November 2004, Foundation Fundraiser

I want to thank you all for coming this evening and supporting the Ianthom Foundation.

It has been four years to the day since Thom died and I would like to think that he would have been rather stunned to find what we have accomplished in his memory in that time.

I could tell you that since November 2000, the IanThom Foundation has raised over $210,000 and donated over $95,000 to worthy charities, but that would not begin to express what we have accomplished.

Instead, I would like to talk about what the Foundation has accomplished this year alone.

This year the foundation has donated over $34,000 to 30 different organizations and I just want to tell you about a couple of them.

Among them are the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League which provides support and help to at-risk kids. They help keep kids off the street, look after kids who have been rejected by their own families due to their gender or sexual identity and provide counseling and education services.

Another organization is the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Colorado Springs who every year awards the Thomas Martin Community Activist of the Year Award. This last January, Nathan and I went out to Colorado to present this award, which is in honor of all of the amazing work that Thom did in Colorado, and it was given to two heroic women, Juliet Draper and Pam Jones; who spoke up, at great personal risk, to protest the removal of all protections and benefits taken by the state of Colorado. A copy of that speech is on the table in the great room here.

Another organization is the Mautner Project, an organization dedicated to women's healthcare and particularly that of lesbians, who are at a disproportionally high risk of breast cancer and have many other health concerns that have not been adequately addressed due to the invisibility to women's health issues in general and that for lesbians in particular. This year, the Mautner Project honored me, and thus both Thom and the Foundation, because apparently Thom and I were one of the very first men ever to become involved with this cause. One of the joys of the Foundation is that we can continue to support this amazing organization, who, this year, have received funding from the Gill Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and other groups to allow them to expand their services to the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.

Just a few of the other organizations supported by the Foundation are the ACLU of West Virginia, The AIDS network of the Tristate Area, Uncommon Legacy (a scholarship program) and there are so many others.

None of this could be possible without your support and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Unfortunately there remains a staggering amount of support that we can not give and almost weekly I receive requests for donations, many of which I have to regretfully decline as there simply is not enough money to help all of the groups which ask.

Even worse, I do not believe that this situation is going to improve. Regardless of your political ideology, the fact remains that Federal and State funding for charities is on the decline and the need is growing. Only this week, the state of Texas stopped all mention of contraception in public health teaching. The state of Arkansas has stopped teaching evolution in favor of creationism. Virginia, Ohio and 9 other states have passed laws which not only remove all forms of partner benefits for gays and lesbians but in Ohio and Virginia, these have been taken from unmarried straight couples as well.

Outside of human rights, education, scholarship and health related issues, the Ianthom Foundation supports a couple of arts and local groups that Thom was particularly interested in, the Gay Mens Chorus of Washington, Shepherdstown Rotary, the Jefferson County United Way, Ezekials Place, which looks after the homeless in Berkeley and Jefferson County and the Contemporary American Theatre Festival.

As you may know, CATF is in the process with Shepherd University, of putting together what will one day result in a new theatre complex for the college and the Festival. One of my hopes for the Foundation is that we can raise enough money to donate to this effort to allow us some form of naming opportunity in Thom's memory, perhaps one of the rooms, or artists residences or even just a flagstone or a tree.

To do that, and to continue to support the organizations we currently assist, and to allow us to help even more groups, we need to continue to raise funds. This year alone, over thirty people and companies have made donations to the Foundation who have never before donated, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

If you have not yet donated to the Foundation, or if you can see your way to increasing your donation to the Foundation, please know that every penny goes to support. We have no expenses, pay no salaries and the financial statements were both sent with your invites and are on the table to show you where the money goes and where the money is.

Every donation regardless of size is gratefully received.

At this point, I would like to thank, and I would ask you to raise your glasses to some of the donors who were unable to be here this evening.

From New York; Christianne Tisdale, Melinda Daniels and Nikki Appell
From Connecticut; Peter and Dianna Saunders
From Wyoming; Pete and Marissa Saunders,
From San Diego; Rob Webber and Jack French
From Iowa; Lori Kluber and Jo Noonan
From Delaware; Nancy Bears and Jenni Lindsay
From Florida; Bob and Betty Martin
From Virginia; Delegate Adam Ebbin, Dr Mark Rusk, Griff and Nancy Niswander
From DC; Dr Jeff Akman, Mr. Bob Alfandre, Ms. Deanne Edelman
From Maryland; Jeff and Christina Bryant, Mary Beth Heine and Cheryl Miller
From Nevada; Mr. Patrick Scott,
and locally; Doug and Karen Kinnett, Dr Ghazala Kazi, Martin Burke, Richard Seckinger, Tim and Suzie Sheehan, Andy Micheal, Steven Skinner and Sinclair Dunlop, Betty and Ivan Severson, Dawn and Bill Newland, Andy Arnold and Carmela Cesare, and Dick and Kathy Klein.

Finally, I would like to thank each and every one of you for your love, your support, your encouragement and your friendship, and in particular, I would like to thank Nathan for everything.

The bonfire will be lit shortly, the disco is going full steam and I hope you all enjoy the evening.

I would like to propose one final toast

To good friends!