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Lunch with Ernest

Each year, he travels to bring care, food

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published January 28, 2005

Through his Rotary Brandon '86 club, Brandon's Terry O'Grady is generating support for a health fair scheduled for March 12 in the Dominican Republic.

This marks the sixth year O'Grady has been involved with the project. In a single day, 300 to 500 volunteers hope to treat more than 10,000 Dominican citizens.

Over breakfast at the Brunchery, we talked about the project and two of Terry's other passions: youth sports and his four children.

ERNEST: We hear about problems around the world, but we don't always believe we can do something to help. Tell me how you realized there was something you could do. TERRY: I'm in the transportation business and I have a partner in Puerto Rico, a guy named Nestor Gonzalez. Nestor really initiated this whole project. His service is a shipping service between the two countries, and it's been very successful and he wanted to give something back to the country. The government indicated medical was a real area of deficiency and he came up with the idea. He talked to some doctors in Puerto Rico. They said they could put on a medical clinic and use the dock and the port in the Dominican Republic as a sort of hospital. That started five years ago and it's just flourished.

And you've been going every year?

My contribution has primarily been the food. Last year, I provided about $7,500 to fund the food because we feed everybody. People come in when they hear there's free food. They bring them in on buses from the interior. It's just a phenomenal, phenomenal event.

You took your daughters Erin, 20, and Kacy, 23, to the Dominican Republic project three years ago. Tell me about that.

One of Karen's jobs in college was as a clown. She loves kids. They went down and they worked that year from 6 in the morning until 8 at night. It was the most rewarding thing to them. All they did was balloon animals and paint faces. It's a memory they will never forget.

Is this the first year Rotary is involved?

Rotary had been looking for an international project. We tried some different international projects and the problem is there's a lot of this going on (rubs his thumb against his two fingers to signify money). We had to find something that was viable, and I said this is happening, we can work to piggyback on it. I donated the trailer - the one sitting down at Bloomingdale (near Winthorp) - and Hal Muetzel from Brandon Regional stepped up right away with a generator. Now the idea is just to get equipment and supplies and related items donated.

What's the biggest impression you take from the health fair?

Two things. One, we don't realize how good we have it in our country. There are people in the Dominican Republic who are well-off, but in general, it is a Third World country and there is a real high poverty level and it's one of many around the world. Two, when we help, we have to get them to buy in. They have to become a part of the solution. If they don't, the same problems are going to exist.

I guess you see a lot of interesting things through your travels.

A lot of times, we go to Jamaica and we go to places on vacation, and if you don't get into the interior, you don't really know what it's like. I make it a point to do that. Because of Nestor I got introduced to that. We go into areas that are just absolutely atrocious. The amazing thing, in the Dominican Republic especially, they are the happiest people. A guy said to me once, I guess you don't miss what you never had.

You've been involved in youth sports for 33 years. Why do you put so much time into it?

I've taught a class in this county since 1992 and I've certified 19,000 coaches in Hillsborough County, totally voluntary. It's not about how to play baseball, how to play football, how to play basketball, but how to interact with our kids. That's my passion.

It's so important for coaches to understand their roles.

Their role is teacher, educator, mentor. It's not living vicariously through these kids.

What kind of values do kids get out of youth sports?

I'm coaching the JV basketball team at Brandon, and assisting the varsity. As you know, there was a major ruckus recently. I was there helping clear the court. I asked my JV boys how many of you were at the melee during the Middleton game. I was setting them up. I said, How many of you got to the floor? There were 10. They were proud. I said, That's three suicides for each player, 30 for the team. Their homework assignment was to write down the definition of respect, discipline, class and pride, and their parents had to read them and sign them.

What did you tell the parents?

People said Middleton this, Middleton that, but it's both sides. We need parent education classes in this county. As a matter of fact, I just met with county Commissioner Jim Norman and (former county director of parks) Ed Radice and some other people from the county about that.

With all four of your kids participating in sports, I can tell you have a lot of passion for being a coach and a parent.

Why did I get involved in youth sports? That's what developed me as a person. My dad was a pilot during Vietnam. He was one of the MIAs who never returned. When he was shot down, I was 10. My memories of him were as a good dad. The night before he left for Vietnam we had a basketball practice. He was right there on the court and he was the assistant coach. What I always wanted to do is come back in my kids' lives the way I thought my dad would have, had he had the opportunity. At 16, I coached my first basketball team. When I started coaching these kids, that helped me deal with the emotions of losing my dad. I got a lot out of it, so I give a lot back.

DESSERT: A postscript from Ernest

Terry, 48, has tried to impart his sense of giving on his kids: Erin, 23; Kacy, 20; Terry Jr., 18; and Tyler, 16. For several years, they have taken their own money, purchased Subway sandwiches and delivered them to needy families on Christmas Eve. The idea originated from battles they would have over Chuck E. Cheese tickets oh-so-many years ago. Terry made them save the tickets and get stuffed animals for underprivileged kids. So far, 12 Rotary clubs are participating in the health fair project, and about a dozen people are expected to make the trip. To contribute or learn more, contact Terry at 685-3896.

Ernest Hooper also writes a column for the Tampa & State section of the St. Petersburg Times. Lunch With Ernest is edited for brevity and clarity. To suggest lunch partners, call Ernest at 226-3406 or e-mail hooper@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 28, 2005, 17:27:45]