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Small foundation thinks big
Others are invited to join in the effort to help youngsters
Chandler, AZ—When Linda Foster Radke’s brother died of bronchitic complications in 1984 at the age of 30, she was devastated. For years, she tried to come to grips with the loss, attempting to make at least some sense of it all. And then she remembered the cigar box.
Radke recalled the afternoon her younger brother Mark, then 14 years old, had answered the doorbell. "He opened the door and saw an old woman standing there,” says Radke. "She was asking for donations for a charity for the needy.” Mark had been saving his allowance and money he’d earned delivering newspapers. "He kept it all in an old cigar box under his bed.”
Mark listened to the woman’s plea for help and then went to his bedroom and retrieved the cigar box. "He gave everything he had to her,” says Radke. "It was this selfless act of his that gave me the idea to establish The Mark Foster Youth Fund so that his spirit of giving can continue.” The foundation helps youngsters and their families who are undergoing difficult times and need a little encouragement and help, Radke explains.
Over the past nine years since the foundation was established, The Mark Foster Youth Fund has continued to make small monetary contributions to assist young people in their time of need. The money has come primarily from Radke and other members of her family. Recently, however, other like-minded individuals have begun to help out as well.
Radke is founder and president of Five Star Publications, a Chandler-based book publishing company. For years she has donated a percentage of her company’s profits to The Mark Foster Youth Fund, and she’s now persuaded two of her authors—Alex Cord, a movie actor and author of A Feather in the Rain, and Ben Costello, author of Gunsmoke: An American Institution—to do likewise. Cord and Costello have agreed to give to the foundation half of all the money they receive from selling autographed copies of their books. (They’re donating the other half to other charities they’ve selected.)
"I am so honored and appreciative that they have chosen to help me further the work being done in my brother’s name,” says Radke. She says she hopes their acts will encourage others to do something similar. "It is so easy—and so gratifying—to build charitable giving into the workplace,” Radke says. "I urge all businesses, large and small, to do this, to reach out a helping hand to others. A small percentage of your profits can make such a huge difference in the lives of others.”
Contributions to The Mark Foster Youth Fund are tax deductible and may be sent to the foundation in care of Temple Beth Sholom, 3400 N. Dobson Rd., Chandler, AZ 85244. Anyone interested in learning how they can help are asked to contact Linda Radke at Five Star Publications (phone 480-940-8182).
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P: 480-940-8182