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09/07/2023 02:09 PMThe Paul Dostie Kindness Always Rewards Everyone (KARE) nonprofit foundation upholds a mission to provide funds to help support travel and medical expenses for individuals facing life-threatening illnesses. The foundation certainly lived up to its goal when it held its first annual golf tournament on Aug. 25 at the Portland Golf Course, raising money for people affected with Glioblastoma Cancer and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM).
Paul Dostie was a member of the Guilford community who passed away on May 25, 2021, from a long battle with glioblastoma.
Vice President of the KARE nonprofit, Steve Terreri, also Dostie’s brother-in-law, helped start the organization after losing a family member who made an incredible impact on everyone he knew.
“Paul owned a transmission shop in Guilford that has been around since his father opened it in 1958. A little over two years ago, he was diagnosed with glioblastoma and passed away. Everybody knew him, and everybody knew him as a really nice, kind, generous guy,” said Terreri. “We wanted to keep his legacy alive when he passed, and we formed the Paul Dostie KARE Foundation. What we do is raise funds, and what we do is every month we find a family in need financially that either has Glio or HCM.”
Every month since the foundation was started in Nov. 2021, they have given a $5,000 grant, and sometimes two, to families in need. There have been 25 to 30 families the organization has helped since its inception.
Glioblastoma is a form of brain cancer that is unfortunately non-curable, while HCM is a heart disease that makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood.
After the conclusion of the golf tournament, Terreri explained that the KARE Foundation was able to meet its goal and, as a result, will help change the lives of many families.
“There were 120 golfers, and this was the very first one we held. It was supposed to happen last year, but it got rained out. We were holding our breath this year because the weather was iffy,” said Terreri. “We started an hour late, and it worked out. Portland Golf Course were tremendous partners, and so were Willie Fritz and Paula Hessler.”
In addition to the golf tournament, the foundation also holds KARE Fest in June of every year to raise funds. The KARE Fest is an event filled with music, food, drinks, raffles, etc., and always brings in over six figures in funds.
Members of the KARE Foundation’s board include Dostie’s family members, President and Executive Director Linda Kelly, Secretary Jeanne McManus Dostie (Paul’s wife), and Treasurer Brian Dostie (Paul’s brother).
“This is a family thing; we are a very close family. The Dosties, Terreris, and McManuses are all very close, a tight-knit family, and well known in Guilford,” said Terreri. “We were probably sitting around a table for dinner, and we started with “Let’s do a fundraiser.” We did a fundraiser while he was alive before we founded the foundation, and then he passed away and we started thinking about doing a festival. One thing led to another and all of a sudden, we became a foundation.”
As the KARE Foundation is constantly looking for new and creative ways to raise funds, it puts on other fundraisers throughout the year, including online ones and events at Sacred Heart University (SHU).
“Last year we had a night at SHU for hockey in our honor,” Terreri said. “They are doing another game this year, which will be held on Jan. 19.”
Although the KARE Foundation is able to help families in need who are affected by both glioblastoma and HCM, Terreri noted that it’s not always an easy process.
“I think the biggest challenge is never having done this before; we are learning as we go. I think the very first year we wanted to do it, COVID hit and basically pushed off our fundraising for about a year,” said Terreri. “We could not do anything outside because everything was shut down. That was probably the biggest obstacle; we had to keep our wits about us, stick to it, and wait a full year before we could do our first fest.”
As the foundation continues helping families in need, Terreri hopes the group can continue to grow its participation and attendance at the events and eventually be able to hand out more grants.
“If you go down the list, most of the patients have passed. The HCM folks tend to survive and eventually get a transplant. We could go down the list and say passed away, which we are sad about, or we could say we helped this family get through a very difficult time financially to keep the patient alive and feel good about helping the families,” said Terreri. “Right now, we are doing $5,000 a month; we really want to get to two $5,000 grants a month, then three and four, and so on. We are going to keep focusing on our primary event, the KARE Fest. I want to pack the Guilford Fairgrounds; I have to figure out what the combination is to get us there. We are also looking at other ideas that other foundations have done.”
To donate to the Paul Dostie KARE Fund or for more information, visit www.pauldostiekarefund.org.