Ray Baden gets ‘medicine of giving’ from handing out $10K checks

Over the past three months, Bradenton philanthropist Ray Baden, 88, has had two heart attacks, heart angioplasty, a heart valve replacement, a pacemaker, spinal surgery to correct three deteriorated discs and a spot taken off his head by his dermatologist.

Baden was so weak from all of his recent surgeries and procedures his legs wouldn’t hold him up, yet he still arrived, with the help of his son and grandson, at the Manatee Community Foundation on Manatee Avenue West on Thursday morning.

He was there to hand out $10,000 checks from the Sara and Ray Baden Fund to 10 local not-for-profit organizations, something he has done during the holiday season for many years, usually chipper enough to visit the organizations himself.

In fact, his holiday donations through MCF have now reached $500,000 since 2013, said Susie Bowie of the Foundation.

Thursday was different, however.

“My legs wouldn’t hold me up this morning,” Baden said.

But Baden, a Freedom Village resident, had a secret reason for being there when seriously under the weather.

“The act of giving can really give a person a shot in the arm. It’s powerful medicine and it really exists,” Baden said.

“A lot of people my age don’t realize what they are missing,” Baden said in the MCF lobby, addressing the $10,000 check recipients, which this year was the same as last year and included Boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee County, Florida United Methodist Children’s Home, Just for Girls, Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee County, Parenting Matters, Salvation Army of Manatee County, Season of Sharing Fund, Manatee County, the South Florida Museum, Turning Points and Visible Men Academy.

“I have a friend about my age,” Baden added. “He makes fairly good money. I asked him, ‘When you build a business from scratch and start to make money it makes you feel good doesn’t it?’ He said, ‘Yeah, it does.’ I said, ‘You are missing a part of it.’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘How do you feel when you help someone else who needs help?’ He said, ‘Oh.’ I was talking over his head.”

As his audience laughed and clapped, the essence of giving, or maybe the idea of it, seemed to cascade like a wave throughout the lobby and bounce right back at Baden, bathing him in warmth.

“We’ve been a recipient every year Ray has done this,” Katrina Bellemare, executive director of Parenting Matters, said within earshot of Baden. “The money Ray is giving us will be matched through another initiative so we are so touched by his generosity and excited.”

“These funds will be used to help girls in Manatee County achieve their dreams and support them in their educational endeavors,” said Ann White of Just for Girls.

“This gift and this generosity from Ray enables us to continue to provide the whole child programs we believe in,” said Neil Phillips, head of school and co-founder of the five-year-old Visible Men Academy, a kindergarten through fifth grade all-boys charter school in Pride Park in Manatee County.

Baden, who thoroughly checks out each organization he gives money to, told Phillips he is extremely proud of the work Phillips has done at the school, which exists to reverse the crisis of under-achievement of boys with low-income backgrounds in school and beyond.

Diana Dill of Meals on Wheels PLUS and The Food Bank of Manatee County said, “We are very excited about the generosity of Mr. Baden. The money will go to help feed people over the holidays.”

By the time Baden had handed out his last check, his fund was depleted by $100,000. He was laughing, smiling and his eyes were beaming.

This story was originally published December 21, 2017 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Ray Baden gets ‘medicine of giving’ from handing out $10K checks."