About us
About the Howard Crook Foundation
The Howard Crook Foundation, a 501(C)(3) organization, was formed to provide support for three NGOs located near the Kinyamaseke Trading Center in the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains in Western Uganda Africa. Many of the people in this area struggle to meet their daily needs. The NGOs have a multitude of goals that they’re trying to achieve, here are a few of the main ones:
- allow young women/girls to continue their education, through materials & training for the creation of reusable sanitary pads
- (without these basics, girls “stay at home”, during menstruation – girls out-of-school 5+ days, each month)
- vocational training to assist young people gain skills to join the work force & gain a source of income for themselves & their families
- improvement of diets and nutrition through instruction on sustainable agriculture
- providing availability to clean water
Howard knows the members of these NGOs personally from his visits to Uganda over the past 28 years and has contributed as much as he could towards various causes over this period. He started contributing toward the education of young people, toward church building, school building and finally toward getting a supply of clean water for the community. Then between 2013 and 2018 a water system was built, designed by Howard and Karaybo Amos of KARCD, and then built by Amos, using funds provided by Howard. This water system that is now operated by Amos of KARCD, currently supplies clean water to over 2,000 people in the rural area.
In the past few years, two additional NGOs have been growing and developing. These have also been supported by Howard, his son Tom, and others. Now Howard realizes that the needs in this area are greater than he and Tom can meet on their own and thus the Foundation was formed as a 501(C)(3) organization so that they could seek additional help.
The NGOs we are currently supporting (in alphabetical order) are: AVTEC, KARCD, & RWOFCD.
Board of Directors
Thomas R. Crook - President
Not-so-Brief Bio of Tom Crook
I was born and raised in Syracuse, NY and I moved to the Boston, MA area in 1996. A little over a year ago, I had the realization that I’ve lived in “the Boston area” for more than half of my life, which was quite a shock, because I still think of myself as “an upstate New Yorker”. I guess I’m a “Bostonian” now?
I’ve always had a love for wildlife, nature, and adventures of all sorts, which is part of what led to travelling to Africa (Uganda) for the first time, back in 2007. By this time my father (Howard) had travelled to Uganda several times & it was something that he really enjoyed sharing with his friends and family. The trip to Uganda in 2007 was a group of family & close friends, including my wife Marnie, and our 2 sons (Nate-6 & Alex-4 at that time).
During our trip to Uganda in 2007, I developed life-long friendships within the Western Ugandan community & consider myself one minor part of our extended family. Two things become very clear when you travel in the rural areas of Uganda & East Africa. First, many people need some type of support their basic survival and secondly, despite their great needs the people in these communities are so full of warmth & always greet you with a smile and kind words. (& if it’s me, they get a hug too, sorry 😉)
Howard Crook, Nancy & Gary Wilson, the Robinson Elmwood United Church community, myself and lots of our friends and family have been doing our best to support these wonderful people and communities for the past 25+ years. Support has been provided through many projects including: women’s health & social issues, the building of schools, multiple water projects (solar/wells/pumps), tuition & education expenses, agriculture projects, “putting walls & a roof” on a church, and even a fairly large and growing gravity-fed water system.
When we travelled to Uganda in 2022, we decided it was time to formalize our community support in Western Rural Uganda, leading to the creation of the Howard Crook Foundation, Inc. on February 27th 2023. Since the day we arrived back in the USA at the end of August 2022, we have been working on HCF, Inc. To start with it was on a weekly basis via meetings with NGO’s every weekend, the of course, this led to a full-time daily job or “labor of love”.
We welcome you into our growing “extended family”! If your situation allows, and you believe that you might share our goals and aspirations, please “chip in” where you can I personally invite you to join me/us in visiting “your new family” and the communities that we work to support. I guarantee it will be a life-changing event and an experience of a lifetime! ❤️
Howard A. Crook - Treasurer
Brief Bio of Howard Crook
To Be Added
Stacy Baar - Clerk
Brief Bio of Stacy Baar:
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and upon acceptance to the University of California, Berkeley for graduate school, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and have made the area my permanent home.
After a long career in marketing and sales I followed my passion and concern for wildlife and conservation and became a volunteer at the Oakland Zoo. Through my association with the Zoo I had the opportunity to go to Uganda in 2018 and participate in programs that benefit the wildlife and their habitats, as well as, the communities that border the national parks.
Through the associations I have made at the Zoo I was introduced to Tom Crook. I joined Tom on a tour of the humanitarian projects receiving financial support from the Howard Crook Foundation in Uganda. I was very impressed with the work being done by the program participants and inspired to offer assistance to the Ugandan people who face great challenges to improve their standard of living.
Naomi Steiner - Board Member
Brief Bio of Naomi Steiner:
To Be Added