Newsletter Volume 1 No. 1 - April 2000
Todd Thomas (1967-2000)
It is the beginning of another month, and we have been very fortunate on several fronts. Let me describe our progress to date.
First, I am pleased to report that the Four Seasons Hotel in Scottsdale has generously agreed to act as a sponsor for our first annual Black Tie Benefit Dinner to be held at the new Four Seasons Scottsdale Destination Resort Hotel, on Jan 19, 2001.
The single most-exciting bit of news is that David Foster has volunteered to produce the entertainment for our January 19, 2001, event. I have worked with David on many occasions since the establishment of his own David Foster Foundation, and I can assure you that there will be musical surprises you can't even imagine!
David Foster
David is a 14 time Grammy Award Winner who has won the Producer of the Year award three times. He has an unprecedented 41 nominations to his credit. As one of the most-sought-after session musicians, David has performed alongside such musical titans as John Lennon, Diana Ross, George Harrison, Rod Stewart, and Barbra Streisand.
Mr. Foster's signature style of infectious rhythms and spot-on lyrics became synonymous with contemporary radio, giving birth to hit after hit from such musical heavyweights as Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Chicago, Neil Diamond, Alice Cooper, Manhattan Transfer, Phil Collins, The Pointer Sisters, and Aretha Franklin, among many others.
Over the past few years, he has produced songs that have driven such chart-topping records as Celine Dion's Grammy Award winning Falling intoYou, which spawned two Foster-produced hit singles, Because You Loved Me and To Love You More; Natalie Cole's Unforgettable; Barbra Streisand's Broadway and back to Broadway; Michael Bolton's Timeless; and Kenny G's Breathless. Between 1994 and 1997, four of David's productions, Toni Braxton's Unbreak My Heart; Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You; All-4-One's I Swear; and Celine Dion's Because You Loved Me; each reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and remained for a remarkable 42 weeks. Collectively, these songs occupied the #1 position for an unprecedented 20% of the time during those years.
Our ticket sales have been so unbelievable that I am overwhelmed! At the time of this writing, there are only three tables available. Each table receives 10 tickets, which translates to only 30 tickets left from a total of 300. We are limited in space at the hotel, as there is only one room large enough to accommodate an event like ours. If you plan to attend, I suggest you call and let me know how many tickets you require as soon as possible.
As indicated in my first newsletter, the focus of the Foundation will be to save the lives of people like Todd who see suicide as the only solution to their depression. We have decided that the first step to solving any crisis must be in developing communication tools.
I am pleased to announce that effective immediately, The Todd Thomas Foundation website is up and running at www.toddthomasfoundation.org. All future events and fundraising activities will be announced via the website. We also intend to provide a crisis line with links to suicide prevention services. We recognize that our initial website will be the bare bones minimum, but we wanted to be "live" immediately. We would love to hear from you, and welcome any comments and suggestions you may have at peter.thomas@toddthomasfoundation.org.
When you view the website and all of our future correspondence, you will notice a logo showing a large silver circle made up of smaller silver circles. This circle depicts the circle of life; and the silver color has been chosen to represent mental health. We intend to develop several communication tools in the future using the color combinations of silver, navy blue, and the logo. You will notice the silver buttons on the website lead to the linking pages following through with this theme. We can thank a young graphic designer named Daniel Blais as the talent who designed this logo. We are very proud of both the design and Daniel, who is our very own nephew. Thank you so much, Daniel. We appreciate your genius, and we love you!
For many years I have worked with Jacqui Cohen, Founder of the Face the World Foundation in Vancouver. She has raised millions of dollars for the betterment of our community. Jacqui and Face the World Foundation have honored Todd's life by making a donation to the Coast Foundation where they will create a Todd Thomas room in one of their new mental health hospices, presently under construction. Our family is so honored and thankful for this recognition of Todd's life. Todd spent several years working for hospice organizations in the Los Angeles area. No recognition to Todd could be more fitting or more worthy. Thank you so much, Jacqui.
Jacqui Cohen
Rita and I traveled to San Francisco on two occasions this last month to meet with Danielle Steel. Danielle lost her 19-year-old son, Nick, two years ago to suicide. She has written 77 books, and is one of the most prolific authors America has ever produced. Her latest is a best-selling book about her son Nick's life entitled A Shining Star. This book is a very honest account of a journey into the life of a young man who suffers from mental health disease. Danielle is both an amazing lady and mother. You will have an opportunity to meet her at our January 19 event, as she has already purchased her table.
Danielle Steel
Nick TraniaAs you may be aware, it is my intention to create a prototype dinner that can be rolled out across North America to all the major cities. Our plan is to have one fundraising event in 2001 in Scottsdale on January 19. In 2002, we will have two events, one in Scottsdale and one in Vancouver. In 2003, we are planning to have three events: again one in Scottsdale, one in Vancouver, and a third one in Los Angeles. In 2004, we will add a fourth city, and in 2005, a fifth city. The way I plan to launch a new city is much the way we built the Young Entrepreneurs Organization: find a Champion, (a rainmaker) in our target city, and provide assistance to make the event a success.
I am pleased to announce we have found the Champion for Vancouver for 2002. This man was the key person in building the Young Entrepreneurs Organization so that today, the organization is represented throughout the free world with over 100 chapters and more than 3000 members. Bill Trimble has agreed to host the 2002 Vancouver event. Having worked with Bill for many years, I can assure you his dinner will be the "ticket" everyone will want. Thank you, Bill: here we go again!
Bill Trimble
I am getting very excited as I write this newsletter about building our organization. If, as you read this, feel you would like to be a Champion to be the catalyst to make a benefit dinner happen in your city, please give me a call. I am committed to work with you to make your dinner one of the most successful events in your city. I had originally planned to include a lot of statistics that I have discovered about suicide. Because we are going to have our website up immediately I have decided to let you go to the links we have provided to learn more about what could cause someone to take this unthinkable step. To give you a little input about just how affected by this act we all are, and how vulnerable we can be to its occurrence, I want to give you a few facts. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for all races and both sexes for 10 to 24 year olds, and the second-leading cause of death for 25 to 34 year olds. The fact that thousands of North American kids and young adults choose to kill themselves rather than live in this world affects us all. Most suicides are committed by people who suffer from depression; they commit suicide during one of their depressed states. Here are some high profile people who have admitted publicly their susceptibility to depression: Tipper Gore, Patrick Kennedy, Princess Diana, Margot Kidder, Mike Wallace, Dick Cavett, among others.
The Todd Thomas Foundation has been officially set up and qualifies as a 501(3)(c) charity. We encourage all of you who have purchased a table or tickets for our January 19 event to send your funds to this address:
The Todd Thomas Foundation
6900 East 2nd Street
Scottsdale, Arizona 85251
A tax receipt will be issued to the extent it is deductible.
I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your love, support, and friendship.
Until the next time,
Peter H. Thomas
Back to Top
