Dr. Laura Schlessinger Foundation to shut down

Dr. Laura ^

[Lizavetta]

Statement by Dr. Laura Regarding The Dr. Laura Schlessinger Foundation Closing

"It is with equal pride and regret that I share the decision of the Board of Directors to close the Dr. Laura Schlessinger Foundation on December 31 of this year. As you can imagine, we reached this decision most reluctantly after months of soul searching.

Because it was you – my listeners and sponsors – who so lovingly participated in the distribution of My StuffTM Bags to 250,000 children in crisis over the past six years, I want you to hear this news directly from me.

You have been extremely generous in donating items for the bags and in donating your time, as well. But the Foundation also requires significant ongoing underwriting which is becoming more difficult to find and, as we continue to grow, will require ever increasing amounts of money, despite our staff’s admirably consistent record of keeping expenses under 10% of revenues. Most of the underwriting for the past six years has come from my husband Lew and me.

We have thought long and hard about whether or not we want to continue to commit the bulk of our charitable contributions to this one cause – dear as it is to us. When we first started the foundation we had a three-fold mission: abused children, adoption and abstinence. The instant success of our first initiative for abused children caused us to put the other two goals on the shelf.

It is time to take them down. While we still care deeply about the children, we want to be free to devote our energies and our resources to other pressing needs in the future. Thus our decision, to close the Foundation at a high point. We will continue to pack and ship bags through the end of the year and ask that no more donations be made past October 15th. Rest assured that every item in our inventory will go into the hands of abused children.

Since the enthusiasm and commitment to My StuffTM Bags has been so pervasive throughout the country, I urge those of you who have been involved to start local community efforts to continue to provide bags to children in crisis. Much of the growing cost involved in the national effort has been maintaining inventory and shipping the bags. These costs would be minimal on a local level. Additionally, it would involve local people in the important work of relieving the suffering of these children and raise awareness of the needs of children in your own backyards.

We are extremely grateful to have partnered with all of you and with our wonderful staff in bringing love and light to hundreds of thousands of children who have experienced very little of either in their short lives. Thank you for always being there for me, for the Foundation and for the children. We eagerly await news of your local efforts on their behalf."

[kmiller1k]

Dr Laura stayed home when her son was young, when she worked it was when her husband could be home with their son and when started her radio program the son was in school. I admire her and she earns her money legitimately.

[Alouette]

Laura's career took a powder right after she admitted she wasn't really doing all that "Orthodox Jewish" religious stuff she bragged about.

[Indy Pendance]

My husband left us for his true love when my kids were 4, 7, 8. I went to school, got an engineering degree, and worked my tail off to provide a home for my kids, and no child support. I did have babysitting help from my family. It was welfare or doing something. It took 5 years to get my degree, but I did it. I took the do something route. She is the simplistic one. Not everyone can opt to stay home. Until the divorce laws are changed, anyone at any time for any reason can get a divorce. I chose to do something instead of wallow in misery.

[Dante3]

I agree with you. I just don't understand this Dr. Laura bashing. She has promoted values and taken a stand in support of our Cosntitution.

[Lizavetta]

She is the simplistic one. Not everyone can opt to stay home.

If you are implying that Dr. Laura thinks all mothers who work and daycare their kids are scum, then you haven't listened to her for very long. Your sitation is one in which you have no choice but to work and she would be the first to say that. I've lost count of the number of times she's said this.

[Indy Pendance]

I never said they were scum, those are your words.

[metz]

Again, this just proves that you don't listen to her. It is incredible to me that people can say things about other people which they know little or nothing about. Dr. Laura tells MOTHERS with YOUNG children BEFORE they are in school to stay home with their kids. Yes, she works, and if you would have listened to her you would have found out that she made sure that they were together as a family at dinner time. She was there to watch him with school activities. You are not a hypocrite, just ignorant of the truth. I am wasting my bandwidth aren't I?

[metz]

Just to agree with Liza, Dr. Laura would have applauded you. This forum is so weird that people who don't listen to her or have listened very little act like they know what she believes and how awful she is.
I agree with you Indy, divorce laws need to be changed back to what they were years ago. Best of luck to you and your family.

[Indy Pendance]

No, every time I listen to her, she's telling moms they have to stay home. I've never heard her mention about extenuating circumstances. I listen to her often, maybe about half her shows. It's always about how moms should stay home, never just about moms with young kids staying home. I was lucky to be able to stay home with my kids until my youngest was four. She does give good advice on other topics, the one that gets me is when mom's call up in financial distress. Usually there is a husband, and I agree, if a mom can stay home, that the best situation, in my case, there wasn't. But, from what I've heard, she still advocates moms in any circumstances should stay home, while she rakes in the cash. That's what I take from her. I have to work to get my kids through college and high school. I'm also fortunate to have one kid in the army. I'm so proud of her.

[YaYa123]

I can't believe the unfavorable opinion you guys have of Dr. Laura. Her radio show was common sense conservative values dished out to idiot callers from all over the country. Great radio, and her advice, not to mention her books are right in line with the values most of us espouse...we just don't know how to do it so cleverly.

Self-promotional? Of course she was. And she was constantly doing battle with NOW, Gay organizations, and other liberal oriented religious and political groups.

"My Stuff"

Every kid needs to have belongings they lovingly call "my stuff". (Maybe you don't have kids). Anyway, that's how the name of Dr. Laura's contributions to shelters came to be. She knew that abused women leaving husbands in the middle of the night, with kids in tow, seldom had time to gather up toys to take to the shelter, and her premise was, that even in a shelter, little kids would be comforted to receive something that was their very own. (as in, "this is my stuff". )

I never have been a regular Laura listener, local radio put her on at wierd hours, but even I knew a bit of her radio history.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

"No, I'm an engineer" So is a janitor, and a housefrau...

Propeller head, heal thyself.</p>

[Indy Pendance]

No, a janitor and a housefrau didn't take four semesters of calculus for college credits.

[metz]

I feel like O'Reilly when he posts emails from people who watch his show. One will say he was too hard on this person and the next one says he was too soft. Are you really listening to the same Dr. Laura I do? I listen to her almost every day. She is VERY strong about young mothers staying home with their babies and not put them out to "child care" places. You are just flat wrong about her saying women should not have jobs but stay home instead. You are just wrong. Are you mixing up what she says about making sure you are there for your kids at dinner. Does that mean a woman can't have a job? No! Does that mean she says you should have a job that you can still be at home with the kids after school? YES! She even says that she could have taken different jobs but they would have meant being away or not able to be at home as much and she didn't take them. Please listen to her without prejudging her.

[speekinout]

Dr Laura was giving bags to kids who were being taken into custody for neglect, abuse, or whatever. Giving these kids a toothbrush, a blanket, a stuffed animal and whatever else is a real act of kindness. Too bad that some people would rather destroy Dr Laura than help these kids.

[Katya]

Oh come on...her show had a certain amount of voyeuristic entertainment value. Her callers were diving off the spring board to Jerry Springer.

[m87339]

Jeeze, where to start, where to start?

DL suggests the following radical concept:
1. Get to know your potential spouse's character before you get married.
2. Get married before creating children
3. Make sure you can live on the husband's income before creating children (young children need a Mother's love to properly develop)
4. Don't have kids just becase you can. Understand the responsibilities that go with creating human beings.

40 years of FemiNaziism won't erase 4,000 years of human biology.

What, your kid can't get a job and put him/herself through college? That's what I did.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[pyx]

Laura's career took a powder right after she admitted she wasn't really doing all that "Orthodox Jewish" religious stuff she bragged about.

Ever been an OUTSIDER ? I think Dr. Laura converted to Judaism, if I'm not mistaken. Did the Jewish community EMBRACE her ? I seem to recall listening to her program once as she spoke, in a sort of whimisical way, about the wonder she felt and how moving it was that Christian communities EMBRACE new members. And how Christians bond with one another and how sometimes, one can feel a bit alone in the Jewish community if one isn't born into it. I think this was shortly after 9/11, but my memory is not that great as to the details.

The times I've listened to her program, she hasn't come across as QUOTE braggingUNQUOTE. I took it as ENTHUSIASM. Sort of a, "LOOK ! See what I've learned ? Neat, huh ?" But, it came across as real enthusiasm. Then again, many can be made to feel on the OUTSIDE and excluded from a community. People who marry someone who is a different race can be made to feel like an OUTSIDER. People who marry someone who is of a different nationality can be made to feel like an OUTSIDER. Its all how the community, one seeks to become a member of EMBRACES the new member and how the view themselves as BELONGING to the community they wish to join. Know what I mean ?

Perhaps not.

[Alouette]

Dr. Laura converted to Judaism, if I'm not mistaken. Did the Jewish community EMBRACE her ?

The Orthodox community did indeed welcome her. Jewish liberals hated her, not because she was a convert, but because she was pro-life and pro-family. Then she let down the only segment of the Jewish community that DID SUPPORT her.

If some Christians were mean to you would you give up Christianity?

[pyx]

If some Christians were mean to you would you give up Christianity?

I am not Dr. Laura and nor is she me. How I might react to people who might resent me or who might attempt to make me feel like an outsider in all likelyhood would be entirely different than Dr. Laura. For one thing, our body parts are different. :/

However, I can certainly empathize with someone feeling alienated from a community to which they strongly want to feel they belong.

But recall (again from memory), that Dr. Laura comes from an Italian Catholic background. I think its conceivable that she might have had some preconceived ideas (albeit incorrect preconceived ideas) about how she was going to be welcomed into the orthodox Jewish community as a whole and for how long. I mean, its very easy for only a few 'insiders' (for lack of a better term) to alienate and isolate someone very quickly. And its also conceivable (as I would speculate sometimes occurs in the orthodox Christian community) that 'insiders' are threatened by the enthusiasm a new convert brings with her and may react by alienating the new convert.

NOTE: I'm speculating, of course.<<<---- NOTE !!!

None-the-less, I could empathize with her description during that radio program because she is very good at describing situations, imo.
The Orthodox community welcoming her may have been less of the reason for her reaction. She may have become disillusioned because she had tremendous (and perhaps unrealistic) expectations.

Then again, an epiphany can obviously be both cathartic and humbling. I'm convinced Dr. Laura definately believes in God. However, she may be searching for the best way for her to worship.