Officer Clemmons Needs Our Help

We're a group of people who've known Dr. Francois Clemmons for years and decades ... from high school and college, as a performing artist in New York and around the world, and as a faculty member / mentor at Middlebury College.

All of us - and millions of others nationwide - have also known him as Officer Clemmons, the Black singing policeman from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. We watched him, our kids were inspired by him, and he became the first African American to have a leading role on national children's television.

Together, we are now "Friends of Officer Clemmons" raising funds for him to afford medical care and assisted living in a residential retirement community in Middlebury VT … near friends, extended family and his church congregation.

The costs for this kind of retirement community are high for almost anyone. But they are simply not possible for a performing artist like Francois, an openly-gay Black man who -- despite his leading role on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood -- encountered discrimination, struggled financially, and never benefited from legacy privilege or generational wealth.

WE HAVE SET A GOAL OF $135,000 ... and we are asking for your help.

We have an opportunity now to express our gratitude to Officer Clemmons for his artistic creativity and personal compassion over the decades. Let's show him our appreciation by making a significant difference at this critical time in his life.

PLEASE JOIN US ... contribute as you can ... and share our fundraiser through your personal networks. Thank you!

Notes:

FRIENDS OF OFFICER CLEMMONS

Adrian Benepe, Brooklyn NY

Andrew Lynch, Astoria NY

Carl Brown, Las Cruces NM

Chuck Dickinson, Watertown MA

Elizabeth Copps, Englewood CO

Jackie Fisher, New York City NY

Jane Beck, Middlebury VT

Jebb Norton, Santa Fe NM

Kathryn Schloff, Middlebury VT

Karl Lindholm, Middlebury VT

Mark Jaffee, Oberlin OH

Nat Carpenter, Beverly MA

Paul & Frances Stone, Orwell VT

W. Marichal Gentry, Durham NC

=> VIEW Francois Clemmons singing "This Little Light of Mine" at the Berklee College of Music in January 2019, accompanied by George Russell, Jr. (faculty member).

=> FOLLOW THESE LINKS to learn about Francois Clemmons’ extraordinary life and career:

• Wikipedia article

• Mister Rogers Neighborhood website

• Fred Rogers Stood Against Racial Inequality

• National Public Radio (NPR) Book Review

• Clemmons celebrates 400 years of Negro spirituals

Francois Clemmons after his final "Last Hurrah" concert, Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society in Middlebury Vermont (May 6, 2023).  He is accompanied by Frances Stone, a member of the "Friends of Officer Clemmons" GoFundMe group.