Brooks Army Medical Center and Denzel Washington

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:42 am

Got this from a friend ... It presents a really good question for discussion :

Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center, in San Antonio,Texas (BAMC) the other day. This is where soldiers that have been evacuated from
Germany come to be hospitalized in the States, especially burn victims. They have buildings there called Fisher Houses. The Fisher House is a hotel where soldiers' families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base but as you can imagine, they are almost completely filled most of the time.

While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build. He took his check book out and wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot. The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American public, because it warmed their hearts to hear it.

The question I have is why does Alec Baldwin, Madonna, Sean Penn and other Hollywood types make front page news with their anti-everything America and this doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except the base newspaper in San Antonio.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:10 am

Assuming the situation presented in the story actually happened, the answer is really quite simple.

Alec Baldwin, Madonna, Sean Penn and other Hollywood types make front page news with their anti-everything America becuase they want it to. Apparently, Mr. Washington is more substance than style.

Flabby Chick · Post by **Flabby Chick** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:27 am

I was watching Harry Connick jr helping down in N.O, and thought what a sound genuine bloke that is, then switched channels to see Sean Penn make a prick of himself. All people are different, some go about things they believe passionatly in very silly ways, but their heart is in the right place, regardless of celebrity status.

If it's a true story then well done Washington.

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:02 am

Good news, isn't news.

Plebeian · Post by **Plebeian** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:08 am

http://www.fisherhouse.org/inTheNews/actor_04_13_SS.pdf

So there you go, confirmed large donation, not exactly for "the full amount", but still very big and much appreciated.

And yes, unfortunately "news" organizations are more about ratings than actually reporting all the goings-on. So they report all the bad things and none of the good things (unless it'd buy them ratings).

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:32 pm

hmmm...makes him seem cheap now...in his position I would have given the full amount needed.

Although his generous portion could be easily matched if some of those other 'stars' would follow suit. This is where they can really show off to me, (otherwise, 'stars' don't impress me) by stepping up and giving some of that money they earned under the protection of the men and women who stood guard over America so they could earn that cash! Hey, consider it a nice tip, right?

Plebeian · Post by **Plebeian** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:37 pm

I'd be interested in knowing how much he did give. It wasn't the full $1M price tag, but it sounds like it was a fairly impressive figure in any case. Even if he didn't fully-fund a new construction, I'm sure he made it a lot easier for another to be planned.

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:46 pm

Thanks for straightening me out Plebian ... Good find.

Calling him cheap is a little judgemental IMO. You have no idea how much of his income (percentage) he gives away and there is no basis for determining it.

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:35 pm

Iceman wrote:Calling him cheap is a little judgemental IMO. You have no idea how much of his income (percentage) he gives away and there is no basis for determining it.

my exact words.."makes him seem cheap".
your exact words.."calling him cheap".

does not input-will not compute

roid · Post by **roid** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:40 pm

soldiers are being evacuated from germany?
huh?

Gooberman · Post by **Gooberman** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:43 pm

Most of Iraqs really serious cases are sent to Germany for treatment and recovery.

Vindicator · Post by **Vindicator** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:45 pm

If your injuries are serious enough that they cant fix you in the medical hospital in Baghdad they send you to Germany. My brother was sent to Germany right after he was injured last year. He stayed there for a few weeks.

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 5:59 am

Hows your brother doing now Vinnie?

Plebeian · Post by **Plebeian** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:23 am

Iceman wrote:Thanks for straightening me out Plebian ... Good find.

I was just interested in finding out more info on it, since I'm in Austin and hadn't seen anything here on it (or didn't remember seeing anything, at least). Did a few searches, ran across a blog entry that linked to that PDF (on the Fisher House site, so it's gotta be official, right). Someone found that off on Snopes (is there anything you can't find on Snopes these days?).

Vindicator · Post by **Vindicator** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:42 pm

woodchip wrote:Hows your brother doing now Vinnie?

Lost his right eye, unharmed otherwise. He got extremely lucky, all things considered. He was riding shotgun in a 7-ton when it got hit by a roadside bomb.

will_kill · Post by **will_kill** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 5:11 pm

Vindicator wrote:
woodchip wrote:Hows your brother doing now Vinnie?
Lost his right eye, unharmed otherwise. He got extremely lucky, all things considered. He was riding shotgun in a 7-ton when it got hit by a roadside bomb.

glad he's alive

roid · Post by **roid** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:12 pm

good on ya Denzel
(ps: who names their kid "Denzel"?!)

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:18 pm

Well, uhh, Denzel's mom and dad did

bash · Post by **bash** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:21 pm

A dad named Denzel, I would add.

Money! · Post by **Money!** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 10:38 pm

Responding only to the post:
It's gotta be something with the media. For some reason, people do not want this going around. Of course, this is huge. Denzel is a g. I think it is b.s. that this hasn't surfaced anywhere.