Dreams come true

The Beginning When Paul’s parents and siblings died in a plane crash, he became instantly wealthy. He was in a quandary about the money, what to do with it, how to spend it, how much to give to charity, and other things like that. This is a story about what he decided to do, and it was all because of a news article he heard on the television. Paul had always been a dreamer. He dreamed of doing big things in his life. Things that would, to a certain extent, change the world around him. The story about the homeless in the city gave him the impetus he needed. My name is Paul Briggs. My parents were very wealthy and Dad even had his own airplane. Dad, mother, brother, sister all gone, I was he only one of my immediate family left alive. Of course, I have lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins, but basically I was alone in the world at the age of 28. Chapter 1 – Inheritance I received in the will the entire estate of my parents, which included $5 billion in stock in various companies, $450 million in cash, $1 billion in savings, the house which had 18 bedrooms and 20 bathrooms. It also included 50,000 acres of grass and woodlands around the house, and of course the furnishings of the house. We had such a large house because it was the place where holidays happened, like Thanksgiving, Christmas, reunions, and large birthday parties, and funerals. I knew we were rich, but I had no idea of how rich we really were. I was astonished by the amount of cash and other assets that my parents possessed. The house was full this time for a funeral, in fact four of them, for my departed family. While the relatives were there they were very solicitous about my welfare, and were constantly trying to help me with something, when I needed only to be left alone. I think what they really wanted was to know how much money I got in the will, and how they might get their grimy hands on some of it. I was anxious for them all to leave, so I could be alone and think. I also received from the insurance company from the policies my parents had. I received from my dads policy $100 million, from my mothers policy I received $50 million, my brothers policy paid $25 million as did my sisters policy. Chapter 2 – First Steps - A Foundation As I was trying to get my head around the financial situation a few days later, I half heard a story on the ‘always on’ television in the family room of the house. The story was about the homeless situation in our town and across the nation. There was not much I could do about the national problem, but there was a great deal I could do about the local situation. That afternoon I went to see our family attorney, Mark Clements. The purpose of my visit was to explain that I wanted to do something for the homeless in our general neighborhood. God knows I could not spend the fortune I had inherited in 10 lifetimes, and I asked Mark how I should proceed. Mark said, ‘Before you do anything else, you need to set up a non-profit foundation through which all funds will be channeled and all expenses paid. Any escrow accounts you need to set up will be funded by the foundation.’ He asked how much I wanted to initially put in the foundation, and I told him the entire amount of the savings account I had inherited, $1 billion. I told him my ideas about the community I wanted to build for the homeless, as well as my bigger dream of having in the town a large park, a bank, a school and a nursery school, a church with a cemetery, a grocery store, and a medical clinic. Mark also said that I needed to get the property surveyed and a plat map drawn up, showing where the streets would be, the parks, the church, the school, and the clinic, and anything else I …….