Dear Adopt A Doctor Supporters:

So we had a wonderful success yesterday. The event went incredibly well and was quite an experience. Both Gary and I finished the 50 mile race, surprisingly feeling quite well. We came in just over 9 hours. Some minor blisters, cramps, cuts, scrapes, muscle burning, fatigue, exhaustion, and some major hunger. But otherwise we felt better than we had expected. I believe that any bit of suffering is important for people to feel when we live in such a comfortable part of this world, and are fortunate enough to have been created here. For a cause like this, it is never really enough, but is necessary. It helps to be a little crazy and have some internal drive to want to run any great distance, but it was truly amazing watching how seriously each of the teams were and to see the determination in the runners, organizers and supporters.

It was also amazing to see how much this event grew in just one year. We had some incredible support and organization from classmates. Our EMT, Audrey, rode her bike within yelling distance from us for the entire course. One of our primary organizers, Brianna, drove the course multiple times setting up the event, and was our lead car for our fluids, food, and support throughout. My wife, Lynn, after running 11 miles in the beginning, ran another 6 miles with us towards the end just to coach us along. So many family and friends were out supporting us, lots of food at the end, and all of the training that people put into running was such a joy to see. All of this for one reason: To help other people who need our support.

A crew of bikers passed us a number of times, and one of them asked what we were doing, and why we were running further than they were biking. Lynn explained the story, and one of them pulled out a plastic bag and handed her eight crumpled up dollar bills in the middle of a rain shower somewhere around mile twenty-seven.

Anyway, back to studying. We will keep the firstgivings.com/44 site open for another month. We wish you all well.

Dante

If you’re considering funding a charitable gift annuity (CGA) – through the Foundation or another charity which accepts them – you may want to do so by the end of June. As of July 1, gift annuity payouts will be lower.

A CGA is defined by the American Council on Gift Annuities as “a way to make a gift to your favorite charity, and still receive an income for yourself or others…in return for a transfer of cash or other property (the charity) agrees to pay a fixed sum of money for a period measured by one or two lives.”

What will the lower rate mean? Although payments are based on a number of factors – including the value of the contribution, the number of annuitants, and the age(s) of the annuitant(s) – here’s one example:

A 70-year-old funds a $25,000 single annuitant CGA. If he does so by June 30, he qualifies for a 6.5% annuity rate, providing $1,625 a year. If he waits until July 1 or later, the same CGA will have an annuity rate of 6.1% and resulting payments will be $100 less every year for the remainder of the annuitant’s life. (The downside? The amount of the charitable tax deduction also declines on July 1, in this case from $9,038 to $7,991.)

For more information, including the numerous benefits to this type of planned gift, see Charitable Gift Annuities on the Rhode Island Foundation website and/or contact Ray Rickman at (401) 421-0606 or ray@adoptadoctor.org.

Biddeford, ME -

On April 27, 2008 Dante Leven and Gary Simmons will be running a 50 mile loop in the area of the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNECOM), in Biddeford, Maine, to raise money for Adopt a Doctor. With the effort of these individuals, Adopt a Doctor hopes to sponsor several more doctors in some of the poorest areas of the world and ensure that healthcare services are maintained there.

Adopt a Doctor, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization based in Providence, RI, has identified and selected four of the world’s poorest nations, Sierra Leone, Mali, Malawi, and Liberia, from which doctors are leaving due to poor compensation and a lack of resources. We offer financial aid and other critical support for physicians in these countries, so they can stay and save thousands of lives.

As this is the second year of this successful fundraising effort, Dante and Gary have chosen to go further in an effort to raise even more money for these impoverished communities. The 50 miles being run by our fundraisers reflects the incredible distances people around the world travel just to obtain basic medical care.

“After running the New York City Marathon in 2006 I remember finishing the race thinking that I wanted to keep going farther. The next day, still in a foggy daze, I heard Ray Rickman speak about global health at UNECOM. During the speech I felt this odd mixture of being exhausted, dazed, but energized. In Ray’s speech, he mentioned the distance that people travel just to obtain healthcare in certain parts of Africa - 44 miles - and a little light bulb appeared above my head. I saw it with my own eyes. I ran home that night, told my wife, and you know the rest…”

- Dante Leven, MSII, UNECOM student and co-organizer of the 50 mile run to benefit Adopt a Doctor

Contributions of any level are greatly appreciated to support their effort, and can be made safely and securely through FirstGiving, a website that has been created especially for this purpose. The link to the page is http://www.firstgiving.com/44

Kingston, RI April 5, 2008

Dr. Roger LeBrun, Professor of Entomology at the University of Rhode Island, has long had an interest in global health issues. He has recently agreed to help fund raise for the event, a ‘Run for Global Health,’ and recruited the efforts of 15 bright, hardworking pre-med students. Dr. LeBrun’s students, who are currently enrolled in his honors class “The Global Challenge of Emerging Infectious Disease,” have been learning about the fight to battle diseases in the countries helped by Adopt a Doctor, and saw this fundraising effort as a direct way to make a difference. The Professor, along with the help of his students, are determined to raise the $1,600 necessary for Adopt a Doctor to sponsor a new doctor within the program. They will work to promote the message of Adopt a Doctor, and support the efforts of University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine students Dante Leven and Gary Simmons; who will be running a 50 mile course to raise funds.

Friday, April 5, 2008

Elie Wiesel is the author of more than forty books, including his unforgettable international best sellers Night and A Beggar in Jerusalem, winner of the Prix Medicis. He has been awarded the Presidentail Medal of Freedom, the United States Congressional Gold Medal, and the French Legion of Honor with the rank of Grand Cross. In 1986, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Editorial Review From Bookmarks Magazine
Starting with Night (1958), Wiesel, who survived the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, has testified against Holocaust atrocities and revealed the collective Jewish experience in more than 40 works of fiction and nonfiction. Recipient of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of oppressed people, Wiesel has become the spokesman for a lost generation. His novel, like his other work, raises moral questions about love, faith, survival, politics, and exile. A few critics thought these themes too diffuse; the disjointed style similarly jarred some. But the consensus is that The Time of the Uprooted is an artful, redemptive, and ultimately humbling exploration of the Holocaust’s lasting emotional impact.

Dr. Wiesel has donated an autographed copy of The Time of the Uprooted to Adopt a Doctor. This copy is now being auctioned, with which 100% of the proceeds will support doctors working in Africa.

Minimum bids start at $25 USD. Auction will end April 28th. Please email your bid to ray@adoptadoctor.org .

Malawian civil servants with HIV are to be given a pay rise by the government.

Health Minister Marjorie Ngaunjeb said all civil servants affected by the disease would receive an extra $35 a month to help them buy more food.

“We thought [it] would go a long way in improving their nutritional requirements which are essential to their wellbeing,” she told Reuters.

Tens of thousands of Malawians die of Aids every year with about 7% of the 13m population infected.

Another government official said that the extra money should help those with HIV prolong their lives.

Losing large numbers of trained staff is a major problem for the countries worst affected by HIV/Aids, such as Malawi.

The BBC’s Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says the government is the country’s largest employer with about 120,000 civil servants.

Their monthly salaries average about $70, AFP news agency reports.

After years of silence, the authorities spoke out about the crisis in 2004, when a programme to tackle HIV/Aids was launched.

Then President Bakili Muluzi revealed that his brother had died from the disease.

Last year, the government called on all sexually active people in the country to take an Aids test.

The UN estimates that 80% of people with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa do not know they have the virus.

Click here to read the article on the BBC Website