November 2017 - Friends Empowering Others
Photo used with permission from Charlie Fraker
“Both of these donations are about good people doing good things.”
I recommended two donations to our group.
The first was to support a GoFundMe page in memory of Ford M. Fraker, whose son was my best friend in high school. On top of being successful, Mr. Fraker was a genuinely awesome guy, and very well respected. He was the sort of person who didn't direct all of his efforts into making money. He also wanted to help others, and it was always one of his dreams to create a scholarship to Taft for kids without the financial means to attend. By contributing to his scholarship, I wanted to support my friend, honor his dad's memory, and to help future students have amazing educational experiences that may have seemed out of reach to them and their families because of the costs.
The second was to support a friend's youth organization, A&M Sports Academy. They do sports clinics that also help to develop diverse students as individuals, building self-confidence, responsibility, and meaningful friendships. They also do a service trip to Haiti. When they go, they do things like bring a dentist on their Board to provide free dental care and build schools. In both New York and Haiti, he is developing and caring for the local kids.
— Jake Heine, Project Lead