The Boston Foundation

My husband jumped on a plane and went there and did relief work, and then oversaw the building of that hospital.

But right after the earthquake, like two days after, I approached the Boston Foundation, where we have a donor advised fund, and said, "What can we do for the Haitian Americans in our own neighborhoods who are reeling from the earthquake, and what can we do for the Haitians in Haiti?" And they immediately stepped up and said, "Let's launch a Haiti relief and reconstruction fund for Haiti." We did.

They put all their energy behind it.

We raised the money.

I'm Margery Eagan.

In the second hour, we'll speak with the wonderful stars of Broadway in Boston's Wicked, Susan Stella and Tom McGowan, and former Boston Foundation president Lee Pelton on his recent Alzheimer's diagnosis and why he chose to write and speak about it publicly.

Then we'll open the phone and text lines to you and get your reactions to Alzheimer's disease and Lee's diagnosis.

Call or text next, BPR Live from the Boston Public Library.

Yeah, it was great

... which was really fun.

But most importantly, if you woke up this morning and read your Globe, the lead story is written by Lee Pelton, former head of the Boston Foundation.

"I have Alzheimer's disease," he writes.

I mean, that, that was six months of research and work.

Um, really need to give props to Boston Indicators, which is part of the Boston Foundation.

It's their research arm.

Um, Luke Shuster and Amy Dane, who's been doing research on housing policy for a long time, longer than I have, um, and has produced some real formative reports for me on housing policy in Massachusetts.

I, uh, I get a text or two from Shirley.

We spent Friday night together co-hosting a wonderful event, the Asian Community Fund, part of the Boston Foundation thing.

It's just, it was a beautiful, huge event.

Saturday morning, she texts me about 8:00, says she's in Fitchburg already.

Of course I want him to win

... read Power Play.

She also, they also have a great thing on what's gonna happen to the Boston Foundation after Lee Pelton-

Oh, yes

[laughs]

She is in town today ahead of the Boston Foundation's Asian Community Fund Gala, emceed by the Boston Globe Shirley Leung and me.

[laughs]

And we also wanna thank Paul Lee, who's one of the founders of the Asian Community Fund with the wonderful Helen Chin, who happens to also sit, uh, uh, um, on our board.

Before we get started, I j- I, we've, we, there were two milestones yesterday I think mattered to a lot of people.

Uh, Margery and I, uh, went to a wonderful celebration of Lee Pelton's time at the Boston Foundation, uh, yesterday, and his, his comments, his remarks were actually quite moving, inspirational, and beautiful.

And the whole event, it was like the best of this city-

Yeah

... turned out for an incredible, incredible guy.

Oh, he, uh, he's a wonderful guy.

I learned a lot about him in so many areas and, um, you know, I think the Boston Foundation's gonna miss him.

Many of us are gonna miss him.