THE SUNSHINE FUND/THE CHILDREN’S DREAM FUND (#81): Fransie saying he wanted to help other children was huge relief. I mentioned that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I started the fundraising effort to bring Fransie to meet Pinocchio. That was clear when after just 10 days, I announced that we had raised all the money we needed. The announcement made the papers and the money stopped coming in. Bill Sample must have cringed when he saw the announcement. There is never enough money.
I was starting to worry, however, about what we would do with the money we had left over. Bill Sample made most of the arrangements, and we still had $24,000. As I learned more about Apartheid in South Africa, I began to worry about a backlash and talked with some of my friends in the Sunshine City Jaycees. Luckily, there was never any bad publicity. We had a few meetings to discuss what to do with the money. Maybe there would be a way to keep part of the money to work with kids at All Children’s Hospital.
Then dear, sweet Fransie climbed in my lap, said thank you, and told me, “I am famous now! I want to help other kids.” I talked with Fransie’s parents and it was agreed we would split the money equally. Half would go to them for France and Paul’s college education, and half would go to a nonprofit that would be started to help other children in conjunction with All Children’s.
We were the Sunshine City Jaycees, in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Sunshine City. Since he already had the name Sunshine Foundation, I asked Bill Sample if we could call our new non-profit The Sunshine Fund, and he agreed.
So started The Sunshine Fund, Inc. Our officers for 1982 were Scott Simmons, President; Vice President, Jay Fleece; Secretary, Joe DiVito; Treasurer, Nancy Bowman. Board members were Dr. Michael Bennett, Walt Fullerton, Jan Galletly, Tom Klement, Alan Porter, Lum Pennington, and Bill Slicker.
Our first dream, in early February, did not go well. Jason, 6, was suffering from leukemia and wanted to fly on a “big plane.” We made arrangements for Jason and his family to fly to Orlando, where they would be met by a gold Rolls Royce and taken to Sea World. Jason was thrilled, but was readmitted to All Children’s Hospital, and died before we could make his dream come true.
In March, with the help of Hal Lanier of the St. Louis Cardinals, we made arrangements for nearly 20 children from All Children’s Hospital to go to a Spring Training game. All the kids were given Cardinals baseballs caps and Major League baseballs for autographs. They got to sit in the dugout during batting practice, had box seats and hot dogs during the game, and then went back on the field after the game to say goodbye to the players. It was a great time and we did the Spring Training outing for several years. It started to get to me that by the next year most of the kids from the year before were dead.
We held our first Fundraiser on May 22, 1983 at Janis Landing. The concert featured Tom Gribbin and the Saltwater band, the Backtrack Blues Band, Doc, The Sidewinders, the Silver King Band, and Pete Shackett. Barnaby the Clown was there for the kids. I wish I could have filmed that day.
We had a good group of people working with The Sunshine Fund and things proceeded smoothly thru 1882 and 1983. In 1984, things took a turn for the worse for me. I was already troubled by all the children that were dying, when my Uncle George Wallace asked if I could help him with Ken Lovli.
Ken was waiting for a bus one night and lit a cigarette. His Bic lighter exploded in his lap and his pants and shirt caught fire. He ran to a nearby house and asked to use the shower. But who would let a burning young man in the house? He ran off screaming before anyone could get a hose. When firefighters arrived, the fire had burned itself out and Ken was unconscious.
Ken had burns over 70% of his body. He was accepted for transfer to the Burn Unit at Massachusetts General, but then was denied admission when it was discovered that he had aged off of his parents insurance policy the month before. Time was of the essence. I agreed to help, but couldn’t shake the thought that life might not be worth living.
This was on a Friday. I called Mass General to verify that they were refusing to take Ken. The only way he would be accepted was with a $40,000 deposit. It would take time to raise $40,000, time Ken Lovely didn’t have. Linda and I were going to a black tie dinner Saturday night, and I made the rounds asking for help. County Commissioner Gabe Cazares came through like the champion he was. He said, “Scott, you don’t have time to raise money. I’ll rush through approval for medicaid and we’ll get him to Mass General.”
I was at St. Pete-Clearwater Airport on Tuesday, when Ken Lovli was taken by air ambulance to the Burn Unit at Mass General. I have lost the pictures, but I can describe the scene. As Ken was being wheeled on a stretcher to the plane, I could clearly see, and had a photo of, a blood stain the size of my hand on the sheet covering him. The blood stain was at his crotch. I wanted to cry. Ken died a week later.
Have you ever heard the saying, “No good deed goes unpunished?” A month later, I received two certified letters in one week. One was from Massachusetts General asking me to pay Ken Lovli’s $46,000 hospital bill. The other was from an attorney representing Bill Sample and the Sunshine Foundation. I was being informed that the Sunshine Foundation was going to begin operating in Florida. Unless we immediately changed our name from The Sunshine Fund, I would be sued personally, as would all of our board members. Bill, you could have just called me.
Linda and I had just had some other crazy, scary thing happen when someone came to our house and asked for help. I couldn’t take it anymore. We changed the name to The Suncoast Children’s Dream Fund, and I dropped out.
Fortunately, Cynthia Lake came on board as our first staff member. Now 40 year later, the Children’s Dream Fund is going strong. Cynthia Lake Farrell is still there, now with a staff of six and a 19 person Board of Directors. Thank you so much Cynthia!
