A Direct Reply to Chris Morlock

As I was getting settled into a busy Monday morning or work, I was informed of a post by Chris Morlock (contact and references: Chris Morlock on the PDGA, Chris Morlock on DiscGolfScene, Chris Morlock on Facebook) on Facebook (of all places where I am not personally connected to him, therefore cannot see or respond to his inquiries) regarding transparency and questions regarding the Dušan Nedelko Foundation. Which we have been running since my brother's untimely passing. 

I was a taken off guard by the comment I could see, since we have http://dusansfoundation.org and I am always extremely easy to contact directly. It therefore does confuse me to see comments made to which I cannot respond to personally or on behalf of the Foundation. 

As this is my personal blog, I think it is most appropriate to post my email response which I sent directly to Mr.Morlock. This hopefully ensures complete transparency, if you have any comments or questions please do not hesitate to contact me at dan@dannedelko.com

Thanks to everyone who has so generously supported our efforts to both continue my brothers efforts and to enable our youth through outdoor activity and education. I would also add that it is interesting to see such behaviour in response to a genuine effort on the part of many people to support our youth.

Best,

Dan Nedelko

Hello Chris,

I was brought to my attention today regarding your questions about the raising and allocation of funds with respect to the Dusan Nedelko Foundation. As I do not have access to your Facebook wall I have included a brief snippet as is viewable from my perspective:

The Dušan Nedelko Foundation 

I have a question or two. I keep seeing the fundraising we all do for this group and I do understand that it pushed on the disc golf community because of Dusan and his passion for helping kids learn the sport. My first question is, where are the tournaments or gatherings to teach these youngsters, that should be set up or at least funded by the foundation? We donat...See More

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• Chris Morlock Sandra that's a whole other topic... What's wrong with open questions...Why the fear and the need for secret discretion. Dan is on Facebook and so is his mamma, so they can jump in anytime. Call it a blog then....7 minutes ago

Helen Heynen I do believe this page belongs to Chris, hence, he is able to post what he wishes. (If you don't like it, don't comment) Consider this personal page as one's living room. You wouldn't stroll into ones house and question their feng shui wou...See More2 minutes ago

I would direct you to the attached document [Editorial addition: the document is available online at http://dusansfoundation.org/youth-2/financial-awards-summary-update.html] which we are about to post on our blog and also as a newsletter to supporters of the Foundation. There are some misconceptions in what I can see from your public comments:

• The Dušan Nedelko Foundation is a foundation and as such we do not directly manage or run events. We do so in support of and with our partners.
• You somehow implied that there is an air of "secrecy" surrounding the Dušan Nedelko Foundation. Nothing could be further from the truth. I would direct you to the following information pages: http://dusansfoundation.org/dusans-foundation/ and http://dusansfoundation.org/our-mission/ 
• We are a registered Not For Profit Foundation, we also seek open applications for determining disbursements of funds at the Spring and Winter solctice. 
• Additionally we provide for "emergency funding" up to $500.
• Transparency is a core of our mission and we have distributed a summary of all disbursements at every event in which we are involved. The printed material is also available and I would be happy to mail them to you directly if you wish.
• We devote a significant amount of our personal time as a board of directors and supporters of these efforts. We are always very open to discussion and would appreciate direct questions rather than forums in public venues which we do not have the ability to respond to (none of us are connected on Facebook and as such cannot see the full questions and have no ability to repond).
• You may be confused by the Foundation mission. We are not directly routing all funds to disc golf efforts. The disc golf community has been a massive supporter of our mission which to summarize is:

Core Values and Culture

• We contribute Dušan Nedelko Foundation resources, both financial and human, to help deliver redefining outdoor experiences for under-served or at-risk children within Ontario.
• We are passionate about helping children develop life and leadership skill sets through outdoor activity, a strong sense of accomplishment and harmony with nature in order to engender a “power of one” confidence that will guide future life choices and ongoing connection and stewardship of the environment.
• We display fairness, honesty, responsibility, diversity, generosity and foster mutual trust and care in our dealings with our local communities, volunteers, business partners and beneficiaries of our efforts.
• We are guided by mutual respect, enthusiasm and shared creativity to support projects that provide positive, life-lasting outdoor experiences that build fun, teamwork, environmental stewardship and empowerment among participants.
• We deal with others as we would want them to deal with us.

I would suggest that if you have any direct questions, comments, concerns or input that you are always welcome to contact us directly at:

shout@dusansfoundation.org or to me directly at dan@dusansfoundation.org

I thank you for your questions and look forward to hearing back from you. 

Best Regards,

Dan Nedelko

Chairman

The Dušan Nedelko Foundation