Speaker: Ask For Help, It May Come Through

Having a great cause that needs funding is not enough, John Crowley told more than 300 real estate executives Friday at the Commercial Legacy Luncheon hosted by the United Way of Northern New Jersey.

Crowley, who is executive chairman of Amicus Therapeutics and who grew up in Englweood, is best known for the fight to find a drug therapy to treat Pompe Disease, a rare form of muscular dystrophy that was contracted by his two children, Megan and Patrick.

The struggle to raise funds to support research was made into the 2010 film  “Extraordinary Measures,” staring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser.

Crowley said at age 8 he learned how people help others after his father, an Englewood police officer, was killed in an accident. He said he saw a jar in a bar with the photos of  himself and his brother taped to the side. Crowley said his uncle, another Englewood police officer, told him that was just how his fellow police wanted to help the family of a fallen officer. 

A person needing help needs to ask for it, often many times, and should not be surprised by the result, he said.

Crowley learned the lesson about why people donate money to causes, he said, when a billionaire sports family chose not to donate $25,000 to support a fundraising dinner, but a retired woman living on a fixed income donated $2 a  month for two years after reading about the family in the newspaper.

The donation for the woman was clearly a sacrifice, Crowley said.

“We all make sacrifices for our families, or work,” Crowley said. “The woman sent a note with her first donation that said, 'I hope I can donate and help every month.'"

That small donation was a “remarkable sacrifice” for that woman, he said.

The lesson, he said, is that one person can not do everything himself or herself;  we need the help of others to accomplish our goals. Persistence is needed to reach those goals because one can not predetermine where that help will come from, he said.

The real estate legacy luncheon has raised $1.55 million in 11 years to help nonprofit agencies in Morris County complete 105 capital projects that helped thousands of county residents.

Among those who benefited from the funds raised by the annual luncheon: 233 people living with mental illness; 360 living with AIDS; 2,478 escaping abuse; 2,700 needing shelter; 2,888 needing handicapped access; 7,794 low-income children; and 11,095 in counseling or recovery.

Also at the Event, the 300,000 square foot North American headquarters of BASF, being constructed at The Green at Florham Park, was named the 2011 Real Estate Impact Award winner. The developer is the Rockefeller Group Development Corp, and the BASF building is the second project at the site, following the opening of the New York Jets headquarters and training facility.

The three other projects nominated were: Southgate in Morris Township, which added Covanta Energy, Marsh USA and Travelers Insurance to its renovated site; Watson Pharmaceuticals, which consolidated its workforce in Parsippany; and Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman and Dicker LLP, which consolidated its law practice in Florham Park.

Theresa LePore, United Way’s senior vice president for resource development, said the funds raised by the luncheon support programs that help low-income families keep up.

While Morris County is one of the richest  counties in the Untied States, LePore said, 25 percent of it residents are considered to be the working poor.

The funding goes to help “children in Morristown who go to bed hungry each night and the 100 families in Dover who visit the food pantry each week,” LePore said.

The funds help children who “finish a school term paper in the dark because their  mother chose to buy food rather than pay the electric bill,” she said. Studies have shown that in the county, 98 percent of the children enrolled in an pre-school program supported by United Way achieved reading readiness by kindergarten and that middle school programs have helped raise test scores and reduce absenteeism, she said.

Crowley said that the long journey to raise the funds and support the research that discovered an enzyme replacement therapy that helped his children taught him that people will help others for reasons that the individual seeking that help can not anticipate.

When he took his family Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as a celebration, that lesson was brought home forcefully, he said.

The large group, including many members of Crowley's extended  family and his two children in wheelchairs, was trying to find a viewpoint when he tried to move barricades at Columbus Circle.

A police lieutenant stopped him at first, but after seeing the children in  wheelchairs, led the group, with the help of several other officers, to a curbside spot and even cleared some of the existing crowd aside.

Crowley said he tried several times say thank you to the police officer, but the lieutenant finally said, no, thank you, “you made my Thanksgiving.”

Capital projects to be considered for funding this year are

• kitchen, bathroom and electrical upgrade for the American Red Cross, Colonial Crossroads Chapter;
• energy efficiency windows and fired-rated shades for Children on the Green, an early childhood agency that supports the county’s homeless population;
• playground equipment for Collinsville Child Care Center;
• bathroom renovations at a group home for Community Hope;
• roof replacement at the Dover Child Care Center;
• a down payment for a land purchase for El Primo Paso, a Dover child care center;
• security and fire alarm systems at an adult day care center for Family Service of Morris County;
• an all-terrain vehicle for Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey;
• parking lot expansion for Homeless Solutions, Inc.;
• roof replacement at Hope House;
• replacement computer equipment for the Interfaith Council for Homeless Families;
• a truck for Morris Habitat for Humanity; parking lot lights for the Mount Olive Child Care and Learning Center;
• a vehicle for NewBridge Services, Inc.;
• replacement of heating and cooling system for the P.G. Chambers School;
• playground equipment at Parsippany Day Care Center;
• group home construction for The Rose House;
• and an upgraded telephone system for TransOptions.