Why did you create this fund?
Part of my role on the hockey team was to get my teammates involved in community service. So, we did everything from freshman to junior year outside in the Amherst community–Big Brothers Big Sisters, soup kitchens. Senior year I was working at the State House in Boston working for Mike Rush. Part of my job was to look through newspapers and keep him up-to-date on events in the districts. That was my role–internship work. We had ramped up our presence in Afghanistan and into Iraq. I read about Massachusetts residents who were serving our country and not coming home. The most touching were the ones who had children. They made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and had two to three kids left at home. Those were pretty tough and touching stories to read. We were doing all these community service efforts up at UMass. This is pretty much the largest community service effort going on right now, which was the effort of our Service Members. I was playing hockey, and going to UMass Amherst, and had a pretty nice life. And I wanted to focus on the Service Members and their sacrifice. I wanted Service Members’ kids to get an education relatively for free. I could play hockey and didn’t have to pay for school and I wanted their children to have that. Summer going into senior year, we contacted attorneys and were ready to rock by the end.
Which story was the most memorable out of all the ones you read?
A dad left in May, his son was born in June, the dad was killed in Iraq in July. So, he only met his son through pictures. He never had a chance to meet his son. The son only knows his dad through pictures. That is pretty tough. These kids will never get to meet their dad. The Service Member never had an opportunity to hold his newborn son or daughter. That really puts it in context. It’s a sad story. Ya know, they do this sort of thing with no regrets. They go over and serve our country, and it’s an important thing to recognize.
These [deaths] are front page news stories. When there’s a death, there’s a rush to support. Then, the publicity dies down and the family is left to cope with the loss, and I thought if we could create an effort to honor that sacrifice…we want to offer educational assistance to the families. Our goal is to assure those families that that sacrifice will not be forgotten as time progresses.
Did you have any special connection to children of fallen soldiers?
My connection really to the military is, sort of, just through my extended family. I have aunts and uncles who served in Vietnam. My grandpa and great uncles served in World War II. I was also accepted to West Point. I went to Catholic Memorial High School in Boston. I thought I was going to go to West Point. I went to prep school and then went up to UMass.
How did you promote the fund in order to accumulate 3 million dollars?
It started very, very small with a $50 donation from my parents. I started promoting the fund to larger donors, high net worth individuals who might have had military backgrounds. My first focus was to get large donors. I would solicit. As I gained more support through individuals, it made the
fund a little more legitimate, and then I was able to go and solicit more foundations and corporate sponsorships. The way I promote the fund, is that we are not terribly, terribly active. We are not sending out emails every month asking for donations. We have a website, a POB that you can send donations to. We’ve been very fortunate to receive free promotions from the “Today” show, CNN twice, the [Boston] Globe, the [Boston] Herald, an article in the Associated Press…given us some headlines and more eyes on us. Our donors, who we send newsletters and brochures to. The main way for us to raise funds is through word of mouth, and once we have a donor, we try and keep them updated on the cause. The leadership breakfast, which is every year or every other year, that’s where a lot of the funding has come from. We did it twice in 2007 and 2008, held off for two years, and we’re doing one again in May. The past breakfasts have raised 1 million each. I have a lot of donors and our families come and we have sponsors who buy tables. This year will be radio broadcasted.
How can one apply to receive funding?
There is no full application process. If your father or mom was killed over in Afghanistan and Iraq, you are automatically eligible for funds. We don’t have them write an essay. This is more of an honorarium to their parent that was killed. We check the Department of Defense listing to check casualties. Once we see there was a Massachusetts Service Member who was killed, we do the research to see if that service member has children. Then, we will send them a packet. We will call the widow or the grandparents and tell them about our fund. They can obviously also reach out to us.
If their father or mother has listed at the Department of Defense that their home of record is Massachusetts and that parent died, then they are eligible for funds. We promise that child $40,000 in assistance. Our focus is college assistance. They can go to any school in the entire world and we will help them. We started programs now to help them get to college like tutoring programs, special needs programs. The focus is to help that family pay for college because that is the largest expense we think that they will face. I hope we can give them more but I guarantee them $40,000.
Do you have any full-time staff?
We have one part-time administrator, which is Ryan Durkin. His brother is a Marine. We have 20 regular volunteers.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
I can’t wait to see all these kids grow up, and hopefully graduate college and see our mission through.
If you’re interested in making donations you can do so via the website or by sending mail to:
Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund
PO Box 962061
Milk Street Post Office
Boston, MA 02196