Our History
Reality is for People Who Lack Imagination: My journey from dream to reality.
How did this charity get started?
This motivation to build this website and non-profit charity was conceived by me (Rod Miller) while recovering from AAA surgery on August 18, 2021 in a VA hospital. As a high risk senior It was an early elective surgery at a height of the worldwide pandemic of 2020.
As an inactive Marine, I had six weeks to think about my future. My surgeon liked the idea of honoring brave medical workers who were facing an unknown deadly enemy which became Covid-19.
If you have seen TV news videos of nurses and other healthcare workers going into hospitals each day of the pandemic, you know what I am talking about. For the rest of the story go here.
As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded, healthcare workers died leaving children behind to face uncertain futures. The Medical Workers Scholarship Fund, DBA was formed to honor the courage of those healthcare workers by finding ways to help educate and care for their children.
We believe no child should have to suffer in silence and not miss having access to the resources they need.
Our goal is to ensure all children have opportunities to participate in sports and activities to help them cope with grief and, if necessry, treat their mental health with therapy.
We are committed to creating an environment where children can explore and discover new possibilities. We want to help children and teens imagine a better tomorrow and realize their potential.
In Appreciation
Our Sponsors and Partners honor the special courage and sacrifice of healthcare workers who lost their lives to Covid-19 leaving children, stepchilden and grandchildren behind. To date, according to the National Library of Medicine, over 114,500 healthcare workers in The United States have been casualties of Covid-19.
The Rest of the Story
With the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation (MCSF) as my inspiration, I realized the medical community was courageously serving all of us. Real courage is moving forward when the outcome is uncertain. Healthcare workers did that. Like our military in times of war, many of them died heroically protecting us from a deadly virus. Despite their efforts, over 1.2 million Americans died. Among them were 32% of the nurses in the first year of the pandemic.
As a committee of one, I set forth to emulate the MCSF with a fund honoring the medical community. The result was The Medical Workers Scholarship Fund. This website was built by me and reflects my vision for helping children victimized by Covid-19 as a way to repay those medical workers who died for us.
This site is a running account of my attempt at graphic arts including logo development, website design (give Wix.com an assist), video editing and related matters such as accounting, legal, staffing for the future, event creation, selection of cognizant board members and much, much more not the least of which is 10-12 hours per day 24/7 activity typing at my keyboard.
Drawing down money from personal resources funded my determination to get a new charity off the ground and to become a viable organization dedicated to a making a difference for children and teenagers.
The most challenging aspect of dealing with a serious social problem is attracting financial support from those who may not recognize the dangers facing society such as mental health.
Techically, most challenging for me was developing an idea and presenting it on a website to make it available on desktop computers, iPads and all kinds of cell phones and devices.
Not complaining mind you, just stating facts. When on a mission of passion, work becomes fun.
Results = Happiness. The Bluebird of Happiness? So fitting.