About Foundation Dario
Dan & Mario
About The Founders
Dan & Mario met over 21 years ago and the rest as they say, is history. Dan was raised in Massachusetts and Mario in Costa Rica. They each bring different personalities to the relationship. Dan enjoys gardening, running, dabbling in writing poetry, reading books and listening to podcasts that inspire creative perspectives on what it means to be alive. Mario enjoys listening to music, dancing, getting together with friends, Face Book, talking on the phone and binge watching shows on Netflix.
Although many who know them will tell you they are quite different at first encounter, as you come to know them, Dan and Mario will tell you how much they love and respect one another and although different in so many ways, their shared appreciation for life, gratitude for their physical, mental and spiritual well-being and combined passion to help others are what make their relationship so very special.
Dan and Mario enjoy travelling the world and experiencing different cultures. As their relationship grows, the need to make a difference in the lives of people in need has been quietly manifesting itself. Along their local and global journey, Dan and Mario have met so many wonderful people and been introduce to organizations that are doing great work to help others in need. Together, they have developed friendships with deep roots full of love and support and are finding ways to leverage them for their Foundation.
Foundation Dario
Our Story
It all started for us when we found ourselves in the middle of a field in Ireland overlooking a grand castle highlighted by a beautiful landscape. We had stopped to take a minute to really appreciate where we were and what were seeing. In that moment we spoke of our gratitude for the experience, yet a more profound question emerged when one of us asked;
“How can we make our lives more meaningful?”
Time would move on, yet this yearning lingered and continued to manifest itself. After moving to a new home, we found a wonderful place of worship where people were doing such great work for others and we were inspired to finally explore what this could mean to us. Later that year on Christmas Eve in 2006 we were opening gifts we had purchased for one another. At one point we had been opening gifts for so long that we were becoming tired and decided to retire for the evening and resume opening gifts in the morning. At one point one of us said; “I feel like we may have gone overboard with gifts for each other.” And then the real question was asked;
“How much do we really need?”
We knew at that moment that our holiday gift giving practices between each other, our friends and family were going to change. Instead of gifts for each other, we were going to buy gifts for those in need. We calculated our collective gift spending and determined $3,000 would become our new yearly contribution going forward. In 2007, we mailed our first Holiday Mission letter informing our friends and family of our decision to no longer exchange gifts, and instead, we preferred a donation to our yearly mission. Before we knew it, we were well on our way to establishing a foundation of gratitude, love and compassion.
Over the years of our sharing our work with others, we have been asked why we had not established ourselves as a 501(C)(3). They told us this would not only encourage more donations, that in some cases existing contributors who were already supporting us on a year-to-year basis may write larger checks. For us, “we were just two regular guys trying to help others” and were content keeping it within our network of friends and family and felt this was substantial in itself. Over the years though, our mission efforts have created a strong foundation of supporters and enthusiasm was building. We were beginning to see how our efforts were touching and inspiring others. During many a conversation when our Mission work would be of topic, Mario and I began joking that if we were to incorporate we would call ourselves Foundation Dario, a combination of Dan and Mario. This went on for almost six years until in 2019 we reached out to an attorney to pursue incorporating as 501(C)(3). Why would we not want to expand on the great work we were already doing and bring on even more supporters and raise even more money to help others? In early 2020 we received our approval from the IRS and Foundation Dario, Inc. became an official 501(C)(3). The launch of our website in November of 2020 is our first action to establish a place that will share our collective efforts and inspire others to become contributors and donate to our objective of helping those in need.
We are on our way to creating a vehicle that will raise awareness and education to real issues that exist today in each of our own communities.
We have met so many people over the years that are suffering and in need. Every sad and challenging situation we have encountered has left us humbled and grateful for our physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing.
No matter who we are, we all just want to be seen and heard. Foundation Dario will bring awareness to our shared Humanity allowing those in need to speak, be heard and helped.
What We Do
As Foundation Dario, Inc. begins to mature and build momentum our plan is to connect with our devoted and loyal base of friends and family who have allowed us to sustain our efforts over the years. Through this website and our newly created FaceBook page, we want to expand our Foundation contributors. Although our yearly mission ideas seem to serendipitously present themselves, there are years when this does not happen so easily. We are working to create ways to reach out to Foundation contributors and have them provide us with ideas on those in their communities who are in need of our collective efforts. Once we begin to develop enough funds, we can assist in small ways throughout the year and continue to hold our yearly Holiday Mission.
We have been asked on a few occasions why we are not focusing on one specific cause. It is something that we are continuing to discuss; however, each unique mission allows us to bring greater awareness to the various needs that exist today in our communities that too often we overlook or are unaware exist.
We donate 100% of what we collect directly to the cause.
We seek missions that allow us an opportunity to meet those for whom we are helping. If not, we ensure that the items we are purchasing are specifically needed by a person or the organization and are going directly to them. We decided that although writing a check may be the easiest way to help, we want to know that our money is going directly to the person in need. Many of our founding contributors have told us how they appreciate this. After each mission, we send a letter to those who have donated and itemize exactly how much money came in and exactly where that money went. What’s even more special is when you hear directly from someone you impacted as they hug you and thank you for what we have done. We remind them that it is not just Dan & Mario, it is a committed group of loving and caring people who are trying to make a small yet heartfelt difference in this world.
Once the Foundation has built up sufficient funds, we will establish a yearly College Scholarship for a local High School student. We will address the student body at a particular school and distribute nomination ballets to identify students who have created a vehicle for helping others in their community. The selected student will then have an opportunity to present their project at our yearly Foundation Gala and that year’s Holiday Mission will support their work.
Stay tuned for a more specific five-year strategic action plan that will be posted on this website before the end of December 2020.
“Incorporating as a 501(C)(3) allows us to take things to a new level!”
We are excited to expand our efforts! COVID may have kept us from gathering for now; however, stay tuned. Once things have settled, we will bring all of us together to officially launch Foundation Dario, our collaborative community of Love!
Our Past Work
Missions Over the Years
Our Missions
Mission # 1 Orphanage in Costa Rica
Mission # 2 Seven Families in Need
Mission # 3 Mitch’s Place Homeless Shelter
Mission # 4 Brenda’s Quinceañera
Mission # 5 Miracle Providers: 35 Children with HIV
Mission # 6 Random Acts of Kindness
Mission # 7 Children’s School in Cambodia
Mission # 8 “Youth on Fire” Homeless LGBTQ Kids
Mission # 9 Displaced Puerto Rican Families in Lawrence
Mission # 10 “Loaves & Fishes” Food Pantry
Mission # 11 Northeast Family Services Homeless Families/Lawrence Public School Children
Mission # 12 St. Stephen’s Youth Programs: “Virtual Teen Internship”
Mission # 13 St. Paul’s Soup Kitchen: “Honoring Rose Bronk”
Mission # 14 Lawrence Public School Homeless Students
Mission # 15 !Si, Se Puede! Program Supporting Kids living in Inner City Housing Community
Mission # 16 “Remembering Barbara’s Love for Others”; Isaiah House
Total Cash Donations for all 15 Missions: $185,497
[Not including individually purchased items]
