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Pickens rescues project at VA
Oak Cliff: Donation to enable temp housing for families of patients
Dallas News
By DAVID FLICK and GRETEL C. KOVACH / The Dallas Morning News
09.15.06
A $600,000 donation by Dallas oilman and investor Boone Pickens will allow backers to break ground next year on a facility that provides temporary housing to families of recuperating war veterans.
Mr. Pickens donated the money last week to leaders of a fundraising drive to build a $2.5 million Fisher House near the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center in southeast Oak Cliff, campaign officials said.
The donation caps a campaign that had a slow and frustrating start. For almost a year, organizers received small donations, often from veterans themselves, while major foundations and businesses sent letters of regret.
Earlier this summer, the campaign stirred optimism when it finally received its first substantial pledge: a $100,000 donation by a major Dallas foundation.
Susan Poff, a spokeswoman for the Dallas VA hospital, which is not involved in the fundraising campaign, said she never lost hope.
"I've always known it was going to happen," she said Thursday.
And it couldn't have come at a better time.
"The new veterans ... the ones coming into the system now, their injuries are such that they're having to come in for longer periods," Ms. Poff said.
"We provide a more complex level of care than other VAs, and our families have to travel farther," she said. "So we are really happy to be able to provide that support with the Fisher House."
Mr. Pickens, who could not be reached for comment, is No. 5 on the Chronicle of Philanthropy's list of the country's biggest individual donors.
Last year, the Dallas billionaire gave away more than $220 million, including a $165 million gift to Oklahoma State University's athletic program.
The Fisher House donation comes two months after The Dallas Morning News reported that supporters were having trouble raising the $1.25 million needed to build the facility.
Local backers need to raise half the cost of the house to qualify for a matching grant from the New York-based Fisher House Foundation. The foundation has enabled the construction of 35 Fisher Houses across the country.
With other commitments expected to come in, one of the chief Dallas fundraisers said Mr. Pickens' donation allows backers to schedule a groundbreaking for the local Fisher House in January.
"It was an answer to prayer. I was just delighted and pleased and excited," said Allen Clark. "Finally, we're going to make it. Before that, it was touch and go."
The facility will include 21 suites, a communal kitchen and laundry facilities for families of military veterans receiving aid at the Dallas VA hospital. After the house is completed about a year from now it will be turned over to the VA to run.
The Fisher House Foundation has singled out the Dallas VA hospital as having "a special need" for free or low-cost housing that families can use when a veteran is receiving medical treatment.
"What we've needed for a long time is a facility where families will be able to stay in a safe and an economical and a wonderful facility," Mr. Clark said.
Richard Agnew, chairman of the fundraising committee, said members already are making plans for a second Fisher House in Dallas.
San Antonio has five houses, with two more scheduled. El Paso and Fort Hood each have one. The Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center Fisher House in Houston is the largest in the country.
"Just because we've got one goal accomplished," Mr. Agnew said, "we're not going to stop."
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