SPOTLIGHT

The T. Boone Pickens Foundation focuses grants to organizations that operate in its core giving categories (see “About TBPF”). The current partner spotlight is on Fisher House, a unique private-public partnership that meets a humanitarian need for American military personnel beyond that normally provided by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

When the T. Boone Pickens Foundation recently announced a $1.1 million donation to the Fisher House Foundation project in San Diego, California, it helped lay another brick in a foundation of hope for America’s military personnel in their time of need.

Because members of the military and their families are stationed worldwide and must often travel great distances for specialized medical care, the Fisher House Foundation donates “comfort homes,” built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful times — during the hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury.

“Because the San Diego Naval Medical Center continues to care for combat casualties, and the existing Fisher House can accommodate only eight families, the Fisher House Foundation is building a second structure, with eleven living suites, to ensure America’s heroes can have their families with them as they recover from their wounds or injuries,” explains foundation chairman Ken Fisher. “The need is there, and we are responding to it. We are grateful to the organizations such as the T. Boone Pickens Foundation, whose donations enable us to build this new Fisher House.”

The foundation has constructed 38 Fisher Houses across the nation and overseas in Germany. There is at least one Fisher House at every major military medical center to assist families in need and to ensure that they are provided with the comforts of home in a supportive environment. Annually, the Fisher House program serves more than 10,000 families, and have made available more than two million days of lodging to family members since the program originated in 1990.

Pickens previously donated $600,000 donation to a fundraising drive to build a $2.5 million Fisher House near the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The Texas facility will include 21 suites, a communal kitchen and laundry facilities for families of military veterans receiving aid at the Dallas VA hospital.

For more information on the work of the Fisher House Foundation, go to www.fisherhouse.org or call toll-free 888-294-8560.