(Uncle Mike is on the left.)

My Uncle Mike is the youngest of 8 children. He was born to my Italian immigrant grandparents in the 1930s. They grew up quite poor. His father worked in a local shoe factory with other immigrants. I have heard that his mother, in broken English, would tell the milkman, “when my sons grow up, they’ll pay you“. The funny thing is, the milkman always left the milk.

From this poor childhood, sixty some odd years ago, my uncle has become a millionaire. He first put himself through college, then started his own travel agency. It was onward and upward from there. He lists a string of accomplishments that go far beyond what I would ever hope to do.

Today, he is retired, enjoying his senior years with family and friends. Always one to embrace new ideas, he has his own website, and has been to Tibet to study Buddhism.

He has also recognized that it is time to “give something back to the milkman”. What goes around comes around, after all. To that end, he has recently written a document entitled “An Action Plan for the Economic Development and Reconstruction of Haiti“, and is working with various organizations to enhance the life of those in this ravaged country.

In particular, he has grown fond of working with the priests at the Timkatec Orphanage of Haiti. This next short story epitomizes the type of innovation and creative thinking of a millionaire.

At the orphanage in Haiti, a school bus was needed for the children, and there was none to be had. Somehow, my uncle managed to locate one here in Massachusetts. Step one accomplished. Now the next problem was, how to get this school bus to Haiti. After all, he couldn’t drive it. What could he do?

Well, as it turns out, my uncle still has some friends in the Cruise line industry. He pulled a few strings, and got them to load the bus onto a Cruise ship and bring it down to the orphanage. Imagine the priests’ surprise when my uncle came driving in with the bus!

That is my Uncle Mike. He lives life out of the box. And he’s a really great uncle, to boot.

If you’d like to make a donation to the children of Haiti, there’s a link in my sideblog.

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