Lifetime’s Work
Ashburn man’s memoir will raise money, this time for Appalachia.
By Mike DiCicco
January 10, 2008


Photo by Mike DiCicco/The Connection
Joe Conte holds a copy of his first book in his home office in Ashburn.





Ashburn resident and author Joe Conte has money burning a hole in his pocket, or rather, burning a hole in the trust fund of his nonprofit organization, the Constance Joan Schneider ALS Group.
Conte started the nonprofit in 2005, shortly after his wife of 50 years died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. His wife, he said, had been a philanthropic person. "That’s why I’m doing this. And for me, as well, but mostly for her."
The money he has raised has come from donations and the sales of his first book, "Down the Yellow Brick Road: An ALS Victim’s Quest for Oz," published by Tate Publishing and Enterprises in 2006. The book recounts the journey he and his wife took to China in search of a cure for her illness.
His second book, a memoir called "Flies in My Spaghetti, Chocolates over the Wall," is due out this month, and all proceeds from its sales will also go to the ALS group. In the book’s title, Conte relates his life’s ups and downs, like any Italian would, to food, with the flies in his spaghetti representing remorse and sorrow and the chocolates over the wall symbolizing happiness that can be barred from view. An audio version of the book will also be available.

ALTHOUGH HIS organization, an officially recognized nonprofit run entirely by family, does not have as much funding as he would like, Conte has had difficulty giving the money to those in need. His original goal was to provide funding for anyone caring for family members with Lou Gehrig’s disease, "to relieve them and to get a doctor to come to their house, rather than having them hauled off in an ambulance, like my wife was three times."
However, he said, he had a difficult time finding recipients. "People try to keep this stuff in the family," said Conte. "They want to be the caregivers." Having contacted organizations as far off as Canada and expanding his possible beneficiaries to include cancer patients, he now covers care-giving services for a couple of Lou Gehrig’s disease patients and a couple of cancer patients. He is still seeking other such patients.
"Meanwhile, so the money doesn’t sit still in the coffers, we made a deal to provide fresh-water systems for 200 families in Sahay, India," he said, adding that he is now negotiating with a contractor for the project.
Until that gets underway, he has now undertaken to bring relief to the poorest parts of Appalachia. This is to include food, drinking water and children’s clothes and toys, which Conte envisions being distributed through local firehouses. The goods would be brought in and distributed by local residents. "I think our country’s gone overboard with helping other countries. They’re the people who make this country go," he said of Appalachian residents.

PART OF CONTE’S difficulty in finding suitable recipients for his largesse may stem from his aversion to middlemen. He complained that Appalachian food banks he had contacted only asked for money and said they would take care of the rest. "They don’t want to share the work," he said.
"The main idea is to go out to Appalachia myself," he said, adding that he had been looking into different areas of the mountain region and talking to fire departments there. "I don’t want to order here from a company and have them ship it out."
Conte said he had been working "day and night" to attract contributors, including contacting both Barilla and Godiva, in keeping with his coming book’s title, for promotions or contributions. To date, he has raised about $25,000, he said.
He is also editing his third book and contemplating his fourth. "I’m an old man and I’m working as fast as I can to get all these things out before I croak," he said, noting that men in his family tended to die of heart problems relatively young. He said he is also "forcing" his six children to help him with the ALS group and be prepared to take over for him.
Conte, who worked for years in the field of meteorology, first wrote for technical publications. When working for a broadcast weather service, he occasionally read poems he had written about the weather on the air.
He has also traveled extensively. His service in the U.S. Air Force took him to Korea and he later did civilian work for the Air Force as a scientific consultant for European weather central. He made travel a priority and has also visited Hong Kong, Scotland, Austria, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and a host of other countries.
These adventures are central to "Flies in My Spaghetti, Chocolate over the Wall," which can be ordered from him later this month and will be in stores some time in February. Anyone who donates $100 to the Constance Joan Schneider ALS Group will receive a copy of each book and the rest of the money will go to the group’s fund, with Conte even paying for postage.


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