If Valley Children’s can pay $5M to CEO, it can probably do without my spare change | Opinion

My total for a three-item combo at Panda Express came out to $14.14, including a $1.50 mark up for honey walnut shrimp.

The cashier made eye contact and asked if I “would like” to round up the total. “As a donation to Valley Children’s,” he added.

With barely a thought, my head reflexively nodded yes. Of course I’ll donate to Valley Children’s Hospital, something many of us living here are practically conditioned to do. Happy to hand over those 86 cents. May they be used to help treat a sick kid.

Never once did I consider that my small contribution, once it winds up in the coffers of one of the Fresno region’s most hallowed institutions, could be directed toward some other purpose. Such as helping Valley Children’s Hospital fund the lavish salaries, bonuses and perks of CEO Todd Suntrapak and other top executives, which far exceed those at other major children’s hospitals, or get parked in offshore investment accounts.

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While settling up at Panda Express, none of that ever crossed my mind. It will now. And surely I’m not the only one having similar thoughts.

How much does Valley Children’s collect from local consumers of mediocre chain-restaurant Chinese food like myself? The hospital helpfully provided an answer to that question on Facebook.

In a February post, hospital executives can be seen accepting a ceremonial check from Panda Express in the amount of $627,302 — the previous year’s total donation. Since 2009, the restaurant’s customers and employees have raised more than $5.3 million.

Huh. That’s just about what Suntrapak received in total compensation in both 2020 ($5.5 million) and 2021 ($5.1 million), according to the hospital’s unearthed tax returns. More than double the $2.1 million he made in 2019. The hospital, in 2021, also gave Suntrapak a $5 million loan, termed a “retention incentive,” toward the purchase of an even more expensive house in Carmel.

Hospital higher-ups shared in the largesse. Five senior vice presidents were paid in excess of $1 million in 2020 and 2021, while 22 other executives made more than $300,000 in 2021. Included in that group is Clovis Mayor Lynne Ashbeck, who earned more than $800,000.

Feeling of betrayal

I’m not someone who gets upset about the high earnings of professional athletes, actors, musicians and business executives. People that make a lot of money generally get paid what the market says they’re worth.

But when those executives work for a children’s hospital located in one of California’s poorest regions that consistently has its hand out for donations, it’s impossible for regular folk who forgo their change at Panda Express, purchase a coupon at the supermarket checkout and fork over $2 for a Kids Day newspaper not to feel betrayed. (The Bee is a longtime co-sponsor of Kids Day, though our involvement has lessened since the pandemic.)

If Valley Children’s is so drenched with cash, why are volunteers standing out on street corners selling papers in the rain?

“Politicians joined residents to peddle newspapers on dangerous street corners whether it rained, it shined, or there was a pandemic,” Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias said in response to the revelations.

“Yet what we’ve learned is that Valley Children’s failed to disclose to us and everyone else volunteering that it was spending 12 years worth of Kids Day funds to buy one executive a home in Carmel.”

That’s the thing about trust. It takes a long time to earn, but can be shattered in an instant.

If Valley Children’s execs were helping write this, they would want me to point out that salaries and marketing expenses (including the $10 million naming-rights deal to Fresno State’s football stadium) are paid from the hospital’s revenue streams rather than donor funds. Two completely separate income buckets.

While that might be true, it’s a technicality more relevant to a tax accountant than to the typical person waiting to get rung up for fast casual Chinese food. We can’t help but connect the mental dots from our small contributions to those exorbitant salaries.

That isn’t to say the next time the Panda Express cashier asks if I “would like” to donate my change the response will be a definite “no.” More so a question that used to be automatic now presents a quandary.

Valley Children’s won’t miss a few nickels and dimes. The incalculable amount of community goodwill the hospital has lost won’t be as easy to recoup.