Joel Segal "The Heart of the Hill"

JOEL SEGAL - "THE HEART OF THE HILL"

We never know when we will be faced with a life-altering challenge. Our dear friend and colleague, Joel Segal, has had an extremely difficult year. He has been battling a major cycle of depression that has been accompanied by additional health challenges, which required an extended hospitalization of over 90 days in Charlotte. He was discharged in December and has been regaining his strength and charting his path back to independent living.

Joel’s most recent medical evaluation notes that, with the proper care and treatment for the depression, he has a great chance to do so. Our goal is to support our dear friend and ensure he is provided the care, treatments, and therapies that will provide him the greatest chance of recovery.

Like many Social Justice warriors, Joel spent more time worrying about others than himself, and his career choices were never the type of jobs in which one could build a retirement savings. The sad irony, of course, is that Joel is now in a difficult financial position as he grapples with the realities of his challenges.

Fortunately, Joel does have personal health insurance and a congressional pension and, having recently turned 65, will have the benefits of Medicare. But, as anyone who has ever been through something similar themselves knows, those programs only cover a portion of a patient’s health care and assisted living costs.

This “Joel Segal - The Heart of the Hill” GoFundMe campaign seeks to raise $50,000 dollars to support the future uncovered expenses for Joel’s rehabilitation and recovery, along with the costs of his residence in an assisted-living community.

Fortunately, $25,000 has already been raised privately. However, it has already been utilized to assist Joel to this point. And, Joel’s future and hoped-for recovery is daunting and will be costly, until he can get back on his feet.

Therefore, this GoFundMe campaign very much needs to raise an additional $50,000, which we anticipate will be needed to meet the expenses beyond his coverage and support a six-month recuperative stay in an assisted-living facility, where his day-to-day needs will be supported.

Additionally, the funds raised will be applied to projected unforeseen costs for additional medical expenses and treatments, , and for professional services and legal representation Joel has engaged to advise him.

Joel is truly one of a kind human! A giver. A doer. A helper. An organizer. A lawyer. A man who makes good things happen for other people. Countless numbers of them. Joel has touched a great number of lives during the course of his life and career in a selfless and tireless way. The world is definitely a much better place, because of Joel’s life and his contributions to humanity.

We are reaching out to as many of you as possible to ask for your help. Those of you who have worked directly with Joel, or who have benefited from his decades of public service. No amount is too small or too large. Your donation will help provide Joel with the essential care he requires.

ALSO – will you please share this GoFundMe page with your contacts and network? As Joel says about how to make the world a better place: “There’s nothing more powerful than caring about each other.”

Now is the time for us to join together as members of Joel’s extended family to show how much we care about him. Now is the time to support Joel in his greatest hour of need.

We thank you, in advance, for your loving generosity and compassion.

Russell Greene, Paul Alexander, Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler, Scott Gorelick, Moshe Chertoff , Bruce and Wynne Busman, Chuck Pennacchio and Sluggo Wasserman

More about Joel Segal - “The Heart of the Hill”

As most of you know, Joel served as Senior Legislative Assistant and speech writer for U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-MI) from 2000–2013. It is not a stretch to call Joel one of the most Progressive legislative assistants ever to work on Capitol Hill (see Joel’s bio). His heartful work to end the pain and suffering of others earned him the nickname, the “Heart of the Hill.” From taking the hopelessness of homelessness head on; to fighting for the human right to health care; to advancing the climate cause of renewables; to alleviating the pain of poverty; to battling the scourge of systemic racism; to working for a just and final settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and to combating un-democratic voter suppression; to defending Chinese pro-democracy dissidents.

Joel has been a tireless warrior for the most vulnerable members of society. During his tenure on Capitol Hill, he pursued a unique inside-outside strategy (working on the inside by writing legislation, then mobilizing grassroots groups on the outside, to apply public pressure to pass that legislation). But that is not all Joel did.

He joined Rep. Conyers at town halls around the country, barnstorming in support of universal healthcare for all. As staff director of Rep. Conyers’ Congressional Universal Health Care Task Force and Out of Poverty Caucus, he co-authored the first-ever bill introduced in Congress to end involuntary homelessness, the Bringing America Home Act. He also co-authored the Katrina Relief Act, and he led efforts in Congress to pass that bill by working closely with the staff of then House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Joel was the senior legislative assistant and housing policy director to a city councilman and mayor in Charlotte, NC; directed Charlotte’s Overflow Winter Shelter; and founded and directed Charlotte’s first transitional jobs and housing program for the involuntarily homeless, the Kendall Gill Community Works Jobs and Housing Program.

Joel also has a knack for powerfully focusing attention on a just cause. He personally recruited U2’s Bono to address the global crisis of HIV/AIDS and was the senior technical consultant to Michael Moore’s movie Sicko.

Joel initiated the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Symposium Series in May, 2021 with the understanding he gained in his work in the region, including in Gaza. He and his team brought amazing Israeli, Palestinian, and American speakers to address all the difficult issues from their own angles, while expressing themselves in a loving and mindful manner. He understood the alternative to addressing the urgent issues was the possibility of another Israeli-Palestinian war. Joel gave it what he could, as usual. Yet, here we are in that war, still needing Joel to keep us on track to prevent another war.

There’s so much more we could say about how Joel has touched so many people’s lives, but it’s also the spirit in which he has done it. Joel is a “happy warrior” who brings joy to his work. Most people who know Joel know he’s a professional bass player, and many have busted a gut at his uncanny Bill Clinton imitation. But what few people know is that Joel also does a killer robot dance!

We are regularly in touch with our friend and are happy to share that he has not lost his silly sense of humor or his infectious laugh. Like all of us, Joel has his good days and bad days, but the happy warrior is still fighting and finds joy in taking trips down memory lane with his family of friends.

Note: Bruce Busman, listed on this page and the beneficiary of this campaign, and his wife Wynne, are dear lifetime friends of Joel’s. They are serving as beneficiaries of this account at Joel’s request and will collect and assist Joel in managing the payments for which the funds will be used. The Busman’s report regularly to our “Heart of the Hill” GoFundMe team, who collectively review and approve all payments.