If they don’t know about you, they can’t do anything about you

That was my mantra and motivator when fellow debt collector Craig Antico and I co-founded the public 501(c)(3) charity RIP Medical Debt in January 2014. We had an important tale to tell America. We just didn’t know how to get its attention.

That led to a couple of years of toiling in obscurity until finally, as if by a miracle, RIP and the need to abolish medical debt was brought to America’s television screen. All because John Oliver, of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, decided to “out-Oprah” Oprah.

If you remember, Oprah did a spectacular show in which she gave away $7M worth of cars. Oliver decided to “give away” almost $15M in medical debt to beat that mark. And, while at it, to soundly thrash the debt buying and collections industry.

Since comedians are not allowed to do such a thing, his staff searched for a charity that could legally forgive debt without tax consequences to the recipient. That’s how we came to be on one of his all-time most-watched programs. (Here’s the link).

When Oliver announced the forgiveness (by RIP) of the $15M in medical debt on live TV, punctuating its importance by pounding on a big red button and money floating down from the ceiling…our website crashed.

Finally, people were aware of us, of medical debt and of the importance of debt forgiveness. We never had to search for donations again. Although both Craig were satisfied that we had reached every goal we had set and left RIP behind, by early 2024 our charity had abolished over $7B in debt for nearly eight million Americans.

That feels good.

As fate would have it, Craig and I have circled back and created a new goal. His, through his public benefit corporation ForgiveCo, is to abolish debt in general as a public service. Mine, as a 501(c)(3) charitable private foundation, to see any form of debilitating debt removed from the backs of America’s veterans.

Together, through a year-long national campaign called Debt-Day, to end veteran debt and reduce veteran suicide. The goal is to raise enough in donations through 80 partner veteran organizations, charities, and businesses to cut away $80,000,000 in financial chains and liberate thousands of America’s heroes from sleepless nights and having to choose between putting food on the table or paying a bill collector.

Why $80,000,000, and why 80 organizations? This symbolizes $1M per year per partner for each of the eighty years since that history date of June 6, 1944.

Now that you know about us, would you like to do something with us?