Life Lessons from the Ocean's Water: Davon Green Franklin Foundation: April 2017

Saturday, April 29, 2017

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

For more information contact:

Inez Franklin

P.O. Box 47223

Baltimore, Maryland 21244

Phone: 443.847.8061

Email: dgffoundation@gmail.com

The Davon Green Franklin Foundation: Legacy Gala

The DGF Legacy Gala will be held at the Grey Rock Mansion in Pikesville, Maryland on July 14, 2018 at 7:00 p.m-11 p.m. The cost for this event is $100.00 and a portion of the ticket is tax-deductible. Sponsorships are available.

The annual DGF Legacy Celebration honors outstanding high school students, individuals for their work with the foundation, and community leaders. Funds raised for this year’s gala will support the continued work of the DGF Foundation. The DGF Foundation will use funds raised from this year’s gala to award scholarships to high school graduates entering college and undergraduate college students.

Mission: The Davon Green Franklin Foundation’s 501 (c) (3) driving goal is to help ensure that United States citizens understand the hidden dangers associated with international travel. The mission of the foundation is to promote safety and wellness to individuals that desire to travel abroad.

Vision: The Davon Green Franklin Foundation’s vision is to create travel safety awareness in the community and throughout the United States, by providing individuals with information that will help to prevent international deaths, injuries, and incidents of violence.

What we do:

The Davon Green Franklin Foundation recognizes students from Western School of Technology and Environmental Science for academic excellence. The student is presented the Davon Green Franklin Legacy Award & Scholarship. The Davon Green Franklin Foundation partners with Howard University each year to promote public awareness through “Surviving Spring Break – 101”, a program designed to reduce the incidents of Spring Break tragedies. The parents of Davon Green Franklin have shared their son’s story, “Turning Tragedy into Triumph” while navigating through the cycle of grief. This workshop offers ways to help families remember their loved one, promote healing, and to never forget that their loved one’s life still has value.

To find out more information about the Davon Green Franklin Foundation, visit www.dgffoundation.org.

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Thursday, April 20, 2017

Davon Green Franklin's Story

The Davon Green Franklin Foundation (501 (c3) was founded in an effort to help United States citizens understand the hidden dangers associated with international travel. In 2012, the U.S. State Department assisted the survivors of nearly 11,000 U.S. citizens by notifying next of kin, helping with returning the body and keeping the family informed of any investigations. Unfortunately, as the parents of Davon, we know all too well what can happen when faced with the news that your loved one has died abroad.

On March 14, 2010, our son, Davon Green- Franklin suffered a medical emergency while swimming and died while on spring break in Cancun, Mexico. Davon was an experienced swimmer and only twenty-two years old at the time of his passing. Over the years, we have had to rely on the details of others and an American life guard who was a passerby. One thing for certain, there are always two versions; Mexico's version and the truth. One person's accounts was that Davon was fearful as he looked towards the shoreline and did not see anyone arriving to render him aid. One of the individuals stated that one member of the group ran down the beach looking for a "life guard". The other two individuals with Davon stated that they helped to keep him above water until he finally slipped under the water due to exhaustion. When they pulled Davon back up; he was unconscious. In fact, Davon had died by the time a "life-guard" was located. He had been in the water for over three minutes waiting for help to arrive. The individual's shared with me that they were verbally harassed by the authorities while in Cancun, Mexico. We were also told that they were sent back to round up $600.00 in order to have Davon transported to the nearest hospital. One of the students stated that she felt intimidated by the police officers because they showed no immediacy.

In less than thirty minutes of learning of my son’s death, I was a victim of the same sort of harassment. I was called by an individual that attempted to get my credit card information and checking account routing numbers to pay for medical bills. It was only after carefully listening to the individual that I realized that the gentleman was attempting to scam me. The doctors at Ameri-Med Hospital told us that Davon had been on life-support and that was not the truth. They stated that he was placed in a specialized treatment area. It had been reported to me that Davon stayed in the same location of the hospital and was never moved to another location. When the hospital officials were probed by a United States attorney, they scratched out the life-support fees and quickly sent the bill back for payment. The individuals at the hospital were only concerned about their payments. The hospital officials never offered our family one moment of sympathy.

It would take days before the U.S. Consular in Mexico to even establish contact with my family. Davon’s death was largely attributed to human error, gross negligence, and the fact that there were not enough life-guards on the beach, nor were there any rescue devices nearby. In my opinion, Mexico has a blatant disregard for human rights and human dignity. We believe that Davon's death was PREVENTABLE!

Davon exchanged several tweets with a few of his Twitter followers, but his most chilling tweet was Life Lessons from the Ocean Water: The waves will pull you out further before they take you back to shore.

Davon expected that help would arrive and that he would resume his life as normal instead; we are faced with dealing with a “new normal”. This “new normal would be a life with our beloved son. Since Davon’s passing, we have found out that there were thirty-two United States citizens that died in Mexico for the month of March 2010.

Davon attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. He was a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, Howard University Student Government, and a member of the Howard University Campus Pals. In his community, he served as a minister and mentor.

On May 8, 2010, my husband and I proudly accepted his degree posthumously from Howard University alongside many of Davon’s family members and friends. Our response to our son’s death has been to rise up and answer the call to shed light on our son’s story in an effort to save others. A few weeks after Davon’s passing, with the assistance of a few of Davon's friends, I developed a presentation entitled, “Surviving Spring Break 101”. This presentation has empowered individuals with knowledge and resources to best protect themselves in the event they choose to travel internationally during spring break. At the conclusion of the presentation, students are given the opportunity to take the Surviving Spring Break pledge and they are issued pledge cards to keep in their wallets and purses.

The Davon Green Franklin Foundation, Incorporated was established in an effort to help warn others of the impending dangers of international travel. The Surviving Spring Break campaign has a yearly kick-off at Howard University. The program has been widely received at Maryland Institute College of Arts (MICA) Stevenson University, Towson University, Tulane University, Dillard, Morgan State University, Community College of Baltimore County- Catonsville, Coppin State University and University of Maryland –Baltimore County.

In 2010, the Davon Green Franklin Legacy Award & Scholarship fund was established in order to fulfill Davon's vision. Since Davon's untimely death, we have been saving lives and awarding scholarships in Davon's memory.

Life Lessons from the Ocean Water: The waves will pull you out further before they take you back to shore.

If you are interested in learning more about the Davon Green Franklin Foundation or to donate visit: www.dgffoundation.org

Facebook: Davon Green Franklin Foundation

Twitter: dgffoundation

You are invited to join us for an evening of food, fun, and bowling for only $25! All lanes will open at 7:00 p.m. We are also looking for individuals to sponsor each lane for a cost of $250 per lane. Since November 2010, family, friends, and community partners have helped the Davon Green Franklin Foundation to raise funds for the DGF Legacy Award & Scholarship and the Surviving Spring Break 101 program. The DGF Foundation is committed to helping individuals to understand the hidden dangers and vulnerabilities associated with international travel.https://www.eventbrite.com/e/davon-green-franklin-2017-legacy-bowling-night-tickets-36735212008?aff=erelexpmlt

Donations can be mailed to:

DGF Foundation (501c3)

P.O. Box 47223

Baltimore, Md. 21244

Thursday, April 13, 2017

The Davon Green Franklin Foundation is Here to Help

While most Americans can pick-up and travel abroad without a care in the world, the risks of international travel are real. Although, you don't hear much about the non-natural deaths of United States citizens while they are traveling abroad on the local news, the numbers are staggering. The statistics are alarming and do warrant travelers to pause, research their travel destination, and begin thinking about safety precautions before they leave the United States.

Mission: The Davon Green Franklin Foundation’s driving goal is to help ensure that United States citizens understand the hidden dangers associated with international travel. The mission of the foundation is to promote safety and wellness to individuals that desire to travel abroad.

What we do:

The Davon Green Franklin Foundation partners with Howard University each year to promote public awareness through “Surviving Spring Break – 101”, a program designed to reduce the incidents of Spring Break tragedies. This program has actively engaged students at Howard University, Coppin State University, Morgan State University, Tulane University, Dillard University Towson University, Stevenson University, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Maryland Institutes of College of Art and the Community College of Baltimore County-Catonsville. Students are also given the opportunity to take the Surviving Spring Break pledge. “I pledge to refuse, reduce, and remove all risks associated with Spring Break.”

The parents of Davon Green Franklin have shared their son’s story, “Turning Tragedy into Triumph” while navigating through the cycle of grief. This workshop offers ways to help families remember their loved one, promote healing, and to never forget that their loved one’s life still has value.

The Davon Green Franklin Foundation is working with community leaders, community organizers, churches and civic organizations to help warn individuals about the key problems areas of international travel.

For more information or to donate visit: www.dgffoundation.org

Donations can be mailed to:

DGF Foundation (501c3)

P.O. Box 47223

Baltimore, Md. 21244