Charlie Brady & 3 sons who inspired all so others could live...

Dear Friends of the Foundation:

The Carmie Brady Foundation is a 501c (3) charitable organization that is dedicated to financially assisting children and adults who are suffering from serious illness. Time is donated by our wonderful volunteers, there are no paid employees.

Our mission is twofold. The Foundation has committed to raising $100,000 to support the Carmie Brady Room at Hope Lodge, a beautiful building located in New York City. The Hope Lodge is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, and patients are able to stay at the lodge free of charge while receiving treatment at any New York hospital. Money dedicated to Hope Lodge is raised by the Brady Bunch team, which participates in Walk for the Cure each October.

Each spring, the Foundation hosts an annual fundraiser dedicated to assisting families throughout Northern Ocean and Southern Monmouth Counties, who are facing catastrophic medical bills because of a seriously ill child. The family is encouraged to use the money for whatever will make their child happy and comfortable. To date the Foundation has raised over $100,000, which is distributed to unfortunate and deserving families.

This year our annual fundraiser is scheduled for April 10th, 2011 at Jenkinson’s Pavilion in Pt. Pleasant Beach, N.J. We are asking your support in the form of a gift, a gift certificate, or cash equivalent that will be used in our prize raffle, with the total proceeds benefiting our children. Please check out our website carmiebradyfoundation.com to learn more about our organization, or if you would like to purchase tickets for the event.

Your support is so important to the success of our endeavors and is very much appreciated. Please feel free to contact Charles Brady at 732-278-2686 or Sandy Leibfried at 732- 295-0869 with any questions regarding the Foundation or for assistance in collecting a prize for our event. We thank you in advance for your consideration and generosity in helping to make our fundraiser a success.

I'd like to explain why I revere this effort. After you go to the website - carmiebradyfoundation.com - I hope you read about the man and the three sons who loved Carmie Brady so much that they went out and started a foundation and an movement that inspired an entire region of New Jersey. See Charlie Brady's story below my signature. No wife and no mother could ask for more.

Best regards,
TishTrek

When I was an Officer for the Pt. Pleasant Foundation for Excellence in Education, I wrote & published the biography below to highlight the accomplishments of our foundation's 2007 Community Leader Award Recipient - Charles A. Brady. I'm sharing Mr. Brady's incredible life-work-volunteer story with all of you because he is one of the most inspiring leaders I ever met.

In this blog I've often mentioned the importance of assessing whether or not employment candidates operate with the kind of Leader Behaviors a company would be willing to risk its reputation and brand on,(i.e. Does the candidate have a consistent history of operating with a commitment to business integrity, quality, compliance, management courage, transparency, teamwork & collaboration?).

In the case of Charlie Brady, I would hire him - in a minute - if I was looking to fill a postion as a Certified Financial Planning Executive; I would trust him & the company he runs to invest all or part of my life savings; and I would donate my money to any worthy cause as soon as I knew he was personally promoting the effort. I would do all of these things because Mr. Brady's varied successes are the direct result of repeat behaviors executed over-and-over again throughout his life and career.

It was a privilege to research & write Charlie Brady's story. Here it is:

The Pt. Pleasant Foundation for Excellence in Education honored Charles A. Brady and inducted him into the 10th Annual Hall of Fame on Friday, March 9th as a 2007 Community Leader Award Recipient. In the 1960’s, on the inside flap of a book entitled, “My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Coretta Scott King sent the following handwritten note to Mr. Brady, “Charley - With deep appreciation for your concern and support of those ideals of love, justice, truth, peace and brotherhood. May our common efforts hasten the day when Martin’s dream will be realized. Coretta Scott.”

In discussing the selection of Mr. Brady for this award, Foundation President, Dr. Rob Coombs, “Our members are in awe of Mr. Brady’s background and the ideals he lived for over four decades. We are honored to highlight the life of this local resident and extraordinary humanitarian.”

Mr. Brady’s commitment to children and his efforts as a peacemaker, promoting nonviolence and equal treatment for all races caught the attention and gained the support of Dr. and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr. early on – a relationship of mutual respect and friendship between the King Family and Mr. Brady dates back to 1965. He would later author a biography on Dr. King for the National Catholic Encyclopedia.

Mr. Brady, a Certified Financial Planner since 1981, graduated from St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark where he won 2nd place in the NJ State Wrestling Championship. After graduating from Seton Hall University in 1958, he served as an assistant to the vice president of a major gas corporation. Mr. Brady’s strong desire to help others led him out of Corporate America and into the Immaculate Conception Seminary where he was ordained a priest in 1966.

He served in several black communities in New Jersey, while assigned assistant pastor of Holy Spirit Church and St. Peter Claver Church in Orange and Montclair. Among his many accomplishments, he taught Dr. King’s nonviolent philosophy to black youth, and established athletic teams that won 3 national championships in 8 years. Mr. Brady’s efforts as an educator, coach, mentor and father figure inspired many of his students to become athletes and stars in college; and most became productive members of their communities.

Mr. Brady was a guest of Dr. King at the Southern Christian Leadership Convention; he had also been a guest in the King home; and often represented Mrs. King at functions in New Jersey. Mr. Brady’s commitment to civil rights during this volatile time in the country’s history was met with resistance in some circles in NJ and as a result, Mr. Brady was forced to repel a mob mentality that was behind a no-holds-barred effort to remove him from the important work of his parish.

Mr. Brady prevailed and he again found strength and support in the words of Mrs. King when she wrote in a letter dated, August 30th, 1968, “Dear Charley, ... the trouble you described in the Newark school was in many ways painfully familiar… it certainly requires more love, courage and strength to prevail and endure than it does to retaliate in kind. Your courage and determination to lovingly demonstrate the nonviolent brotherhood so desperately needed in the world is a source of inspiration and encouragement… With love, Coretta.”

Mr. Brady lives the tenets of courage and encouragement everyday. Beyond the establishment of the youth sports teams that won 3 national championships, he also helped kids, who could count on his commitment to them, win 4 eastern championships, 8 state championships, and 23 count championships. He established and coordinated an alternative high school in Orange, NJ for students who could not learn within a normal structured environment. No matter what the challenges, Mr. Brady worked tirelessly to build confidence by inspiring each kid one unique student at a time. He helped every child find a place to contribute something meaningful because his experiences proved to him that every child had something meaningful to share.

A year after resigning from the priesthood, Mr. Brady met his wife Carmie. A year later they married and had three sons: Matthew, Scott and Patrick, all of whom were exceptional athletes and graduates of Pt. Pleasant Borough High School. When Carmie Brady passed away from cancer @ age 50 on May 21, 2004, Mr. Brady and his sons decided her spirit would live on through a not for profit organization called The Carmie Brady Foundation which is dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults facing cancer and other devastating illnesses.

The Foundation - carmiebradyfoundation.com - has successfully raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. "The Brady Bunch" Walk for the Cure Team is 500 volunteers strong and growing. This remarkable family has committed to raising $20,000 a year for five years to support the Carmie Brady Room at Hope Lodge. Hope Lodge is a beautiful building located in the heart of New York City, which is sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Cancer patients from all over the world can stay at the lodge free of charge while they are receiving treatment at any hospital in New York.

After receiving his CFP designation, Mr. Brady taught the course at Monmouth College. He established Associated Financial Planners, in 1982. Matt and Scott are partners in the business along with Robert Clayton, another Pt. Pleasant Borough graduate. Patrick is an NCAA Division III All-American Wrestler and will graduate from the College of New Jersey in May, 2007. He plans to teach and coach.

Mr. Brady’s biography has appeared in Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who in the East. He has appeared on CNBC’s Money Talk and other TV programs. He is a 30 year member of the Elk’s Handicapped Children Committee and was 2003 Shillelagh of the year for the Friendly Sons of the Shillelagh, a club that has given over $300,000 to local charities and families. He is on the Presidential Advisory Committee of USAllianz, Franklin Templeton Funds, Hartford, and ING. He was also named to “America’s Best Financial Planners” by the Consumer’s Research Council of America in 2006.

In 2003, this past President of the Sea Girt Chamber of Commerce was selected NJ State Businessman of the Year by the National Congressional Committee; he has founded organizations dedicated to supporting people in the field of Financial Planning and he has been a contributor to countless other local organizations including: Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Friends of Manasquan VFW, “Think Tub” - a group dedicated to raising funds for sick children; and he is a loyal repeat sponsor of the Pt. Pleasant Athletic Boosters Association and the Pt. Pleasant Foundation for Excellence in Education.

In conclusion, Dr. Coombs adds, “Mr. Brady’s mentor, Dr. King, often called for “personal responsibility” in fostering peace. The personal responsibility displayed by Mr. Brady throughout his life honors Dr. King’s legacy and all of us in untold ways. We are thrilled to induct a humanitarian and citizen of Mr. Brady’s caliber into the Hall of Fame.”

************

On a final note, I know champions and winners when I meet them or interview them because I've had the privilege to live among them and to work next to individuals like Mr. Brady all my life. How about you? Are there people who set the standards for excellence in your life? If so, don't forget Brian Molko's quote: "Imitation is the highest form of flattery." Let's immitate Charlie Brady and offer some help.

Thank you.

Best regards,
TishTrek

Meredith Whitney: Muni-Boom Boom!

Welcome to TishTrek - THE JOB BLOG!


It's time to stop the savage & contrived attacks on Meredith Whitney - one of the premier analysts on the planet! (2.9.11, WSJ - "In Muni-Bond Ills, Danger & Hope," M. Corkery - pg 1 & NY Post - "DC tackles munis", P. Tharp)

Ms. Whitney's hard line view on struggling municipalities across America
should inspire solutions. She's a brilliant & proven leader with the smarts, objectivity, iron will and management courage to call things as she sees them. I heard her loud & clear in 2007 and I'm listening now.

What she understands is that states & municipalities 'must' borrow billions of dollars no matter how high their revenues go because it is what they do to fix "shortfalls in cashflows;" it is "how they pay past-due bills;" and how they "pay for required contributions to those pension systems." She concludes that this debt path is not sustainable and I'd say the residents in NJ, CA, IL and NY are living her point.

Since 2007, the condescending efforts to smear Ms. Whitney and to banish her industry opinions to some "Boom Boom Room" have mostly been launched by 'the same exact people' who ruined our economy and failed the global companies that trusted them.


Respectfully submitted,
TishTrek

MilitaryOneSource.com: Spread the NEWS!

Welcome to TishTrek - THE JOB BLOG!

Start spreading the NEWS!

Introducing www.MilitaryOneSource.com!! - The Fox Business Page & a cutting edge company called FlexPaths alerted me to this BRAND NEW market offering that supports all those families in our country who willingly give so much so others can live.

Introducing a 24/7 Resource & Support Center for our nation's Military Members, Spouses & Families! FREE Tax Filing being offered NOW thru April 18th by calling # 800-730-3802.

Tax Help is Here At No Cost to Military Families @ militaryonesource.com! Now available! Military OneSource brings military families to a customized H&R Block solution which includes @ Home online tax filing (formerly TaxCut), plus tax consultations by phone - completely free.

For issues of relocation, education, parenting, stress, financial counseling: Toll-Free: 1-800-342-9647 /En español llame al: 1-877-888-0727 www.militaryonesource.com

Share this information with friends, family members, church and community groups. Get the word out! The Defense Department has just expanded the benefits of these programs with the help of First Lady Michelle Obama and the Obama Administration!

These programs have been designed to help Military Members, Military Families, Guard / Reservists, Service Providers, Coast Guard Assistance and Civilian Expeditionary Workforce.

Sometimes, the only help others need is a voice that shares important information!

The next benefits tied to these programs will be all about jobs, jobs, jobs, so stay tuned!

Best regards,
TishTrek