Padre Daktari Pedro, or "Father Doctor Peter." Father Peter worked for the Catholic Foreign Mission Service, aka Maryknoll Missionaries, where he had taken his divinity training. At the same time he studied to become a priest, he studied at Cornell Medical School to become a doctor. He worked in Bugando Hospital, an 800 bed hospital that served as a tertiary care facility...a hospital that handled complex medical cases that could not be handled at the local level. However, there were many obstacles he faced on a daily basis.
Peter told us that when he arrived in the early 1990's, Bugando "Hospital" was an empty concrete shell. All plumbing, beddings and fixtures had been ransacked by renegade soldiers from neighboring Burundi. Furthermore, as the Tanzanian government was trying to pay off their debt load due to restrictions of the Structural Adjustment Program, there was no money available for medicines and surgical supplies. Basically, the Catholic Church took over the hospital, and through contributions from donors, was attempting to rebuild the Hospital. Peter shared some sobering and sad facts. This was an emergency facility that served 9 million people, usually with only 10 - 15 doctors on hand. Surgical gloves were bleached, hung up to be used again and again. The only medication available from the government store was Tetracycline.
Father Doctor Peter also told us that the hospital did have two ambulances, converted Volkswagen minibuses. Their only use: to take people home so they could die in peace among family. Confused by this, I squinted in disbelief. Peter said, "Welcome to the Third World." His mission was to keep people comfortable until they died. Tire rims were used to announce the death of a family member...night after night, all night long, the death knells sounded...beacons of death from far and near. And here we were complaining about coffee!
That night, in the solemnity of Peter's story, and doing well in life myself, I decided if I could not help him out, I may as well give up. Within a couple of weeks I had completed a book listing the requirements of starting a nonprofit organization. By the middle of the next year I had filed the appropriate paperwork with State and Federal agencies. I had a name that would convey my ideals: DirectFund. The concept was to raise awareness and funds. And to transfer 100% of the funds directly to the mission of preventing premature death and relieving unnecessary pain and suffering in sub-Saharan Africa.
I had planned to send medicines from the US and wrote that up in my paperwork. The IRS contacted me and asked me to expand on the plan. There was also one more important piece missing. I had not contacted Peter LeJacq. I wanted to have something concrete before the outreach.
Lucky for me I tracked Peter down at Maryknoll in Ossining, NY. He answered the phone and I said, "Father Peter, you probably don't remember me, but I met you at the Gillen reunion. I married Joan Ellsworth and my name is Chris Petrosino. Peter, I was so touched by what you have given your life to, I decided to start a secular nonprofit organization. I called it DirectFund Foundation because we will directly fund your hospital." There was silence for what seemed an eternity. I thought Peter had hung up the phone. Then Peter said, "I want to tell you about an email I received from my Maryknoll superiors. The email states that my mission account is taking up too much Maryknoll funding and suggests I set up a nonprofit organization to directly fund the hospital. The email has been sitting on my desk for six weeks. I am a doctor and a priest and did not know where to turn. My brother-in-law is an attorney, but I have asked him to help me so many times I was reticent to call him. It sounds like you have already done this for me, so thank you!"
We decided I would send him all of my paperwork for Maryknoll review. It passed muster and Father Peter became our board member and medical advisor. It was also decided that the best way to help would be to transfer funds directly to the Hospital and Medical School accounts for use as stipulated by the donors. Peter wrote up the plan. A few weeks later we received our determination letter from the IRS to function as a 501(c)3 corporation. And that is where it all started.
Now I would not say we have been the largest donor by far to the Hospital, but in the years that followed our foundation proved a valuable resource for donations. As we are a secular foundation, we received many grants, literally hundreds of thousands of dollars, from foundations that loved the mission but were not permitted to donate to a faith based charity such as Maryknoll. Our funding has been used to purchase beddings, linens, and textbooks. Our funding has been used to help build laboratories and classrooms for the fully accredited medical school that operates within the Hospital. Monies have been used to purchase specialized pediatric cancer medications, anesthesia meds and other specialized medicines unavailable in Tanzania proper. We have also been the beneficiary of large grants intended to feed the patients, staff and medical school students. And all of the grants have been passed along, in their entirety, directly to the Hospital accounts.