Latest / Money to Give / Ep. 52 Saving The Freedom Frigate: The Hermione’s Mission To Unite France And America with Marc Onetto and Domitille Marchal Lemoine

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Ep. 52 Saving The Freedom Frigate: The Hermione’s Mission To Unite France And America with Marc Onetto and Domitille Marchal Lemoine · Money to Give

0:05
Speaker 1: How do you save a piece of history and why
0:07
Speaker 1: does it matter so deeply to both sides of the Atlantic.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to Money to Give with me Rick Peck, the
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Speaker 1: philanthropy guy with over twenty years in the nonprofit sector.
0:16
Speaker 1: I've seen hundreds of millions of dollars transferred from donors
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Speaker 1: to nonprofits. I've learned a lot along the way that
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Speaker 1: I want to help convey to you, my loyal listeners.
0:26
Speaker 1: In this podcast series, we talk about one how nonprofits
0:29
Speaker 1: can most effectively showcase their mission and vision and raise
0:32
Speaker 1: as much money as possible. Two how donors and potential
0:36
Speaker 1: donors can make the greatest impact possible in the world,
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Speaker 1: and three how professional advisors, including philanthropic advisors, can offer
0:43
Speaker 1: the most up to date information and services to their clients.
0:47
Speaker 1: So join us here each episode from more of that
0:49
Speaker 1: giving feeling. In this episode, we explore a story of alliance, courage,
0:54
Speaker 1: and generosity that stretches across centuries. The Armillon, known as
0:59
Speaker 1: La fraguet de la Libertae or the Freedom Frigate, carried
1:04
Speaker 1: Marquis de Lafayette to America in seventeen eighty to bring
1:07
Speaker 1: France's support to the American Revolution. My guests Mark Annetto
1:12
Speaker 1: and Domatil Martial Lemoyne share how a modern replica of
1:16
Speaker 1: this legendary ship now needs our help, not just to
1:20
Speaker 1: preserve history, but to rekindle the spirit of generosity that
1:24
Speaker 1: first united France and the United States. From the heroic
1:28
Speaker 1: legacy of Lafayette to today's urgent campaign to repair and
1:32
Speaker 1: relaunch the Hermion, we'll discover how philanthropy once again has
1:36
Speaker 1: the power to bring nations, communities, and people together. Let's begin, Mark.
1:46
Speaker 1: This question is for you as we celebrate the two
1:50
Speaker 1: hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the independence of the United States.
1:54
Speaker 1: Why is the Ermion such an important symbol and what
1:57
Speaker 1: does it symbolize for French American history today?
2:01
Speaker 2: Leermion is known in France as la Fregette de la Liberte,
2:07
Speaker 2: the Freedom Frigate, and she's known as such because she
2:10
Speaker 2: played It's a ship which played an essential role in
2:15
Speaker 2: the success of the American Revolution. She is the ship
2:19
Speaker 2: who brought Lafayette back to America in seventeen eighty. Lafayette
2:25
Speaker 2: first trip to America was when he was very young.
2:29
Speaker 2: He was nineteen years old when, as a crazy young kid,
2:32
Speaker 2: he decided to go and help the American Revolution. And
2:36
Speaker 2: he had to even buy his own passage the first
2:39
Speaker 2: time on a ship, who had to live from Spain
2:43
Speaker 2: because his parents and the French king did don't want
2:45
Speaker 2: him to go to America. This young kid arrived in
2:49
Speaker 2: America and managed to meet George Washington and kind of
2:54
Speaker 2: saied you se him by his enthusiasm, and then more
2:57
Speaker 2: than just that, he fought very bravely at the Battle
3:01
Speaker 2: of Brandyvine in September seventeen seventy seven. He was wounded there,
3:07
Speaker 2: but he showed a lot of courage in rallying the
3:10
Speaker 2: troops during the retreat. In fact, Brandyvine is a defeat
3:15
Speaker 2: for the American revolution. Washington was really impressed by this
3:19
Speaker 2: young man and promoted him to major general. So it's
3:22
Speaker 2: the only Frenchman who ever made general of the US Army.
3:26
Speaker 2: How and then so he stayed with the American revolutionary
3:31
Speaker 2: and he convinced Washington that in seventeen seventy nine January
3:36
Speaker 2: seventeen seventeen, and let me return back to France. Lafayette
3:40
Speaker 2: was a very connected young man. He was from a
3:42
Speaker 2: rich family, had all sorts of political connection, particularly the
3:46
Speaker 2: mystery of FORI NFL, who was kind of the guy
3:49
Speaker 2: deciding what was going on on this, And so he
3:51
Speaker 2: went back to France and went to work with Benjamin Franklin,
3:55
Speaker 2: who was the envoy, not yet the ambassador because it
3:58
Speaker 2: was not a country yet, but envoy of the American
4:02
Speaker 2: revolutionaries to France. And they worked together and thanks to
4:07
Speaker 2: lafayette connections and Benjamin franklin charm with many French ladies,
4:12
Speaker 2: they managed to convince the king to send help for
4:17
Speaker 2: the American Revolution. So by now Lafayette was officially authorized
4:22
Speaker 2: to go back to America now as an official envoy
4:25
Speaker 2: of France, and so the French Navy gave him the
4:30
Speaker 2: best ship they had at the time because the Royal Navy,
4:34
Speaker 2: the UK, the English Navy was blockading American ports, and
4:40
Speaker 2: so the French Navy gave the brand new ship a frigate,
4:44
Speaker 2: which is kind of a mid sized worship. But this
4:47
Speaker 2: one was very special because it was the first French
4:50
Speaker 2: ship equipped with what's called copper sheathing, which is when
4:55
Speaker 2: you covered the hull with copper plates. Now you did
4:58
Speaker 2: this because like at barnacles and worms would not attack
5:03
Speaker 2: the ship rull and the ship would be much faster.
5:06
Speaker 2: In fact, it was the fastest ship in the French navy,
5:10
Speaker 2: and that was how Lafayette was able to go through
5:14
Speaker 2: the blockade and reach Boston in late April seventeen eighty. Wow.
5:20
Speaker 2: And then he went to see George Washington and he
5:23
Speaker 2: gave him the good news a French fleet, complete fleet
5:26
Speaker 2: under the grass and an army division under Rochambeau would
5:31
Speaker 2: come to assist. So indeed, that's why the Armion is
5:35
Speaker 2: called the Freedom Frigate. Wow, Tela liberte, thank you for
5:40
Speaker 2: that story. The Armion stayed on the American side under
5:47
Speaker 2: Capitain Latouche Treville, that was his name, and fought several
5:51
Speaker 2: sea battles against the Royal Navy during the Revolutionary War.
5:56
Speaker 2: So she contributed also just not bring the good news
6:01
Speaker 2: that the French troops will come, but I also contributed
6:04
Speaker 2: physically to the end victory at Yorktown.
6:08
Speaker 1: Wow. That is a fantastic story and probably a slice
6:12
Speaker 1: of American history that a lot of people don't know about.
6:16
Speaker 2: Many American people know that the French came. I think
6:19
Speaker 2: the name of Rouchiambo is quite famous in America. But
6:22
Speaker 2: you're right, I mean, but of course, the rule of
6:24
Speaker 2: the ship is not as well known, right, it's kind
6:27
Speaker 2: of a fun name.
6:28
Speaker 1: How important this ship is back then. I mean a
6:30
Speaker 1: ship was as you described, how well built it is
6:32
Speaker 1: made a huge difference versus something that was more shodily
6:35
Speaker 1: built exactly.
6:37
Speaker 3: Yeah.
6:37
Speaker 1: Wow, well thank you for that. Now adding to this story,
6:42
Speaker 1: a replica of the original Emion was built in France.
6:47
Speaker 1: So can you give us more details on this frigate?
6:50
Speaker 2: Yes, So the original one was built, as I said,
6:54
Speaker 2: in seventeen seventy nine, round in a navy shipyard on
6:57
Speaker 2: the west coast of France, which was a establish during
7:00
Speaker 2: the reign of really the fourteenth the king, you know,
7:02
Speaker 2: the grandfather of the king at the time, and this
7:05
Speaker 2: was a very special place. It was dedicated to be
7:09
Speaker 2: the navy shipyard for the French fleet because you know,
7:12
Speaker 2: the French government that decided that the needed to develop
7:15
Speaker 2: a fleet to compete with England. So they even built
7:19
Speaker 2: a forest for it also, you know, to have the
7:22
Speaker 2: trees necessary to build these ships. It's kind of fun
7:25
Speaker 2: to know, by the way, that this forest today is
7:27
Speaker 2: mostly used to build Cognac barrels because it's not very
7:30
Speaker 2: on the town of Cognacts. Still high quality would yea.
7:34
Speaker 2: Also another interesting anecdote about this forest. It is the
7:39
Speaker 2: forest that has been used to repair the roof of
7:42
Speaker 2: Notre Dame after the fire wow, because the roof of
7:46
Speaker 2: a church is more or less a whole of a
7:49
Speaker 2: ship the other way around, and they had the right
7:51
Speaker 2: wood there. So anyway, this shipyard was the main, one
7:55
Speaker 2: of the main, perhaps one of the two main shipyards
7:58
Speaker 2: in the French Kingdom. But then over time this town
8:02
Speaker 2: called Rochefort was becoming you know, abandoned or more or
8:06
Speaker 2: less until the early mid seventies, nineteen seventies, when a mayor,
8:13
Speaker 2: an ambitious mayor decided, you know, I've got all these
8:15
Speaker 2: beautiful buildings, because they really built incredible building. There is
8:18
Speaker 2: a famous cordery where they made the ropes, which is
8:23
Speaker 2: like three hundred meters long because to make the ropes, okay, so,
8:27
Speaker 2: and it was all built, you know, at that time,
8:29
Speaker 2: in the classical style, nearly like Versailles Palace, right right.
8:32
Speaker 2: So what they this mayor did is said, oh, I'm
8:35
Speaker 2: going to renovate all this building and make it a
8:39
Speaker 2: tourist destination in France or in Europe, and which is
8:43
Speaker 2: what he did. And so they cleared up the dry dogs,
8:47
Speaker 2: you know, all that stuff, and then a bunch of
8:50
Speaker 2: people said, oh, but now that we have the shipyard,
8:53
Speaker 2: why don't we build a ship there like they did
8:58
Speaker 2: two hundred years before. And of course, in a way,
9:02
Speaker 2: la Fregat de Liberte the Freedom Frigate Lafayette's boat was
9:07
Speaker 2: perhaps the most famous of all the ships built there.
9:10
Speaker 2: So that's how these people decided we're going to build
9:14
Speaker 2: a replica, an exact replica of arm Young. Now, the
9:19
Speaker 2: original one was built in eight months because you know,
9:22
Speaker 2: at the time there was manpower and everything. It took
9:24
Speaker 2: about ten years of how worked to build the new
9:27
Speaker 2: one because it was, you know, all financed by donation,
9:31
Speaker 2: and then most people were volunteer. And then even we
9:34
Speaker 2: had to relearn how did they build the ships at
9:37
Speaker 2: the time. Right, it's kind of fun to know, in fact,
9:41
Speaker 2: that the plans of the ermioon itself, the drawings were
9:45
Speaker 2: lost during the French Revolution. But the English had captured
9:50
Speaker 2: a sister ship of armiong front name called Concord, which
9:54
Speaker 2: became the name of the Franco English plane much later.
9:57
Speaker 2: Because the British Navy was really worried about this friendship
10:00
Speaker 2: the Cucoso Fast. And so it's funny to know that
10:03
Speaker 2: it is Royal Navy who gave back the plan of
10:07
Speaker 2: the ship that brought Lafayette back to America.
10:10
Speaker 1: Right, you wouldn't expect that, and we used as plans
10:12
Speaker 1: to build it.
10:14
Speaker 2: It took a while, but finally, after ten years, the
10:17
Speaker 2: Amune was finally ready to sail. In twenty fourteen, she
10:22
Speaker 2: was ready to sell under the command of a professional
10:24
Speaker 2: of professional officers, including some coming from the French Navy
10:29
Speaker 2: and a captain that had gone around the world in
10:32
Speaker 2: big sailboats, and she became the largest square rigger operating
10:40
Speaker 2: in the twenty fifth century. A square rigger means that
10:43
Speaker 2: the sails are perpendicular to the hull. That's what's called
10:47
Speaker 2: a square riga, which was the way ships were built
10:49
Speaker 2: at the time. As you know, it's not a very
10:50
Speaker 2: efficient way to go against the wind. Right, was the
10:53
Speaker 2: way worships were built at the time. She's sixty five
10:56
Speaker 2: meter long, which is two hundred and fifteen feet. The
10:59
Speaker 2: mast height ise hundred and fifty five feet. Imagine, okay, wow.
11:03
Speaker 2: It weighs about twelve hundred metric ton, which is about
11:06
Speaker 2: thirteen hundred tons in America. It's got two anchors. Each
11:10
Speaker 2: anchor is like more than three thousand pound each. It's
11:15
Speaker 2: got twenty eight guns, which are of course reproduction. One
11:18
Speaker 2: of them is interesting, really, one of them is a
11:20
Speaker 2: real gun of the time that we found in a
11:22
Speaker 2: museum somewhere.
11:23
Speaker 1: Wow.
11:24
Speaker 2: There is seventeen sales. There is twenty one hundred mills
11:28
Speaker 2: scametor so twenty two thousand feet of sale. Imagine twenty
11:32
Speaker 2: five kilometer likes like sixteen miles of ropes, and a
11:36
Speaker 2: thousand police to operate the ship. It's an incredible ship. Wow.
11:41
Speaker 2: She needs a crew of seventy five people to just
11:46
Speaker 2: the sailors. Okay, the guys that go up, you know,
11:49
Speaker 2: the monkeys that go up. The sales out there unbelievable.
11:52
Speaker 2: Of course, nowadays there is a lifeline. At the time
11:55
Speaker 2: it was not right. But it's a very interesting who
11:59
Speaker 2: will speak about the crew, okay. So, and in twenty
12:03
Speaker 2: fifteen she made a first real big trip and she
12:06
Speaker 2: came back to America.
12:08
Speaker 1: Wow.
12:09
Speaker 2: And she took four months and eleven days and she
12:13
Speaker 2: was welcomed on June two, twenty fifteen by the USS Mitcheder,
12:19
Speaker 2: which is a destroyer and there is a beautiful exchange
12:23
Speaker 2: between the American captain wishing welcome back to Lafayette and
12:28
Speaker 2: the French captain of course thanking the mystery, and you know,
12:31
Speaker 2: the ex change, gun salute and all the stuff you
12:33
Speaker 2: do in the navy. Right, and then she sailed all
12:37
Speaker 2: across the East coast of America. She began, of course,
12:40
Speaker 2: in Yorktown to celebrate Victoria.
12:43
Speaker 1: Appropriately.
12:44
Speaker 2: She went up. She passed in front of Mount Vernon
12:47
Speaker 2: to salute George Washington, Lafayette, American mentor more than that.
12:52
Speaker 2: I don't know if you know, but Lafayete named his
12:53
Speaker 2: son Washington. Oh, I didn't know that. And then she
12:58
Speaker 2: perhaps the most moving moment. And there is a picture
13:00
Speaker 2: if you want to look at it in she arrived
13:03
Speaker 2: in the New York Harbor on July four, twenty fifty,
13:07
Speaker 2: and she passed in front of Miss Liberty, big French
13:11
Speaker 2: and American flag, and the title of the New York
13:14
Speaker 2: Times today was the two most beautiful gifts of France
13:18
Speaker 2: to America, Lafayette and Miss Liberty. Yes, very cool, that
13:24
Speaker 2: very good story. And she was escorted by all these
13:27
Speaker 2: beautiful other boats, you know, with French and American flag. Wow.
13:31
Speaker 2: She finally went to Boston where the in fact, the
13:34
Speaker 2: original Ermion was repaired in seventeen eighty during the war
13:39
Speaker 2: when she was there. So Boston is a special harbor
13:42
Speaker 2: for all. There was all sorts of reception, parade, eighteenth
13:46
Speaker 2: century uniforms, patriots, you know that kind of thing, right,
13:51
Speaker 2: And she finally went back, but she even stopped in
13:54
Speaker 2: a little piece of France which is still exists in
13:57
Speaker 2: North America. There are two islands in the history of
14:00
Speaker 2: the Saint Lawrence River called Sat. Pierre and Niccoloon, which
14:04
Speaker 2: the last two French territories in North America really of
14:08
Speaker 2: the French Republic. So she did a complete loop and
14:11
Speaker 2: went back to France.
14:12
Speaker 1: Wow, that's a terrific story. Thank you for giving us
14:15
Speaker 1: all that history. I mean, it's so much there, so
14:17
Speaker 1: much richness. And again as an American, I appreciate that relationship,
14:22
Speaker 1: that bond that France has with America. And it's you know,
14:25
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen and now twenty twenty six all coming back
14:29
Speaker 1: together in a very important time. So thank you for
14:32
Speaker 1: all that history. I'm going to ask you both a
14:35
Speaker 1: question right now, why, And I think we might know
14:38
Speaker 1: the answer, but you can underline this for us. Why
14:40
Speaker 1: is there an urgent need of fundraise for the Amion today?
14:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it was always of course I hope to
14:47
Speaker 2: bring the Abide back in twenty twenty six to celebrate
14:50
Speaker 2: the two hundred and fifty erths anniversary. So she sailed
14:53
Speaker 2: for many years in France, in Europe, in many big
14:56
Speaker 2: sale orndevous you know where there is this big rendezvous
14:58
Speaker 2: of great sailboats, you know. Yeah. But then unfortunately in
15:02
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one, so four years ago, the fungus attacked
15:07
Speaker 2: via muone. A hall inspection down in spring twenty twenty
15:13
Speaker 2: one reveal fragility in the sidings, the wood sidings of
15:19
Speaker 2: the boat. The boat doesn't have the copper sheeting anymore.
15:22
Speaker 2: There is copper paint now to protect okay, but the
15:26
Speaker 2: wood was attacked by some form of a fungus, which
15:30
Speaker 2: is a wood fungus. It comes from an insects quite complicated.
15:35
Speaker 2: So we found we found a dry dock. We had
15:38
Speaker 2: to put her. We could not put her in Rochefort.
15:40
Speaker 2: We put her in the southwest of France, in the
15:42
Speaker 2: town near a town called Bayonne, which is just at
15:45
Speaker 2: the corner between French and Spain. And there we did
15:48
Speaker 2: a lot of further inspection and we found that the
15:51
Speaker 2: fungus was really attacking even the solid wood structures in
15:55
Speaker 2: the stern and the bow of the ship, and that's
15:58
Speaker 2: a real issue. So a major project was launched to
16:02
Speaker 2: saber using the most competent contractors in France. In fact,
16:07
Speaker 2: again it's kind of fun to know that it includes
16:09
Speaker 2: the contractor that was selected to work on redoing the
16:14
Speaker 2: wood roof of Notre Dame because of their expertise in
16:19
Speaker 2: forming those woods. You see what I mean, because you
16:21
Speaker 2: take three and you have to form it to make
16:24
Speaker 2: the shape of the hull. And they did. You know,
16:26
Speaker 2: they did a very good work. They took about twenty
16:30
Speaker 2: percent of the cover of the cover of the boat.
16:33
Speaker 2: The wood covers out forty cubic meters of wood were
16:38
Speaker 2: to be replaced, which is a lot, but they did
16:41
Speaker 2: a super job. They did complete all the stern work,
16:44
Speaker 2: so the stern of the ship is completely repaired.
16:47
Speaker 1: Great.
16:48
Speaker 2: Our work is still going on. They're using technology now
16:52
Speaker 2: to even improve the future of Ermione and they use
16:56
Speaker 2: instead of using solid wood, which is a for the fungus,
17:01
Speaker 2: they use stratified word slice of word and then in
17:06
Speaker 2: between there is slice of some form of a material
17:10
Speaker 2: from plastic and the advantage of stratified it's a little
17:13
Speaker 2: easier to form. But also very importantly, the fungus cannot
17:18
Speaker 2: go through the plastic and therefore there is no risk
17:22
Speaker 2: of a major attack.
17:24
Speaker 1: It's a line of defense.
17:25
Speaker 2: It's a line of defense exactly. So of course this
17:29
Speaker 2: is you know, an expensive repair the Ermion. There is
17:35
Speaker 2: an association a little like a five or one seat
17:37
Speaker 2: wee equivalent in France who owns the Ermion and they
17:43
Speaker 2: pay for the repair and they collect donation in order
17:47
Speaker 2: to repair. We are up to now have collected about
17:52
Speaker 2: six million dollars of repair work and we have spent
17:55
Speaker 2: it on the stern repair and beginning the bow repair.
18:00
Speaker 2: The need for another about five million dollars to finish
18:03
Speaker 2: the repay. Okay, this is why we need to find
18:06
Speaker 2: people in America also who can help us and think
18:10
Speaker 2: that's a great cause. And I'm going to now let
18:13
Speaker 2: Domitee explain to you to us how we do this
18:16
Speaker 2: collection of fonts.
18:17
Speaker 1: That sounds great, Thank you so much for all that
18:19
Speaker 1: mark coming here.
18:21
Speaker 2: Yees so so.
18:22
Speaker 3: In fact, the replica of the Armion who was only funded,
18:26
Speaker 3: as Mark explained, through fund raising the first one. And
18:31
Speaker 3: it's not something public, which is quite rare in France
18:35
Speaker 3: where everything is funded by the government. So we need
18:40
Speaker 3: we actually need this money now to repair the Amion.
18:43
Speaker 3: And there is an urgent need in fact to get
18:45
Speaker 3: this money, as the ship cannot stay on dry dog
18:49
Speaker 3: for too long or she will not be able to
18:52
Speaker 3: sail again. So there is a kind of urgency not
18:56
Speaker 3: only because we would like, as a Mark mentioned, to
18:59
Speaker 3: see them on side back to the United States and
19:03
Speaker 3: be part of many, many events in the next years,
19:08
Speaker 3: but also because if the Ermune cannot be repaired in
19:11
Speaker 3: a very short time, it might not be able to
19:15
Speaker 3: say it again.
19:16
Speaker 1: Wow. So it's very urgent.
19:19
Speaker 2: It's very urgent. Yeah. Wow.
19:21
Speaker 1: Well, judging by how successful the fundraising efforts were to
19:26
Speaker 1: help Notre Dame, I think they ended up raising about
19:29
Speaker 1: a billion dollars, is that right? So there is something
19:32
Speaker 1: there around the sentimentality and the respect for history with
19:36
Speaker 1: fundraising in the past. So I guess there you have
19:38
Speaker 1: that you have that history right there with what happened
19:40
Speaker 1: with Notre Dame.
19:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. By the way, it's interesting to know that the
19:44
Speaker 2: second biggest donors during nation for Notre Dame after France
19:49
Speaker 2: was the United States of America.
19:50
Speaker 1: Hmmm, that makes sense. Yeah, I mean it's an iconic piece,
19:54
Speaker 1: it's an iconic historical mark. And then this is as well.
19:57
Speaker 1: So I can imagine that there's going to be a
19:59
Speaker 1: lot of entro and this is one and I'm glad
20:01
Speaker 1: we're talking about it so that for those who don't
20:03
Speaker 1: know about it, they are now aware of how important
20:05
Speaker 1: it is in history. So that's great.
20:08
Speaker 3: Yes, And the previous fundraising campaign was very successful in
20:11
Speaker 3: the United States. And if we look at the staples
20:14
Speaker 3: of American history that that mark mentioned a little bit earlier,
20:18
Speaker 3: such as the Statue of Liberty celebrating its one hundred
20:22
Speaker 3: and fiftieth anniversary in twenty twenty six, and the Amian
20:29
Speaker 3: they were all funded by private funds, as you know that.
20:32
Speaker 3: You know, the Statue of Liberty was funded the statue
20:35
Speaker 3: itself by the French fundraising in French. The first craft
20:41
Speaker 3: funding campaign in France was for the Statue of Liberty,
20:45
Speaker 3: and the pedestal was funded through American giving. The Statue
20:51
Speaker 3: of Liberty is also a staple of generosity between both
20:54
Speaker 3: our countries because it was entirely funded, not by the States.
20:58
Speaker 3: It's not when we say that the Statue of Liberty
21:01
Speaker 3: is a gift from France to the United States, it's true,
21:05
Speaker 3: but it's a gift from the French people and not
21:07
Speaker 3: from the French government. So we would like to highlight
21:11
Speaker 3: the fact that the Amion should be part of this
21:15
Speaker 3: common history, of this common history of generosity between our countries,
21:20
Speaker 3: because it's another limestone, another staple of the friendship between
21:24
Speaker 3: our countries.
21:25
Speaker 1: That's a very important point. I think it's it makes
21:27
Speaker 1: it even more meaningful, doesn't it. It's something that the
21:29
Speaker 1: people wanted to do. They came forward and they did that,
21:31
Speaker 1: and they can do that again. And so the question
21:34
Speaker 1: I have for you next is what lessons would you
21:37
Speaker 1: say have emerged from early fundraising efforts and what has
21:41
Speaker 1: sparked the most interest so far?
21:43
Speaker 2: Mark do you yeah? Marco Gistak, Yeah, that's let me
21:46
Speaker 2: do a few words, but mostly Domitian country. So we
21:50
Speaker 2: thanks to Domiti we've been able to set up a
21:53
Speaker 2: process which allows American people to support the Armune through
21:58
Speaker 2: the organization that Domitie is going to explain more better
22:01
Speaker 2: than me. So so we we certainly have learned that
22:04
Speaker 2: we can do that. We also have a lot of
22:06
Speaker 2: support in France, of course, and in fact in other
22:09
Speaker 2: European country. There is now a way, you know, within
22:12
Speaker 2: the European Union to give money which is taxicuitable to
22:15
Speaker 2: good cause in one country. So there is a lot
22:19
Speaker 2: going on. There is a call to arms going on
22:22
Speaker 2: to try to save the onion. It's and as Domity said,
22:26
Speaker 2: it is your journey. Because a wood board is not
22:29
Speaker 2: made to stay dry in a dry dock. That is
22:34
Speaker 2: not good for a wood boat. Wood board is alive,
22:37
Speaker 2: as you know, it expands, it contracts. It's wood. It's
22:40
Speaker 2: not like modern you know, fiber glass boats. Right. So
22:43
Speaker 2: that's the lesson is that you know, we've got to
22:45
Speaker 2: do it right. But the lesson also, I do very
22:48
Speaker 2: important and I want to say that, is that this
22:52
Speaker 2: is taken from a technical point of view. We know
22:55
Speaker 2: how to do it. The people that work on it
22:57
Speaker 2: know how to do it. So the question now is
23:01
Speaker 2: not a question of can we do it, is a
23:03
Speaker 2: question of when can we do it right? Because we
23:06
Speaker 2: cannot wait forever collecting you know, a few cents here
23:10
Speaker 2: and there, I will take ten years that will not
23:12
Speaker 2: be possible because the boat will not make it right. Okay, no,
23:17
Speaker 2: that makes sense. But if we have the money, then
23:19
Speaker 2: we know how to do it. In fact, most of
23:21
Speaker 2: the wood is already already if you go on location,
23:23
Speaker 2: you can see.
23:24
Speaker 1: That, right, And so there's the fact that it needs
23:26
Speaker 1: to get in the water. We also understand how to
23:28
Speaker 1: combat the fungus, as you say, by putting plastic in between.
23:31
Speaker 1: There's also an urgency in the census. There's the two
23:34
Speaker 1: hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States independence. So
23:37
Speaker 1: there's all these factors here that we want to make
23:39
Speaker 1: sure that we bring that money forward, make sure that
23:41
Speaker 1: we're taking care of this now while it's it's urgent
23:45
Speaker 1: on so many levels. So I'm glad again we're bringing
23:48
Speaker 1: this to light.
23:49
Speaker 2: We have a little time there. I remember remind you
23:51
Speaker 2: that the end of the Revolutionary War is the twenty
23:54
Speaker 2: of Paris in seventeen eighty three. I say, that's that's
23:59
Speaker 2: when England was That's when England finally recognized the United
24:03
Speaker 2: States as a country. Of course, France was the first
24:05
Speaker 2: country to recognize the United States. It's by the way,
24:08
Speaker 2: arguable historically, to be very honest. For whatever reason, The
24:11
Speaker 2: King of Morocco also recognized the United States, and Morocco
24:15
Speaker 2: claims that they did it ten minutes before France.
24:19
Speaker 1: Everyone wants to be first.
24:21
Speaker 2: My point is that we have time, okay, even if
24:23
Speaker 2: we can't do it. Honestly, I don't think we can
24:26
Speaker 2: do it in twenty six. That will not be possible
24:29
Speaker 2: because you've got to retrain the crew and all that.
24:32
Speaker 2: But there are many events between seventeen seventy six and
24:36
Speaker 2: seventeen eighty swie, such as the Battle of Yorktown eighty two.
24:40
Speaker 2: We have time, okay to do an event. And then
24:43
Speaker 2: there is also another fun thing is the Olympic Games
24:46
Speaker 2: in Los Angeles. That's right, why not it? Could? You
24:49
Speaker 2: can for Paris to pass on the flame at least
24:51
Speaker 2: not the official flame, but some form of a relay
24:54
Speaker 2: from Paris to Los Angeles with the army on right.
24:58
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for giving us a little time. I'm
25:00
Speaker 1: I'm always thinking the other way around. I'm thinking the
25:02
Speaker 1: stock market is doing well. Wealth overall is doing fine,
25:06
Speaker 1: So let's take advantage of that while we can, because
25:08
Speaker 1: we never really know what the future will hold. So
25:10
Speaker 1: even if we have a little bit of time to
25:12
Speaker 1: do that, I'm just thinking in terms of in the
25:14
Speaker 1: United States, almost six hundred billion dollars was donated last year.
25:19
Speaker 1: I think we can carve out five million dollars for
25:22
Speaker 1: the ammyones.
25:22
Speaker 3: That would be good.
25:24
Speaker 2: That would be great. By the way, we do have
25:26
Speaker 2: you know, I was speaking of historical time, but we
25:29
Speaker 2: do not have time in terms of we have to
25:33
Speaker 2: repair within the next six to twelve months. If not,
25:37
Speaker 2: it will not be possible to repair.
25:39
Speaker 1: I see, we raise the money, would be nice, and
25:41
Speaker 1: then we have time to be able to do the repairs.
25:43
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then we do the repair, then we train
25:46
Speaker 2: the coup, we do the sea trials, all the stuff
25:48
Speaker 2: you have to do. This is not a small shit, no, okay.
25:51
Speaker 2: And of course, as you can imagine, the Coup has
25:53
Speaker 2: not been sailing for years now. Most of the cop
25:57
Speaker 2: are volunteers. In fact, it's kind of in ch I
26:00
Speaker 2: wasting if Domiti. If I can describe that, I think
26:02
Speaker 2: it's important to know, and we could extend that to
26:05
Speaker 2: American people if if we get a great donation the crew.
26:09
Speaker 2: There is a world I don't remember the English where
26:11
Speaker 2: I apologize, there is a Navy world that I don't
26:13
Speaker 2: know in English. For the people that climb up you know,
26:16
Speaker 2: the climb up the saals. Those people. We took people
26:20
Speaker 2: that had some problems, younger teenagers and young adults who
26:25
Speaker 2: had real issues even I would say issue with the law.
26:29
Speaker 2: We'd propose them to become crue. And now they're serving
26:33
Speaker 2: unto a French Navy quartermaster and those are not nice people, right,
26:38
Speaker 2: and you don't joke. And then also when you climb
26:41
Speaker 2: up a mast one hundred and fifty feet and the
26:44
Speaker 2: board is moving, you now know what discipline is about. Absolutely,
26:49
Speaker 2: and those has been a great success. In fact, we
26:52
Speaker 2: have measured that about more than eighty percent of the
26:57
Speaker 2: young people that come and serve on the Amion completely
27:00
Speaker 2: form their life.
27:01
Speaker 1: Wow. That's a great story on so many levels, just
27:04
Speaker 1: the idea that they have a purpose and they serve
27:07
Speaker 1: on something with so much pride attached to it. And
27:10
Speaker 1: it's not lost on me that the probably the discipline
27:13
Speaker 1: they had in prison and then they have the discipline
27:15
Speaker 1: of the quartermaster. They're used to that discipline.
27:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, well you know some of them, you know, go
27:20
Speaker 2: to prison, but they could have gone you see my point,
27:22
Speaker 2: I say, yes, But yeah, the quartermaster is you know,
27:26
Speaker 2: they know what they're doing and they're doing it for
27:29
Speaker 2: a reason.
27:30
Speaker 1: They're trying to keep people safe and obviously sail the ship.
27:32
Speaker 2: So yeah, and then just because you're on board a ship, now, okay,
27:37
Speaker 2: so and you know it's you know, it's Doancho's, it's
27:39
Speaker 2: the sea there. You know, you climb up mast and
27:42
Speaker 2: you have to move the sel and honestly, I mean
27:44
Speaker 2: moving the sail at the right moment is very important. Right,
27:47
Speaker 2: but the wind blows much bigger. You have to take
27:50
Speaker 2: the sails down right.
27:52
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, and you have to take direction from your captain,
27:54
Speaker 1: your quartermaster, otherwise you're in real trouble. So I think
27:57
Speaker 1: that discipline of listening to leadership and making sure you
28:00
Speaker 1: do what you need to do is very important for
28:02
Speaker 1: lots of reasons.
28:03
Speaker 2: And what we could propose, if we can savor and
28:07
Speaker 2: come back to America, would be if some American donors
28:11
Speaker 2: would like to, you know, do a good cause like that,
28:13
Speaker 2: that we could hire some young American people. We'll find
28:17
Speaker 2: some quarter master from the US Navy that speak English,
28:20
Speaker 2: you know, and I'm sure the USNV would be very
28:22
Speaker 2: happy to participate, and perhaps we can extend that idea
28:28
Speaker 2: of you know, getting people out of trouble by serving
28:32
Speaker 2: on the Immune.
28:33
Speaker 1: Yes, that sounds a great idea and that will obviously
28:36
Speaker 1: be part of our message here. Not only do we
28:38
Speaker 1: need money, but we also need some talented people and
28:41
Speaker 1: we need their time and we need the connections to
28:45
Speaker 1: be able to hire those people, bring those people onto
28:47
Speaker 1: the ship to be able to serve. So there's multiple
28:50
Speaker 1: ways you can engage on this particular project, all right.
28:53
Speaker 1: Last question, If an individual, a group, or a corporation
28:57
Speaker 1: is interested in supporting the Amylon, where should they turn
29:01
Speaker 1: for more information?
29:02
Speaker 3: So they should turn to Friends of Funational de France,
29:05
Speaker 3: because we are working with the Amion and we are
29:09
Speaker 3: heading the Armion campaign in the United States. So they
29:14
Speaker 3: can go to our website whether the form to make
29:18
Speaker 3: a donation for the Amion, or they can contact us
29:22
Speaker 3: and that they can give well anyway, and they can
29:24
Speaker 3: also contact us if they want to volunteer. We are
29:28
Speaker 3: working on this campaign not just Friends of Fundational de France,
29:31
Speaker 3: but with many other American organizations such as the Daughters
29:37
Speaker 3: of the American Revolutions, the American Friends of Lafayette, the
29:42
Speaker 3: Lower Manhattan Historical Association. A lot of American organizations are
29:49
Speaker 3: keen on saving the amon. So in fact, it's not
29:53
Speaker 3: just Friends of Funational de France is is a recipient
29:58
Speaker 3: of the donations and the fiscal sponsor of the Armion
30:01
Speaker 3: in the United States. But in fact it's a lot
30:04
Speaker 3: of us working presently to save the Amion, and it
30:08
Speaker 3: would be great if we could just have this joint
30:11
Speaker 3: effort on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to save
30:16
Speaker 3: the frigate and to involve as many people as possible
30:21
Speaker 3: in this beautiful project.
30:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. Is there any lead of all the
30:26
Speaker 1: institutions you mentioned? Is there one leading it or are
30:28
Speaker 1: they all coming together as a collective to be able
30:30
Speaker 1: to raise money.
30:31
Speaker 3: It's a collective, Okay, We're all working together. We are
30:36
Speaker 3: meeting quite often. That replies also your previous question on
30:40
Speaker 3: how we are working on fundraising in the United States.
30:43
Speaker 3: In fact, the Daughters of the American Revolutions, for example,
30:46
Speaker 3: have a campaign right now to fundraise for the Amion,
30:49
Speaker 3: but the funds are all getting to Friends of Fundational
30:52
Speaker 3: de France. So in fact, it's really a collective effort
30:55
Speaker 3: to try and save the frigate.
30:58
Speaker 1: That's great to know.
31:00
Speaker 3: Me.
31:00
Speaker 2: Let me let me just Richard, just to precize that.
31:02
Speaker 2: You understand, for the moment, we need the money in France, okay.
31:06
Speaker 2: So that's why we're using the Friends of Foundation in France,
31:09
Speaker 2: who has in agreement with the IRS that allows us
31:13
Speaker 2: to act as a five or one cstree in the
31:15
Speaker 2: United States and then bring the money to France for
31:18
Speaker 2: a good cause in France which is recognized by the IRS. Okay.
31:21
Speaker 2: So that's why those other organizations do not have that
31:25
Speaker 2: mechanism in place. That's why the money has got to
31:27
Speaker 2: go through the Friends of Fundac the France. I say, however,
31:30
Speaker 2: of course later you know, we are going to save her,
31:34
Speaker 2: right and when we after we save her, when she
31:37
Speaker 2: will come to America, then perhaps there will be And
31:39
Speaker 2: that was in twenty fifteen. In fact, there was a
31:41
Speaker 2: lot of local donations American now okay, within America to
31:47
Speaker 2: spend the money in America, which is much simpler as
31:49
Speaker 2: you can imagine. And you know, for example, for our
31:52
Speaker 2: welcoming parties or for bringing people on whatever. I mean.
31:55
Speaker 2: There was a lot of things going on, and so
31:58
Speaker 2: at that time some of these organizations be able to
32:00
Speaker 2: collect directly in America to spend the money in America.
32:04
Speaker 1: I see I see one question also that I have
32:08
Speaker 1: something I like to talk about A lot is not
32:10
Speaker 1: just making cash donations, but also making donations of non cash.
32:14
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering if friends of frondoci de France will
32:19
Speaker 1: take in gifts such as real estate donations, stock bonds,
32:24
Speaker 1: mutual funds and things like that. I just curiously, when
32:27
Speaker 1: I think of five million dollars, I think of dollars
32:29
Speaker 1: that could probably be funded more easily with assets that
32:32
Speaker 1: are not cash. Is that something that all of the
32:35
Speaker 1: organizations can help with or would they need to outsource
32:38
Speaker 1: that to another third party?
32:40
Speaker 3: No, okay, we can accept all what you mentioned. Oh great,
32:45
Speaker 3: so yeah, so we're friends, we can receive everything.
32:48
Speaker 1: Oh that's good to know, because that's a lot of assets,
32:50
Speaker 1: at least in the United States that are in that
32:52
Speaker 1: kind of a non cash position.
32:54
Speaker 2: Here, Richard, just for your information myself, I do donate
32:58
Speaker 2: through a donor advice phone total another people. Yes, put
33:03
Speaker 2: money aside for future donation as donor advice phone. That
33:07
Speaker 2: works very well. I've used it, in fact to give
33:09
Speaker 2: money to save all cours in France pseudomity, including aermion.
33:14
Speaker 2: That's great.
33:15
Speaker 1: That's good to know.
33:16
Speaker 2: You'll be happy to know.
33:17
Speaker 1: I just came back from going to a conference called
33:20
Speaker 1: the Donor Advice Fund Giving Summit, and it celebrates that
33:23
Speaker 1: there's two hundred and fifty billion dollars in donor advice
33:26
Speaker 1: funds that need to be deployed for charitable purposes. So
33:29
Speaker 1: I'm glad you're using the donor advice one and the
33:31
Speaker 1: way that it should be, which is to grow the money,
33:33
Speaker 1: get your tax deduction and then be able to make
33:36
Speaker 1: a contribution to something important like the Emion. So well,
33:40
Speaker 1: thank you so much for spending this time with me.
33:44
Speaker 1: It's so insightful. What an amazing history lesson, so relevant
33:49
Speaker 1: to the bond between France and America, and what a
33:52
Speaker 1: terrific way to celebrate is to repair the ship, have
33:56
Speaker 1: two countries come together and celebrate and be able to
33:59
Speaker 1: employ people as crew members and set it a sail
34:03
Speaker 1: in the water as it should be. And to know
34:05
Speaker 1: that we did it together as two countries. So thank
34:08
Speaker 1: you very much, and and thank you for all that
34:11
Speaker 1: you're doing to promote this. And we will get this
34:13
Speaker 1: podcast out there and make sure that people know all
34:16
Speaker 1: about it and know obviously that they can contact both
34:19
Speaker 1: of you and especially friends of Fandocion de France to
34:22
Speaker 1: be able to make these contributions to help repair the ship.
34:26
Speaker 1: So Mark, did you have anything least that you wanted?
34:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd need to add one thing if I may.
34:31
Speaker 2: I would like to thank Domitie who have made the
34:34
Speaker 2: contact with you and organized this meeting. So Domiti Merku,
34:38
Speaker 2: thank you very much.
34:39
Speaker 1: Rick great, all right, thank you again, and we'll see
34:42
Speaker 1: you next time. That wraps up today's conversation with Mark
34:50
Speaker 1: Annetto and Domatil marchal Lemoyne. Their work reminds us that
34:54
Speaker 1: giving is not only about generosity, it's about connection, gratitude,
34:59
Speaker 1: and preserving the values we share across generations. Here are
35:02
Speaker 1: three key takeaways from our discussion. First, history lives on
35:07
Speaker 1: when we choose to protect it. The Armillon represents freedom, courage,
35:11
Speaker 1: and cooperation values as vital today as they were in
35:15
Speaker 1: seventeen eighty. Second, giving transcends borders. The same spirit of
35:20
Speaker 1: partnership that funded the Statue of Liberty now calls on
35:23
Speaker 1: us to support the symbol of French American friendship. And Third,
35:28
Speaker 1: action can't wait. The Emion's restoration must happen soon to
35:31
Speaker 1: ensure she sails again, a tangible reminder of what generosity
35:35
Speaker 1: can achieve when we work together. Thanks for listening to
35:39
Speaker 1: Money to Give. If this conversation resonated with you, please
35:42
Speaker 1: leave a review on your preferred streaming platform, share it
35:46
Speaker 1: with a friend or colleague, and most importantly, keep that
35:49
Speaker 1: giving feeling going. We are now broadcasting in twenty two
35:52
Speaker 1: countries and growing with nearly ten thousand downloads to date.
35:57
Speaker 1: A reminder this podcast is meant to be educational purposes only.
36:02
Speaker 1: For specific advice related to your own situation, please consult
36:05
Speaker 1: an attorney, financial advisor CPA, or other type of trusted consultant.
36:11
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36:15
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36:26
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36:42
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