Back in 1941, St. Croix native Claude A. Benjamin declared, “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire,” but turns out he did, first making a small fortune as a world-famous songwriter and then sharing the money with the people of the Virgin Islands.
“Bennie” Benjamin was born in Christiansted in 1907, and moved to New York when he was 20 to make his way first as a musician and then as a songwriter. The “…World on Fire” was the first of decades of smash hits he wrote or co-wrote, including “The Wheel of Fortune,” “Cross Over the Bridge” and “When the Lights Go on Again (All Over the World.)” His songs helped build the careers of a long list of performers in the 1940s, ‘50s, ‘60s, and on into the ‘70s and ‘80s, including Kay Starr, the Ink Spots, Perry Como, Patti Page, Dinah Washington and Nina Simone. Even Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra sang his tunes.
He was married for more than 30 years to Martha Benjamin, who predeceased him, and towards the end of his career, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Before his death in 1989, he made provisions for the creation of the Bennie and Martha Benjamin Foundation to provide medical scholarships and grants to improve health care in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“He never forgot where he came from,” explained David Beale, executive director, who runs the foundation along with Tina Beale, its administrator and grants coordinator. “He wanted to improve the life of his people.”
The contrast between Benjamin’s native and adopted homes was especially great in the last century, and one of the most pronounced differences was in the quality of health care, which is apparently why Benjamin chose that as the focus for his foundation.
An attorney, Beale got involved with the foundation because one of his law partners was Benjamin’s attorney and as the executor of Benjamin’s will was responsible for actually establishing the foundation. It was up and running by 1991, just two years after Benjamin’s death.
In the ensuing 21 years, the foundation has spent more than $1.7 million to improve health care in the territory.
Yet, compared with national and international foundations that manage millions of dollars in funds, “We’re very small,” Beale said. “We can’t afford to just throw money. We have to make every dollar count. We have to be very judicious” in deciding how to donate.
The two visit the Virgin Islands for a week every December, reviewing how past donations were spent and checking on existing and future needs. They also keep in close contact with the “partners” in the community to assess needs.
Originally, they concentrated on assisting people pursuing a medical degree. Tax regulations for the foundation don’t permit scholarships directly to individuals. Besides, “We’re not Virgin Islanders, and we felt that we shouldn’t be the ones to choose the recipients,” Beale said. So the foundation worked through the University of the Virgin Islands and through the hospitals in both island districts. On St. Thomas, the Roy L. Schneider Hospital handled funds through V.I. Partners for Health, and on St. Croix, for the Juan F. Luis Hospital, the St. Croix Benjamin Scholarship Association was formed.
Those associations are still viable, but the foundation has shifted away from scholarships for future doctors.
With a few outstanding exceptions, the Beale’s learned that most of the men and women who went away from the territory for the six or seven years it took to complete their studies ended up putting down roots on the mainland instead of coming home to practice medicine.
“It was very tough to get them to return as they promised,” Beale said. “We had more success with the allied program.”
The foundation has given money for scholarships and advanced studies for nursing students in various fields and for midwives as well as for other medical students. Additionally, it has donated many thousands of dollars for medical equipment.
There is no typical sum. As listed on the foundation website, individual donations have ranged from as little as $750 all the way up to one for $193,000.
The University of the Virgin Islands nursing program, the hospitals on both islands, the Charlotte Kimelman Cancer Institute and the Virgin Islands Cardiac Care Center have received the largest donations over the years. But the foundation also has given mini-grants for specific, health-related projects to several non-governmental, not-for-profit agencies such as the Women’s Coalition, Ten Thousand Helpers of St. Croix, Inc., and HOPE.
In such a targeted approach to philanthropy, it’s not how much money is donated, but how it is donated that determines success.
The Beales said they are most proud of the Nurse Extern Program which has addressed a weakness in their earlier attempts to improve nursing care in the territory.
After investing heavily in UVI’s nursing program early on, they were distressed to watch year after year as its graduates moved to the mainland to take jobs rather than work in the territory’s hospitals. A little investigation uncovered what was long-standing tension between existing hospital nursing staff and UVI nursing students.
To clear the air, the Benjamin Foundation set up a program in which it pays stipends for UVI nursing students to work at the territory’s hospitals between semesters of course study, and be mentored by registered nurses. The students get on-the-job experience and sample various areas of care, and the hospital staff gets badly needed extra help. The result is that more and more nursing graduates are staying in the territory.
“I think we have a 95 percent retention rate,” Beale said. “We turned it around.”
Since 2010, the foundation has invested some $138,000 in the Nurse Extern Programs, according to figures Tina Beale provided. That’s in addition to $46,000 for advanced nursing scholarships, $30,000 worth of scholarships for medical students, $95,000 for training equipment and material to UVI, and $20,000 in small donations to various non-profits.
Information on contributions prior to 2010 and more history about Bennie Benjamin and his foundation are online at www.benniebenjaminfoundation.org
