She smiled proudly at the last part, as well she should. Melissa fought our board hard to make sure they committed to having a leadership which was as diverse as our clientele. I respected her for it and had benefitted from her efforts.
She smiled at me again. “He was happy to hear you were bilingual as well.”
“Uh, that’s good, I guess.” She stopped then and looked down, clearing her throat.
Fuck.
Iknewthere had to be a catch. Nothing this good could come with no strings attached.
“Don’t get freaked out.” She did “calm the angry bear” hands as she spoke and I started to get worried. “The donor asked to be loosely involved with the development of the project.”
I had a rant about me not having time to babysit rich people ready, but Melissa held up her hand.
“He’s a busy man and doesn’t need day-to-day involvement. He just wants periodic meetings and to be kept in the loop. He’s ready to give us the first million like today, Camilo, especially after I told him about the Harlem site and how much work it needs.” She gave that last part some emphasis. “He even asked me to send the proposal we’d written for that last grant opportunity we didn’t get. He read it over the weekend, and emailed last night saying he was interested in making it happen for us. That means by next year we could have a fully functioning job placement center and a wellness room on site at the shelter.”
That last part actually made me a little lightheaded, because those two things had been very improbable wish list items.
“Melissa, there’s got to be a catch.” She shook her head, and the expression on her face was almost as stunned as I felt. This kind of thing just did not happen.
“So far the only thing he’s asked for is that the site named in memory of someone.”
“Oh.” Now I felt like shit because this dude sounded like a really nice rich person.
She pressed on taking advantage of my obviously lowered defenses. “This is personal for him; he’s not just a millionaire looking for a tax deduction. I doubt he’ll want to meet more than a couple of times, and probably just in the early stages. Oncethings actually get going, I assume email updates will be as much as you’ll need to do. Do you think you can do that?”
I glared at her because for that kind of money, I’d throw in a blow job. How could I say no?
“Of course I can, Melissa. I’ll meet with the guy every week for the next year if he wants. We need that money.”
She nodded, looking relieved and smiled again like she could barely contain whatever it was she was going to say next. This was like a game show…Wait there’s more!
“He also said he’s willing to commit to funding two full-time positions, like forever. He can arrange for an endowment.” This guy was like a nonprofit world unicorn. “He asked that we think about what kind of positions those would be, and to send him a proposal.”
Melissa’s excitement was infectious and it was getting harder and harder to not start gulping the Kool-Aid.
“He’s interested in hearing about things we wish we could have. You know, something we need but can’t get funding for through the usual channels.”
So many thoughts were going through my head. A paid MSW internship? A therapist for the residential programs who would work exclusively with our clients? A housing advocate? The possibilities were literally endless.
“You said he’s comingtoday? I have to be at the Harlem site this morning, but I can move it around.”
“Will you be back by one?”
“Yes, definitely. I’m walking over there right now. I’ll be back in time.”
“Excellent,” she said, clapping her hands with glee. “I’ll call you when he’s here. This is exciting!”
At this point even my surly ass couldn’t help but be a little giddy. “This is like a dream come true, Melissa. We can do so much with that money.”
She nodded, her face open and happy. “Itisa dream come true.” Then her eyes widened like she remembered something. “Oh, I forgot to ask. How did it go Friday?”
Oh god. I thanked the saints for my minimally blushing brown face and nodded tightly. “Good.” I squeaked out. “Very fun.”
“Great, I’m so glad you guys could make it. It would’ve been a shame for the tickets to go to waste.”
“Oh no, we sucked the marrow out of the evening.”
She gave that indulgent laugh she’d use sometimes with me and Ayako. “I wouldn’t expect any less from you two.”
