Last week, I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform in Nationals Park in Washington D.C., in one of the last shows of their “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour. I’ve been a Bruce Springsteen fan for almost fifty years and have seen him in concert many times. It was an amazing show…. Read more »
Author: Bruce DeBoskey
Bruce DeBoskey is a Colorado-based philanthropic strategist working with The DeBoskey Group to help businesses, families and foundations design and implement thoughtful philanthropic strategies and actionable plans. He is the president of the Colorado Philanthropic Advisors Network, a teaching fellow with Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship and a frequent speaker at conferences on philanthropy.
If Not Now, When?
Hillel the Elder, born in 110 BCE, wrote: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” That quote has motivated people for centuries to look inward, view outward, and act. In my lifetime, it has never been… Read more »
Healing Without Harm: Ending Aggressive Medical Debt Collection
No one should lose their paycheck, their savings, or their home because they got sick. Medical debt from hospital and doctor visits is driving millions of Americans into financial distress—and Colorado is no exception. A recent study led by Stanford Medicine calls medical debt itself a public health crisis: about 100 million Americans carry… Read more »
Senator Hubert Humphrey Told Me So
It was 1964. With my parents’ support, I volunteered to work on the campaign to elect Lyndon Johnson as President of the United States and Senator Hubert Humphrey as Vice President. One morning, seated with other volunteers at a long table in campaign headquarters in my hometown of South Bend, Indiana, we were busy stuffing… Read more »
“It’s been a wonderful life.”
I first met José (“Joe”) Trujillo in 1995, two months after his accident. He was forty-eight years old, lying in ICU, wrapped in white gauze except for a small opening so he could breathe. He was halfway through a four-month medically induced coma. At the time, I was a trial lawyer, sometimes representing catastrophically injured… Read more »
My Father Didn’t Go to War for This.
My father, Captain Gordon DeBoskey, spent over two years in Europe during World War II. He helped lead a field hospital that, during the war, provided front line medical treatment to wounded soldiers, and, after the war, liberated and provided medical care to prisoners in Nazi labor camps. In both settings, he witnessed the unspeakable horrors… Read more »
Insist. Resist. Assist. Persist. Do Not Desist.
For the majority of American voters who cast their ballots last fall for someone other than the Republican candidate for President, it has been a challenging and unnerving time. Many of us – including me – have not known what to do, or say, in the face of unprecedented assaults on our constitution, democracy, safety,… Read more »
2nd Right Wing Playbook Even Scarier than Project 2025?
Several months ago, the details of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 came to light. It was written about widely; my discussion of it can be found here: If you’re not Scared yet (and even if you are), read this. Project 2025, a roadmap for a right wing and extremist takeover of the federal government if Trump is… Read more »
Bruce Springsteen’s Wise Words in 2012 and 2024
Last week, I was driving in my car, and I turned on the radio. I heard Bruce Springsteen talking about our country in ways I hadn’t heard before. I learned that the date of Springsteen’s remarks was October 18, 2012, made at a rally in Ohio in support of President Obama’s reelection. Here are highlights of… Read more »
A U.S. Senator, America’s wilderness, and critical Senate, House, and state races
This summer, I went on a 6-day white-water rafting trip in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho. It was an extraordinary trip in one of the most beautiful, unspoiled, and inspiring places in our country. Thankfully, there are many such places. Frank Church served as Idaho’s U.S. Senator from 1957 to… Read more »