A good chunk of you know the origins of FPC Charities, here is the canonical version that supersedes all versions from this point forward.
 

In late 2015, my father, also Frank Pakuszewski, was diagnosed with cancer. It doesn’t matter what type because, well…cancer. Thought things were looking up heading into the holidays, in the early part of 2016 we had a golf tournament for him to help with medical expenses, by the end of Spring, those funds went toward funeral services. Yep, cancer.

 

But before we get all down about the last chapter of his life (don’t worry we won’t), I would like to share with what actually started FPC Charities. You see, when we were headed into the holidays a great group of friends ran in the SA Rock n’ Roll Marathon adorned in shirts emblazoned with the phrase “Fuera Pinche Cancer: Running for Papa Frank.” Pops was really touched and honored by people he had never met, which was different for him because usually he was doing things for people that didn’t know him and he always wanted to remain anonymous. But those shirts give you the name as Fuera Pinche Cancer, or FPC. Because, yep, cancer.

 

Later I reached out to a few dozen friends including the Quarry Golf Course and we got together for a round of golf and raised a decent chunk of money for those bills, many of you played in it that are reading this longwinded, get-to-the-point story. At the tournament, most of you signed a poster we had commissioned that he was going to hang in his office while he battled cancer. Yep, cancer. During the last few pages of his story, FPC was given its mission by the person that inspired its own story.

 

The last few foretold days of ones life are filled with some really bizarre conversations, some painful, some dark, some funny, and whole lot are just plain random. It’s almost as if the mind and the soul are compelled to just get it all out. I mean, all of it. As I sat next to him on one of his better afternoons, he looked at the signed poster that was now in a room that he would never leave, and he said without looking at me, “That was fun, we should do it again.”

 

My response, “It was Dad, but uh, you won’t be here next year.”

 

“So what? Go do it anyways, and give the money to someone that needs it.”

 

Now I don’t know about you, but that was really kind of between-the-eyes for me. But it made a ton of sense. When we held the tournament for him it was wildly successful save for the fact that he wasn’t a charity. For tax reasons, costs, and comfort, people just give money and services to a 501c-whatever a hell of a lot more easily than an individual. I got it, get it, now we have FPC Charities. We did do it again and raised a good amount of money to get the Charity off the ground in early 2017.

 

We may stumble in getting this off the ground a little, as we team together to use our resources and networks to make an impact wherever it is needed, we will figure it out and then do it again.

 

Thanks Pops.