Leave the gun take the cannoli (9)

If you want to know the truth about hunger in America, just ask the kids who put food on our tables. Over 400,000 American children work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, risking their health, education and future as farm workers in the United States. Shine Global, U.Roberto Romano and, executive producer, Eva Longoria have teamed up to educate us about this atrocity with the documentary, “The Harvest (La Cosecha)”. This film reminds us that child labor laws are often ignored by those who hire day workers. Hopefully, this film will be seen by enough people to get the CARE Act (HR 2234) passed.

To help make the CARE ACT a priority, consider doing one, or all, of the following; see The Harvest (la cosecha), type the CARE Act into your search engine, then call tell your congress person to protect the quality of childhood for all children.

The hallmark of a great man is his willingness to help others succeed and his unconditional loyalty to his friends. Allan Sih lived a quiet life of purpose, dedicating most of his free time to helping friends and strangers in their hour of need.

As a long time New York Cares team leader, Allan spent the better part of his weekends volunteering with people who were struggling with life altering illnesses. He also enjoyed an active social life, maintaining friendships from his teenage years to his final days.

Allan had a strong sense of empathy and the ability to organize everything and everyone in the midst of chaos. His only discernible weakness was the way he made coffee.

When I met Allan he was struggling with a coffee pot at NYU Rusk Institute. We were setting up the snacks at his monthly social event for patients with spinal cord injuries. Alan had carefully measured the water and scooped out a minute amount of grounds. I grabbed the pot, scooped a heaping pile of grounds into a paper cup and said “trust me, and everyone will stay awake through BINGO.” That was the beginning of our friendship and charity collaboration. We chopped vegetables at God’s Love We Deliver, read to kids and served lunch to the homeless for over seven years. We also ate at every vegetarian restaurant below 14th Street.

Allan knew how to pick a restaurant, where to buy the best green tea in bulk, and how to get the best prices on electronics. He was also an expert on chili.

As a former president of the New York Texas Exes, the University of Texas alumni association, he never missed the annual chili cook off fundraising event. He considered himself a Texan as much as he considered himself a New Yorker. I think he was born in Asia, so I guess you could say he was a citizen of the world. And he lived everyday of his life trying to make the world a better place.

Allan Sih’s Memorial will take place on May 7th from 12 to 3 pm at Hill Country, 30 West 26th Street, NYC.
(212) 255-4544

Sherri Lewis is a postive role model. The former lead singer of GET WET is the epitome of grace and courage as she talks about the HIV epidemic. She has been taking responsibility for her health and happiness since she was first diagnosed in the late 1980’s. With a smile and sense of humor, she works tirelessly to educate others on prevention as well preservation. Sherri is not only a motivational speaker and an entertaining fixture on the charity benefit circuit, but a blessing to those who need information on healthcare and emotional support.
Presently, Sherri is a candidate for a televison show on Oprah’s netwok. You can view Sherri’s auditon video “Living Out Loud” and cast a vote of support at:

http://myownoprah.com/audition/index.htl? request=video_details&response_id+903&promo_id=/

AidesBeGone is the name of a non-profit organization founded by the incredibly chic and intelligent Angie Bowie. Angie is determined to help find a cure and perfoms at AidesBeGone charity events and on her AidesBeGone CD compilations.

You can pick up a CD at www.lulu.com

March comes in like a lion ready to prey on the innocent little lambs flocking to Sunset Park for a game of basketball.  The  unscrupulous are roaming the streets for fresh blood to feed the insatiable appetite of the ubiquitous gang royalty fighting for control of a certain south Brooklyn neighborhood.  

Information is our best defense.  So, every spring, Children of the City hosts Gang Awareness workshops after their Saturday Reading Buddies Program. In conjunction with GRIPE (Gang Reduction through Intervention and Education), kids and their families learn about the ways that gangs recruit members into a sub-culture that fosters violence and economic suppression.  

Its that time of year when the world seems overwhelmed by solicitations  from every non-profit trying to pay its rent and offer a service.  Clever copywriters tug on your heart stings reminding you that your dollars can buy a girl her fist doll or feed a hungry family.   Our in-boxes are flooded with requests to help Santa provide toys for good little girls and boys everywhere from down the street  to countries  where you could get killed for celebrating Christmas.  

 Rather than sending that teddy bear  to some third world country,  where a kid would rather have a pair of shoes or a well with clean drinking water, consider  sending a gift to the forgotten “kids”  in the  home.    Alzhemier’s patients and people suffering from dementia have fragile bodies and mysterious minds that often have them thinking and acting like a 6 year old. 

Last year, I visited a nursing home immediately after their holiday party.  Each resident was given a special present, a beige felt blanket wrapped in a ribbon.  My mother thanked the nursing staff profusely and left it on her lap.   Another resident, Marie had a look of disappointment on her face.  I thought she was about to cry.   

The next day,  I asked a few of my favorite 4th graders if they would like to make some holiday greetings  for the people in the nursing home.  They made over 200 cards. 

 On Christmas, I brought my mother  a pile of beautifully wrapped  presents.  I also made sure to bring something for the other residents who didn’t get visitors.    I  stopped by the  local discount  store and bought  a few dozen teddy bears and wrapped them up with big gaudy bows.  The residents were so surprised. They smiled and hugged their teddy bears. 

It takes so little to make some “kids” happy. 

Fun and free were the buzz words of the River 2 River Festival’s Big Draw event at the Bosque in Battery Park.   Under the guidance of artist Eva Mosher, participants learned about changes in Manhattan’s coastline while creating a temporary public art project. 

My New York Cares team took over the pedigogal duties as I set out to find the  huddled mass of tourists who were returing from ferry rides to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.   The official name of Mosher’s environmentally based project was “Paths of Desire” but it seemed a little too salacious for  Bible belt visitors and kids , so I put my unique spin on promoting it. 

I hailed three young men on skateboards and asked them if they’d like to try.  I explained that you had to stir the bottle like a martini then flip it over and squeeze  gently so that the recycled water would stream through the tiny holes at the top of the bottle.  One of the guys handed me his skateboard and said “show me.”  I hopped on and got about six yards from my starting point before I tried to navagate a circle and fell off.  This turned out to be a blessing in disquise as it captured the attention of   the everyone  waiting for the next ferry.

“Does anyone want to  be a New York artist for the day? Its free and its fun.”  I called out.   Immediately, I had about a dozen takers.  For most of the day I sought out families with lots of kids or children in chairs.  So often kids who are mobility challenged miss out on the fun public happenings.   I figured out a way to tape a few bottles onto the armrests and handles of a  little girl’s wheelchair.  Her mother watched with pride as her daughter created  some spectacularly beautiful patterns on her path  through the park.       

Tim Gibson, the silver fox of my NYCares/Caring Community food delivery program is issuing an interesting humanitarian challenge.  He’s asking  his fellow volunteers to set out on a scavenger hunt for usable crutches, walkers and canes that he will personally deliver to the needy through Crutches 4 Africa.    In February, Tim will embark  on  the Abercrombie and Kent private trip around Africa.  His goal  is to collect as many mobility devices as possible and distribute them to people suffering the effects of polio, birth defects and landmine accidents in the most remote and impoverished areas of the continent.

“There are thousands of crutches, walkers and canes out there,” insists Tim.  “It’s just a case of finding them. And once people know where they are going, and they will be given away for free, the closets open.  It’s wonderfully simple and effective.  Someone’s broken ankle here becomes a lifeline to someone who can now become mobile for the first time in their lives.  They get dignity as well as mobility.”

Hand delivering these gifts  is exciting and heartbreaking considering the  physical conditions of the lucky recipients. “I’ve seen people who literally have been born with no legs … their bodies just stop at the hips.”  Tim recalls  “one guy who was punting himself around on a large skateboard.”

Information on Crutches 4 Africa,  its founder David Talbot and ways to help can be found on  their website at www.crutches4africa.org.           

In this age of political correctness, it should be glaringly obvious that something is missing during the month of May.  Its a time of year  devoted to the celebration of  motherhood.  Florists and card companies increase their earnings exponentially  by  the second Sunday of the month as we  honor our mothers, step-mothers  and pregnant friends.   On the other 30 days of May  you can hear hymns echoing  in  convent  gardens  and  Catholic church yards.  Little girls dressed in blue execute  the coronation ritual by placing a flower wreath on a statue of  Our Lady.    Yet,  we simply  ingnore  the virtuous  work of the women  who fill the maternal void in the lives of orphans,  the depressed or the  dying  by acting as a spiritual mother.    

I don’t know who coined this phrase, but I’ve  heard the term used by people of many denominations to describe women who mold the moral character of   children who are not their own.

Every May I make a concerted effort to  keep in touch with my  former teacher and friend Sr. Camille D’Arienzo by attending “An Evening of Mercy” at the Yale Club.       This event is one of the few award benefit/fundraisers that actually inspires humble humanitarian service.   The room is always filled with people who are quietly changing the world through outreach to the  poor and disenfranchised.

This year, Sr. Karen Schneider was honored for her work with children around the world.  Sr. Schneider is a pediatrician from John Hopkins University  who  travels to the poorest  countries to  care for orphans with malaria and fix  cleft palates.   

Sr. Camille is an advocate for social justice.  She’s been changing lives for  generations by showing compassion to everyone, including death row prisoners.          

Its amazing how quickly adolescents grasp the concept of social justice.  While contemplating their  place in the world and defining their own  value system teenagers cultivate compassion  for the outcast and disenfranchized.  

Recently, 12 year old  Bea Genco and I  had a very erudite dicussion about the lack of clean drinking water in Africa and the number of starving children throughout the world.  She posed some very sophisticated questions regarding humanitaran aid  and government involvement in feeding the poor.    She wondered how  individuals with limited resources could  make a difference in  the world.  So, I showed her two of my favorite web sites;  Charity: water (http://www.charitywater.org) and FreeRice (http://freerice.com).

Charity: water sells bottled  water for $20 and 100%  of the proceeds go toward digging wells in  Africa.  FreeRice is an English vocabulary building site that   helps to fight hunger through the UN Food Program by donating 20 grains of rice for every word the user  gets right.   This site is sponsored by advertising revenue.  FreeRice is fun and I  spend a few hours on it whenever my insomnia kicks in.

I challenged Bea to go to FreeRice and try to learn 100 new words.  I told her if she could donate 500 grains of rice in 10 days I would buy a bottle of water for her from Charity: water.     Bea had so much fun playing around on FreeRice that she donated 13,820 grains in 7 days.        

The best gift you can give anyone is your undivided attention.  Five minutes of your time is  precious  to someone isolated by illness, dementia or loneliness.     On Christmas Day, 86 exceptionally generous New Yorkers, my favorite couple from the U.K.  and my three new Australian friends gave their time and energy to the  clients of Caring Community.

 Co-ordinating volunteers for Christmas Day was  like assembling an all white jigsaw puzzle.  Tom Marrone organized the delivery routes  to accommodate my penchant for overbooking volunteers.   A normal delivery route has 7 to 10 clients.  But for Christmas he divided each route so that the volunteers could  spend a few minutes engaging every  client in a conversation. 

Tom had asked for 40 people and was expecting a mere 31, but I  can’t say “no” to someone  who wants to do a good deed.  So, by 10 a.m. we had  a crowd of   smiling faces  eager to cheer up the   shut-ins of Greenwich Village with a hot meal and a small, brightly wrapped gift.

My best regulars, Lauren and Marciano Estigarribia, Charity Diaz and Fredrick helped me organize my New York Cares team and  the City Meal On Wheels crew.   New recruits, Joel Mejia from Things Are Changing , Dara Shinler and  Amanda, Anita and Barney  were quickly teamed up with someone who could show them the ropes and sent out to spread good cheer.            

 By noon all of our jovial  volunteers had returned.  Many of them had anecdotes about our colorful clients. 

 Amanda, Anita, Barney and   I  went over  to Our Lady of Pompeii Church on  Carmine Street to serve at Caring Community’s Christmas Diner.   Every year the basement of the church is transformed to look like a restaurant with large round tables  that seat eight.           

We joined  Ginger, from the Wildhearts, and Jane Graley  who were already  hard at work waiting on tables.      I made my way around the room talking to each guest as I served the salad.    The faces were familiar and I was happy to spend yet another holiday with my extended Caring Community family.

As a New York Cares team leader, I got to take the bow for the 300+ clients we fed and greeted on Christmas.  But my friends, and fellow volunteers from City Meals On Wheels and New York Cares deserve a standing ovation for helping to allievate lonliness in NYC.       

 Organizing all of my holiday projects this year would not have been possible without the help of my good friend Barbara Genco and her daughter Bea.  They worked behind the scenes, entertaining my home-bound mother so I could wrap gifts, collect coats and run food drives.   Bea Genco  stops by after school every week to have tea with my mom.  The entire Genco family, Barbara’s  husband Mike,  son Micheal and even her brother Greg Johnson rallied together to help get my mom out to a party at their home on Christmas Eve.