Donor Spotlight: Thomas and Ulrike Schlafly of St. Louis

Ulrike and I visited CRUDEM for the first time in February of 2005. Seven months later Tom Flynn, the President of the CRUDEM Foundation at the time, approached me about serving on the board of the foundation. As Ulrike and I discussed the commitment that would be involved, we thought about several things.

First, the organizations we support tend to fall into two categories: those that benefit us personally and those that serve others less fortunate than we are. For example, we contribute to the local public radio station because we listen to it. We support Forest Park, which is near our home in St. Louis, because we use its amenities. We also support the St. Patrick Center in St. Louis, which serves the homeless and other disadvantaged populations. We are personally blessed in not needing the services provided by the St. Patrick Center and feel an obligation to help those who depend on it.

CRUDEM obviously falls into the second category. We personally are never going to need the services of Hôpital Sacré Coeur, but tens of thousands of Haitians have no other options. Moreover, unlike the St. Patrick Center, the hospital is not located in a community that can sustain it. We feel a particular obligation to assist the less fortunate people in St. Louis, where we live; recognizing that other American cities (Boston, New York, Chicago, etc.) are capable of taking care of their own disadvantaged populations. Milot, Haiti, on the other hand, does not have the resources to take care of its own. CRUDEM needs our help more than charities in other American cities (however worthy they may be).

 
We feel obligated not only to take care of our own, but also to take care of those who have no one else to take care of them.

Second, it’s not enough for Ulrike and me that a charity does good work. In order for us to commit, it’s important that our involvement make a difference. We sometimes say an organization has to be big enough to be important, yet small enough for us to have an impact. CRUDEM meets these criteria. There’s no question about the good work it does. Thousands of Haitians are alive today because of Hôpital Sacré Coeur. It’s also small enough that every volunteer has left his or her fingerprints on it in one way or another.

I accepted Tom Flynn’s invitation and began serving on the CRUDEM board in 2006. For all the good work we were doing, I became aware of a dynamic that made me uncomfortable. Some of our supporters tended to characterize our work as “rich Americans helping poor Haitians.” This was certainly not the dominant attitude among those supporting CRUDEM, but the attitude nevertheless existed.

Those of us who have been to Haiti recognize that it has a magnificently rich culture. To define the country simply by its poverty was both condescending and woefully incomplete. In order to present a fuller and more accurate picture of CRUDEM some of us in St. Louis came up with the idea of a fundraiser titled “A Taste of Haiti.”
 
The idea was to tell the full story: one that includes not only poverty and human suffering, but also some rich cultural traditions of music, dance and cuisine.

The first Taste of Haiti was held at The Schlafly Tap Room in September, 2007. Our chef prepared several Haitian dishes and we invited members of the local Haitian community. This inaugural event netted approximately $40,000 for CRUDEM. Our success in the first year inspired us to make it an annual fundraiser, with one additional event following the earthquake in January, 2010. In less than six years A Taste of Haiti in St. Louis has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to CRUDEM and has been copied in other cities.

At these events and elsewhere Ulrike and I are often asked why we go to CRUDEM. We’re not medical professionals. Why don’t we just send money to Milot? Is it really necessary for us to go there?

The last time we went to CRUDEM, in March of 2011, we were a delivery service. We were going there for a board meeting and, shortly before we left, we received a long wish list of supplies ranging from seat cushions to a printer to cartridges of toner to roofing shingles to towel racks etc., etc. We got the last installment of the wish list while we were in Hobe Sound, Florida the night before we were scheduled to fly out of Fort Lauderdale on our way to Haiti. We spent much of the night driving up and down Federal Highway between Hobe Sound and Stuart, going to Wal Mart, Home Depot and other stores trying to round up the needed supplies. At one of the merchants my credit card was denied, apparently because it had been used so frequently it had triggered a fraud alert.

After we thought we had everything we needed we realized we had no way to transport it. We frantically drove to a Sports Authority in Jensen Beach, arriving shortly before it closed, and were able to buy two oversized duffle bags, into which we were barely able to squeeze the supplies. To avoid the charges for excess baggage, Ulrike took no luggage and wore the clothes she needed for four days.

Actually, by visiting CRUDEM we are much more than a mere delivery service, notwithstanding the urgent need for what we brought with us. First, we can provide a huge morale boost for those who are working there full time. The dedication of the sisters and other volunteers is exemplary. Ulrike and I realized from talking to them that they really do appreciate visitors from the United States and Europe. It reminds them that their work is appreciated and they haven’t been forgotten.

Just as important, perhaps even more so, visiting CRUDEM helps us tell the story. Most of our benefactors in the United States have never been to Haiti and are unlikely to go there. Like all of us, they are bombarded with solicitations from countless charities, all of which seem plausibly worthy. The fact that we have been to CRUDEM and seen the wonderful work going on gives us the credibility to tell its story in a convincing way. It gives us a chance to explain the great irony of CRUDEM. Like A Taste of Haiti, visiting CRUDEM is a happy experience that supports great work.