03/24/2017
Hey all, as Waz Up! 2017 Boogie planning gets underway, some (ourselves included) have wondered what is to come of the foundation now that Linda has passed. Here is what we know: Linda was our first beneficiary and the inspiration for creating this fund. She wanted us to keep it going to help others similarly situated when dealing with unexpected crisis. We miss her dearly and are feeling the void of her guidance and leadership...In the spirit of transparency, last year's boogie & donations (sorry for the late figures) brought in over $6,100 for the foundation after expenses, and thanks to Linda, the board, and all the beautiful souls in our community who have donated and supported, we have in total, approximately $24,000 in savings. It is not our intention to spend your generosity willy-nilly, but to honor Linda's memory and keep this available for those in need, and to manage it responsibly. That being the case, in years past, we tried to develop some criteria in assessing how and when to help our brothers and sisters, which is not an easy task, still a work in progress and open to comment. The results are that we (the board) meet from time to time to consider financial grants of assistance in increments of $500 to help persons who have been professionals in skydiving and skydiving related industries & members of our community with similar influence. This would include not only skydiving professionals, but pilots, mechanics, administrators, first responders, and non-professional mentors. In one case, we approved a grant to a global charity in memory of one of our community who was not a skydiving professional, but who had worked extremely hard in his professional life to make the world a better place, but whose potential had been cut short too young. Also, we have avoided giving fund assistance to those who were injured while actually skydiving, because we felt that was somewhat outside the spectrum of "unexpected" and something we could better use foundation resources to help prevent, rather than patch. However that too, is not a hard and fast rule, and we are always willing to help promote an individual's fundraising effort within our community. In addition to keeping a grant fund, we hope to create programs to help educate and inspire a healthier and safer community that would be better prepared for life's malfunctions, and invite anyone with ideas or information and experiences to share, to use this as a platform for this purpose. We are by no means saying that we have this kind of infrastructure within our organization. We are just four volunteer board members. We all have our own jobs and do not collect any kind of compensation from this endeavor. Moving forward, we must rely on the ideas, support and dedication of our community members to implement those ideas in the form of realistic plans that you are invited to craft and actions that you willing to take. This is not "our" foundation. It belongs to all of our community and has come about because of its supporters - YOU. Now THAT's been said, let's get some plans together for the next BOOGIE! Looking forward to seeing you all at Safety Day! Blue Skies, the LWF board (Justin, Jenny, Kay, & Sergey)
