Local Father Helps Hospital That Helped Son

By Jeff Malachowski/Staff Writer
Tue Jun 17, 2008, 06:53 PM EDT
SHREWSBURY -
What began as a tragedy for the Prefontaine family has turned into a blessing for many children at Franciscan Children’s Hospital, as the Prefontaine Foundation has raised and donated over $300,000 to the hospital.
One of the organization’s founders, Chris Prefontaine, was recently honored for his efforts with the foundation and Franciscan Children’s Hospital and was inspired to create the foundation after his son Nick received treatment at the hospital.
On Feb. 5, 2003, Prefontaine received a call that Nick had been in a skiing accident on Mt. Wachusett and was knocked unconscious, suffered multiple brain injuries and was in a coma.
Nick was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center and doctors to put a tube down his throat for oxygen to flow. Doctors told the Prefontaines it was likely Nick would never be able to walk, talk, eat or take care of himself.
After about a month at UMass Memorial Medical Center, Nick’s condition slowly improved and he was transferred to Franciscan Children’s Hospital, New England’s largest pediatric rehabilitation facility, to begin his rehabilitation process.
While at Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Boston, Nick spent 12 hours each day doing physical, occupational and speech therapy and was able to re-learn how to sit up on his own, how to get dressed and how to take a shower on his own.
After a two-month stay, Nick walked out of Franciscan Children’s Hospital and back to his Shrewsbury home and would spend his summer being tutored so he could enter high school in the fall. He graduated from St. John’s High School last May.
Because of Nick’s stay and success at Franciscan Children’s Hospital, the Prefontaine family created the foundation in the spring of 2005. Since its inception, the foundation has raised nearly $300,000 to help children at the hospital.
“It got started as a result of Nick’s visit to Franciscan,” said Chris Prefontaine. “While he was there we watched them piece together parts for wheelchairs to accommodate kids. We saw a big gap and thought we could do something to help.”
During the foundation’s three years, the outpatient waiting and service areas have been renovated, a therapeutic pool, allowing some patients the ability to walk for the first time since their injury and a solarium, allowing children dependent on respirators and other life-sustaining equipment to enjoy fresh air and sunshine.
“It’s really awesome to see the progress made at Franciscan,” said Chris Prefontaine. “It’s hard to explain the feeling that is gained by helping children and families.”
In addition to working on various projects, such as the therapeutic pool, the foundation also helps with the hospital’s other needs, such as replacing old boilers.
“The not so glamorous thing about the hospital is it’s an old building,” Chris Prefontaine said. “We try to address as many of their needs as possible.”
Prefontaine was honored with the Community Leadership Award by the Franciscan Hospital at the annual Community Leadership dinner in late May.
“The award is definitely not about me,” Chris Prefontaine said. “I could not have done it without the incredible support of the foundation and those at Franciscan Hospital. I wish I could have had all 15-20 members of the foundation up there receiving the award with me.”
For more information or to donate to the Prefontaine Foundation, visit http://prefontainefoundation.org.

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Eerie Election Insight on Obama

Obama’s Academia Nuts

By INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Friday, April 25, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Education: How exactly do former terrorists get to teach at America’s universities? Unfortunately, Obama’s friends William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn are just a few of the inmates running those asylums.

Obama associates William Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, are more than former members of the Weather Underground, terrorists who engaged in bombings of American government buildings during the Vietnam War.

They are academics.

Ayers and the Weather Underground bombed New York City police headquarters in June 1970, the U.S. Capitol Building in March 1971 and the Pentagon in May 1972.

His memoirs appeared in the New York Times, oddly enough, on Sept. 11, 2001. In them, he wrote: “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.”

Today Ayers, the man who found “a certain eloquence in bombs,” is a distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois, Chicago, a “respected figure in liberal education circles” according to Politico.com.

His wife is an associate professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law the director of Northwestern University’s Children and Family Justice Center. Go figure.

The irony of terrorists teaching law and justice and educating our children is mind-boggling, but it does not surprise us since academia had been a hotbed of liberal activism since even before the Vietnam War. The search for truth is obviously no longer a qualification for tenure.

In 2005, Robert Lichter, a communications professor at George Mason University, and fellow political science professors Stanley Rothman of Smith College and Neil Nevitte of the University of Toronto authored a study that showed that 72% of those teaching at American colleges are liberal and 15% are conservative.

The disparity is even higher at the so-called elite schools, where, according to the study, 87% of the faculty are liberal vs. 13% who are conservative.Religion, which Harvard Law School graduate Obama says small-town America clings to, is not a high priority for many faculty members, with 51% saying they rarely or never attend church or synagogue. American academia is clearly dominated by liberal secularists.

The most famous nutty professor of recent years was Ward Churchill, who came to public attention for a piece he wrote shortly after 9/11 that said those killed in the World Trade Center were a “technocratic corps at the very heart of America’s global financial empire,” calling them “little Eichmanns.”

Churchill, then chairman of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado, titled his essay, “Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens,” a tome as off the wall as its title suggests. It echoed the theme embraced by many on the loony left that America invited the 9-11 attacks through a long history of violent domination of other cultures. In other words, we had it coming. If that sounds familiar, it’s what Barack Obama’s pastor of two decades, Jeremiah Wright, once shouted from the pulpit.Churchill is only the most prominent campus clown indoctrinating future generations in colleges and universities, including state-funded ones, that are essentially little more than liberal re-education camps.

In March 2003, assistant professor Nicholas DeGenova provoked national outrage when he called on U.S. soldiers in Iraq to “frag” (or murder) their officers and said he wished “for a million Mogadishus,” referring to the 1993 ambush in Somalia that left 18 American troops dead and 84 wounded. DeGenova told students at an anti-war teach-in on the Columbia campus that “U.S. patriotism is inseparable from imperial warfare and white supremacy,” and that “the only true heroes are those who find ways that help defeat the U.S. military.”

Barack Obama graduated in 1983 from Columbia University, whence his hard-core fondness for anti-U.S. thugs and opposition to liberating Iraq may have been derived.He and wife Michelle are both Ivy League graduates.

These days it’s poisoned ivy.

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Community Leadership Award Dinner - Franciscan Children’s Hospital

Congratulations to Chris Prefontaine on receiving Franciscan Hospital for Children’s 2008 Community Leadership Award!

Friends, supporters and well-wishers of Franciscan Hospital for Children, gathered on Tuesday, May 20 at The InterContinental Hotel in Boston, to honor and celebrate the Hospital’s local heroes. Chris Prefontaine, founder of the Prefontaine Foundation (now the Prefontaine Fund) and Todd Patkin, founder of Todd G. Patkin Charitable Ventures received the presitigious Community Leadership Award while Victoria Tolman, former patient and current employee of Franciscan Hospital for Chidren, was the recipient of the 2008 Profile in Children’s Courage Award.

Franciscan Hospital congratulates the honorees and extends its gratitude to all who made this evening a success. As always, the much needed financial support we receive at Franciscan goes beyond fulfilling program needs - it touches the lives of our children in many ways.

The Community Leadership Award Dinner is an annual fundraising event that brings together numerous friends, partners and supporters of the Hospital to appreciate the unwavering support exhibited by individuals, corporate partners and organizations within the community, towards the Hospital’s mission.

During this event, the Hospital also recognizes the courage of its patients through the Franciscan Profile in Childrens Courage Award. The Franciscan Profile in Childrens Courage Award honors patients who have shown resilience and courage in the face of overwhelming challenges while on the path to recovery.

Helping Children Succeed

The Prefontaine Fund at Franciscan Hospital has evolved from what was formerly a nonprofit family charitable foundation established to provide better opportunities for children in need. Because of Nick’s Story, the primary focus of the Fund is to initiate and support fundraising activities on behalf of Franciscan Hospital for Children. The Prefontaine Fund donates 100% of all funds raised to Franciscan Hospital for Children.

Mission

The mission of the Prefontaine Fund is to support projects that promote the best possible learning experience for children and young adults, enabling them to enter the real world with confidence.

The Nick Prefontaine Story

We invite you to see and hear the power of Nick and the Prefontaine family’s experience at Franciscan Hospital for Children. Click here to view Nick’s video.

Contact us if you’d like a copy of the DVD to share.

The Prefontaine Fund’s Current Projects

Thanks to the generosity of dedicated friends and supporters of The Prefontaine Fund, a number of projects are underway.Two of these projects are the new state-of-the-art Physical and Occupational Therapy room known as Nick’s Room, and a new Solarium.

The Prefontaine Fund has raised and donated over $100,000 annually to the Hospital towards these and other major projects. Featured Project– A New Solarium Room - a breath of fresh air!
Imagine never having felt a breeze, or played or napped in the sunshine? Let’s give these kids that chance!

The children at Franciscan Hospital are often wheelchair bound and dependent on respirators and other life-sustaining equipment. Many of these children are at Franciscan Hospital for months or even years and seldom, if ever, are able to go outside to experience and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. The new Solarium Room will give them that opportunity.
The Prefontaine Fund’s pledge for this project is $100,000.

Support our efforts by donating as an individual or a company.Contact us to find out how you can support us further.

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Time Saving Tips for Real Estate Investors

Time Saver #1: Delegation

Regardless of what level investor you are, you still want to make sure you’re not stuck doing the tedious, repetitive, time-sucking mundane activities that make you feel busy.

Your focus should always stay on the five key elements of investing:
1. Locating prospects
2. Prescreening them quickly, but efficiently
3. Getting the deed or purchase agreement on the “low hanging fruit”
4. Using the systemized checklists to sell or lease option a property
5. Delegating the rent collection for your lease option or rental properties

Don’t get stuck talking on the phone to any and all sellers at all hours of the day/night. Don’t waste time going after suspects vs prospects, visiting properties you’ll NEVER buy. AND DO NOT babysit contractors, rehabbers, etc.

Once you have the five basics down, you can easily delegate those and the administrative tasks that accompany them as well.

1. Locating prospects – Have a senior center or mailing company do your mailing. You only need to place an ad or put a sign up one time. If you need to set up a renewal for the ad you schedule the advertiser to call YOU to decide whether or not to keep it running.
2. Taking calls and prescreening – Use a 24 hour phone service with live operators to use the lead script we give you. Then you continue screening from the info you’ve already collected through your phone service. You can also send buyers and sellers to voice recorded messages that tell them about the house and how to visit it on their own.
3. Credit checks and loan qualifying – let someone do it who does it all day every day—a mortgage broker
4. Accounting – Again.. give it to someone who does it regularly like an accountant or bookkeeper.
5. Inspecting a property – If it’s a pretty house—just get the deed. If it’s ugly, get a contract. If they’re motivated, visit the house. If not, stay put. After prescreening them on the phone, you won’t have that many properties to send yourself to see in one month.

I understand business must be run behind the scenes as well as up front, but don’t waste large amounts of time on activities that aren’t making you money. You’ll only be spinning yourself in circles, getting no where. You are the lead generator, and the sale closer. Focus one at a time on getting the other tasks taken care of.

Eventually when you have all your systems in place—you can take off to Tahiti for a month and your business will still be running on it’s own without you. Beautiful thought isn’t it?

www.thebigsystem.com for a 100% NO OBLIGATION, FREE REPORT on Making Real Money in Real Estate

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