I got a phone call this morning from the school. The president of the college wanted to see me in his office this morning. Most people would consider the president of the college to be a bad thing and would shake in their boots. It isn't something that normally happens, unless your name is Peter Butler. Then you never know where you are going to end up but you wind up there.
I got to his office and his CFO was in with him. I was told to go in and he immediately told me to sit. They were talking about how a 501(c)3 can give money in donation. As a rule, for tax purposes, a 501(c)3 cannot give money to any individual but may give money in charity to a foundation. What I didn't realize is what this was all about. I understood the ideas because I have had experience with 501(c)3 organizations before. I was a little surprised, a little appalled and very sad to here what this was all about.
It turns out that a local family had a set of twins born with Epidermolysis Bullosa. This is a very bad flesh eating disorder which is inherited. After doing some research this evening, I have come to find out that 1 in 50,000 people get this disease. These children were 'fortunate' enough to get the rarest and deadliest variety. There is not cure for Epidermolysis Bullosa. In some cases, they can make the patient comfortable and it will heal but the sores reappear on a regular basis. When the sores heal, they get calloused. In the most rare cases, it is deadly. Guess which variety these children have. These children are newborns. I saw the pictures today and I wanted to cry.
The president wants me to use my influence among the student body to raise awareness and money for research and advocacy of Epidermolysis Bullosa. I am to get the SGA, PTK and Student Nurses involved in raising money for this. We are then going to try and find a legal way to funnel the money to the family so they can pay for medical bills. The president informed me that this was to be our mission for the rest of the school year.
I have begun my awareness campaign by telling people about it. At the end of the month, we will have an SGA meeting and at that time, we will be informing the students about the cause that we have to take up. Suddenly, all of our little causes mean nothing. We have something bigger to thing about. It's funny how something so big comes in the package of two small babies.
Unknown "Mr. Nice Guy" Adored
- 16 years, 10 months, 1 day ago