Al Berman, MBCP
President, DRI Foundation
The DRI Foundation is not just an organization that helps fund after-disaster relief, provides free education and certification to veterans, provides mentoring and free education and certification to women, provides scholarships to those pursuing academic degrees and performs volunteer work. It is, above all, an organization of people who volunteer their time, energy, and intellect to help others. It is a place where passionate and determined people come together to try to better the human condition. In the past year, the DRI Foundation through the support of individuals and companies in the resilience community have raised funds that will be used to benefit others.
We truly live in challenging times, and these times need to be met with extraordinary efforts. In the last two months the DRI Foundation has donated over $50,000 to medical facilities and food banks around the country (and a few outside the U.S.). Deciding who to fund was one of the biggest decisions we faced. There are literally tens of thousands of food banks and pantries serving 46 million people (before COVID-19) in the U.S. There are over 6,000 hospitals in the U.S. Faced with these daunting numbers, how does a small organization like the DRI Foundation, decide who to fund? The Foundation has a Giving Committee that is tasked with reviewing applications, vetting potential donation organizations, and making recommendations for funding. As the Foundation is staffed by only volunteers (there are no paid staff), asking people who have very demanding day jobs to try to ferret out donation-worthy organizations placed too great a burden on the committee. So, we decided to ask the certified community, our staff and volunteers to help us choose worthy organizations. The results were particularly heartwarming.
A donation for PPE was requested by a staff member whose wife works in the emergency room of a local hospital. A request was made to donate to a hospital, in the name of a coronary physician, who had helped the father of a volunteer member. The Women in Business Continuity Management Committee asked that a donation be made to an organization that feeds destitute people in the slums of Sao Paulo Brazil. A Certified Professional asked that we donate to a hospital where his daughter is a nurse. We donated to a food bank where a Certified Professional volunteers to deliver food to those in need. A donation was made, in honor of the delivery of two grandchildren, to a hospital hard hit by the pandemic. And so it went and continues to go as we work to relieve suffering and give hope to those in need.
We are a community. We suffer as a community, and we share as a community. The DRI Foundation greatly appreciates the time, effort, and financial contributions of those whose passion and determination have helped alleviate some of the hardships that we are facing in these trying times.
Thank you all and be safe.
Al Berman
President
DRI Foundation
To read the latest Annual Review, click here.