Message from Ken Krantz

 Founder & CEO of Barakel Foundation

 My doctors, family and medical friends advised me not to leave the country for at least one year.  Not heeding their advise …..or you may call it….having  “Selective Hearing”….. I left with a good antibiotic and departed out of Jacksonville, FL on April 9^th, 2010.   As American flight 803 departed Miami International for Port Au Prince, Haiti for the short 1-1/2 hour flight, I was thinking about the possibility of making a decision that would affect the rest of my life.  My trip was a fact finding mission to try and make a decision to move an operation of our 12 year old Barakel Foundation (NGO) into Haiti to help with the rebuilding effort.

Seven weeks earlier I finished my last of 39 Proton Radiation treatments for Prostate Cancer.  After being diagnosed in the fall of 2009, my urologist stated that the decision to what type of treatment to undergo was mine to make….not my doctors, friends…or family.  I was advised to research the various types of available treatments and make a decision that would give me the best quality of life over the next fifteen years and not for the short term.  My decision was Proton Radiation Therapy which involved 3 months of 5 days a week treatment which meant traveling to 1 of the 5 centers located within the United States. 

The first Proton facility in the country was LOMA LINDA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER  in California followed by The University of Texas MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER which is considered one of the best cancer centers in the Country.  To my surprise….the best and most advanced Proton center in the World was opened in the fall of 2006.  The UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA PROTON THERAPY INSTITIUE located in my home town of Jacksonville, Florida.  My treatment has had no adverse side affects and no long range problems are anticipated.   I am now “Cancer Free”..…..Praise the Lord.

I share the above personal story because the decision to establish,  not only our Foundation into Haiti but, also many assets of our construction business, is personal and also is a serious commitment.  A decision that will affect the rest on my life and the lives of my family.   My wife of 48 years, our children,  most of our 8 teenage grandchildren and close associates  are cautiously in favor of making the commitment of moving forward.   Spreading the Gospel and saving lives is what life is all about.

 Whoever destroys a single life is as guilty as though he had destroyed the entire world; and whoever rescues a single life earns as much merit as though he had rescued the entire world.

 --The Talmud, Mishna

I believe that the Lord is directing me to go forward.  Many well-intended people ask me ….well where are you going to get the millions of dollars it is going to take to get the job done?    My response to them is…. “It’s my job to go forward and start the work with the talents I have..…..It’s God’s problem to come up with the money…After all He is God and owns it all anyway.”