Was there much doubt as to who the unnamed donor was?
I see the Argus is noting this AM that the mysterious donor who is providing nearly 1/2 a billion - and that's with a "B" - to Sioux Valley in order to create a network of clinics and medical research centers is Denny Sanford.
I don't think it's a huge shock to anyone. It's a pretty short list in SD when names come to mind for that extreme form of philanthropy. And T. Denny Sanford is at the top of it.
Sure, they're going to change their name to Sanford Health, and that might attract some criticism as it did when an aspect of his major donation to Homestake caused Representative Dale Hargens to grouse about it.
In response, I'd offer, "so what."
I said it back at the end of June, and I'd say the same type of thing now, if I was giving that much money, I'd want a mention of it somewhere too in the hopes it might inspire future generosity and philantropy in an increasingly self-centered world.
In anyone's book, we should all recognize the act as a "good one."
I don't think it's a huge shock to anyone. It's a pretty short list in SD when names come to mind for that extreme form of philanthropy. And T. Denny Sanford is at the top of it.
Sure, they're going to change their name to Sanford Health, and that might attract some criticism as it did when an aspect of his major donation to Homestake caused Representative Dale Hargens to grouse about it.
In response, I'd offer, "so what."
I said it back at the end of June, and I'd say the same type of thing now, if I was giving that much money, I'd want a mention of it somewhere too in the hopes it might inspire future generosity and philantropy in an increasingly self-centered world.
In anyone's book, we should all recognize the act as a "good one."
Comments
And Lee, Payton and the Colts are soft...not going to be pretty but there will be crying at the end.
I'm not certain, but i'm pretty sure you're an angry idiot
Out of curiousity, what's the biggest donation a Dem ever made to this state?
PS and Manning IS going to deliver --and next year when we bring Fran Tarkington out of retirement - go Vikes :)
And I'm getting sick of people acting like it was somehow criminal that Sanford made his money on credit cards. No one held a gun to the heads of his customers and made them sign up. He was willing to give credit to high-risk customers - and he got paid for taking a risk. That's business.
As for Homestake, SD is far and away the leader for the national lab - and it has nothing to do with the Sanford gift. The head of the Colorado project has said as much publicly. Sanford's gift is the icing on the cake.
It's just like the Democrats - they demonize people for being successful. Then, when those people choose to give back, they demonize them again. That's because Dems want to take all of the money and decide for themselves how to spend it.
I'm not sure, but I think Dale Larson in Brookings is a Dem, and he's making significant and considerable contributions to that community.
Of course, I don't think it's 400m worth.
Further, somebody said that our "wacked out social policies" were going to kill the Homestake deal thereby killing the Sanford donation.
Also, Dale Hargens had a temper tantrum and acted like a child when USD renamed the med school.
All of those things described above are excellent reasons why this state can't move forward.
Hargens and his bassackwards thinking and then the belief that social policy will kill Homestake.
That sort of logic in of itself is neanderthalian at best.
1.) I gained a completely new respect for Kelby and his vision for the future.
2.) After about a year of feeling otherwise, I am once again proud of where I work.
Now let's see what happens.
How many laborers working for the mimimum wage have to work for 5 years to make it possible for one man to accumulate a billion and a half on their labor?
We should be glad that he is however putting some of it back into South Dakota. We have had more than a few people who made a pot of money in South Dakota and then turned around and donated it Harvard or some other not in South Dakota institution.
Sanford might now think about donating some money to an education research project that will help develop better ways to teach science and engineering than lecturing in the format of the middle ages when books were unavailable. It would not hurt to see what might get grade school and high school kids interested in Science and Engineering in a realistic way so they understand both the costs and the benefits.
The medical system knowledge does not just depend upon doctors and nurses. If South Dakota rather than just Sioux Falls is to benefit from this, then programs to get more South Dakotans upto speed in science and medical science is essential.
Without a doubt, these facilities will have to be parasitic to start with by bringing in people from other research institutions. If they can be put to better use in new areas, that is all to the good.
If they just get moved here and leave a hole someplace else, the benefits may be great for Sioux Falls, but not so great for the rest of the state or the rest of the health care system.
With more and more of the newborn in South Dakota going to mothers who are unwed and/or unemployed, the clinics here if they are going to get many participants will have to be run as charity institutions.
Some Texas hospitals end up with 70 to 80 percent of their maternity cases being aliens who have bills paid by county, state, and federal programs. No doubt they will need more clinics in the future too.