Constable: How a deacon's quest helps cows battle malaria in Uganda
A charity crusader known as "Deacon Don," Arlington Heights' Don Grossnickle works through his recent diagnosis of Stage 4 advanced heart failure by focusing on preventing the deaths of Africans in a small malaria clinic in the town of Jinja, Uganda, along the northern shores of Lake Victoria.
"We walked in and saw six dying mothers and six dying babies. It was really quite heartbreaking," remembers the 68-year-old deacon for Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic Church in Arlington Heights, pausing to control his emotions. "'What more could be done' was on my heart."
Just as malaria is spread by mosquitoes, Grossnickle says his newest charity endeavor is like a bug bite.
"This cause has bitten me, and I can't refuse," says Grossnickle, who has faith that sowing a little publicity will reap rewards for the malaria clinic. "I have to believe this article could get me 15 cows."
Under his "Cows Against Malaria Project" plan, every $800 in donations will be used to buy a milk cow for a Uganda farmer, who will donate 10 percent of proceeds from his dairy to the clinic. Grossnickle ties his effort to the successful Cow Project already underway by a not-for-profit, tax-deductible St. Louis-based charity called MicroFinancing Partners in Africa (microfinancingafrica.org).
Tax-deductible donations earmarked for "Cows Against Malaria Project" can be sent online or mailed to the charity at 4949 Columbia Ave., St. Louis, MO 63139.
With help from his network of friends, Grossnickle recently responded to a phone call from clinic manager Teopista Nakawungu Ssempehwa, whom he calls "Aunt Teo," and raised money to buy a battery-operated microscope so the clinic won't have to study slides of contaminated blood under an ancient microscope by the light of a kerosene lantern.
As with much of his charity work, this project started with prayer, Grossnickle says. A man who was studying in Rome to be a priest reached out to Grossnickle on Facebook, asking for prayers for his brother with malaria in Uganda.
That led to prayers for Grossnickle's daughter, Kristin Erat, who was receiving treatment for breast cancer. Then came a friendship with John Bosco Ssekkomo, a Ugandan studying to become a Catholic priest at the Mundelein Seminary. When Ssekkomo became ordained as a priest, Grossnickle and his fully recovered daughter - Erat, 40, now a principal at a school in the Bronx borough of New York City - traveled to Uganda for the celebration and visited a malaria clinic. That first prayer about malaria led to Grossnickle's latest quest.
It was a simple prayer with football players after a horrific injury in 1999 at a Rolling Meadows High School practice that resulted in Grossnickle leading a community effort that raised $300,000; bought a house for paralyzed teen Rob Komosa; led to the founding of Gridiron Alliance, a charity helping other injured athletes; and saw the establishment of a state law that offered catastrophic insurance for young athletes. Komosa died at age 30 in 2013, but those charitable efforts continue.
"Once you see miracles, the bug really stays with you," says Grossnickle, who started his career as an educator. The second of five boys born to George and Delores Grossnickle grew up on Chicago's Far South Side. The son of a carpenter, Grossnickle became a lifeguard and an Eagle Scout before a college career that included master's and doctoral degrees.
He taught biology for a decade at Palatine High School, served as assistant principal at Conant High School in Hoffman Estates and Addison Trail High School, wrote books and went on speaking tours, talking about motivation, discipline and getting students to reach their potential. He won the Illinois Principals Association's Horace Mann Award in 2002 and was named "Deacon of the Year" in 2006.
Having celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary earlier this month, Grossnickle and his wife, Kathy, have two sons - Erik, 37, an arborist, and Todd, 34, an investment banker - in addition to their daughter.
Grossnickle converted to Catholicism in 1980 and eight years later became ordained as a deacon, which allows him to perform marriages, conduct funerals, serve in other official church duties, and, sometimes, inspire people to do good.
"Everybody out there would like to do something. It's exciting to watch people get excited," says Grossnickle. "Everybody has the potential."
While he's lost 37 pounds, exercising and adhering to a diet, Grossnickle notes that half the people diagnosed with his heart condition of dilated cardiomyopathy die within two years. He says he hopes to receive a better outlook during an important doctor's appointment today.
"This might be my last hurrah," Grossnickle says of his Cows Against Malaria project that has captured his heart. "It's going to be the joke. Deacon Don died of a broken heart. If this project goes, it will outlive me. That's my spirit."