August 2018 Newsletter
Another very participatory meeting; kudos to you all. July’s Gift Basket was donated by Carol Lundrigan and the $200.00 in proceeds will be donated to Claudette Duff’s Out of the Storm Senior Housing. Claudette founded and runs this supreme effort to house struggling seniors in our community. As the organization title suggests, Claudette’s initiative came to fruition when Claudette recognized the huge problem left in the wake (literally) of Hurricane Sandy. Our September Gift Basket will be donated by Lynne Sherman.
Our monthly Charity Raffle attracted $370.00. We had a brand new winner! Mirtha Moriarity has been a loyal Giving Circle member and participant and she finally won the pot. Mirtha opted to split her winnings between The Foundation for Dignity, Ltd. and Jaime’s LILAC Foundation.
Our “bring along” for September will again be hygiene products (hand lotion, chapstick) and playing cards and crossword/word search books to put in the “Blessing Bags” being delivered to Meals on Wheels clients on a specified date (to be announced) in late September/early October. We are giving Meals on Wheels drivers a day off and delivering the meals and the bags in one fell swoop. This collection was precipitated by Kathy Barzal and mirrors last year’s collection for the homeless. These items are always needed by seniors and homeless so we have to repeat and repeat. Some of the items we’re looking for include: band aids, baby wipes, toothbrushes/toothpaste, chap sticks, hand sanitizer….
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING ONE OF THE DRIVERS FOR THIS MEALS ON WHEELS COLLABORATION, PLEASE CONTACT KATHY AT: KathySIGC@gmail.com.
Welcome Newcomers! We welcomed a nice number of new attendees. We award them all Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards as their first Giving Circle “assignment.” These new recruits are to hand out their gift cards to someone they see in their travels who looks to need a little lift.
RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS
Kathy Barzel was made aware of a hardship case (notified by Stephanie of ACS). Christine Oniyama is an aunt recently gifted with three little girls (nieces) and needs help and supplies. We put together some bags of new toys, gave the $100 Random Act of Kindness check and will keep Christine on our radar screen, especially as we approach the holidays.
NEWS REVIEW/ROUND-UP
Due to the CONSTANT RAIN this summer, we were forced to postpone our annual Ice Cream Social which had been scheduled for Saturday, August 11. The new date is Friday, August 24, 6-8 p.m. It’s always a little tricky to re-schedule but we are happy to say that we re-scheduled our face painter and the ice cream vendor is okay with this change of date and most importantly the Carousel was able to arrange this change of date for us. Please be sure to circle back to this fun summer event. We continue to collect school supplies for backpacks and, of course, the school start date is fast approaching. Let’s give these kids some fun on the 24th and also contribute supplies for kids who lack them.
Ann Rodriguez and Charlotte Sciarrino of our Adopt-a-Pantry Committee continued the dialog started last month, reporting on the Committee’s year-long fundraising campaign. This team is working overtime on this project! Since last month, they personally delivered the $500 ShopRite gift card awards to ten pantries. Ann reported that leader of the pantry at Catholic Charities introduced Ann to a principle administrator at ShopRite who in turn got approval from her District Manager to allow a 5% discount on all our gift card purchases. Since we hope to be spending a total of $21,000 on ShopRite gift cards, this turns out to be a substantial discount.
Charlotte told a very interesting/inspirational story which popped up in the girls’ delivery stops. They were awarding the $500 gift from us to a Hebrew food pantry and conversation led to the fact that this food pantry received items it could NOT use due to religious boundaries. And Charlotte knew of another pantry who needed the exact items the Hebrew pantry was storing in its basement because they couldn’t use them. The exchange was made and it alerted to us to a situation that we wouldn’t have otherwise known about. Now the girls are delving into each pantry’s real needs so donations in the future can be more targeted and useful.
The focus of our Adopt-a-Pantry initiative now is to sell raffles and to secure commitments from restaurants to participate in our October 11 finale. The ladies had flyers to distribute and asked that everyone try to sell some raffles and to personally contact their favorite restaurants. Again, remember, we need to collect $21,000 in total to be able to gift all 42 food pantries. This is a huge undertaking and EVERYONE must participate. I wanted to cut/paste a copy of the raffle and insert here so you have a “visual,” but can’t seem to get the image to go here. We’ll send it to you under separate cover.
The winners will be announced at our October 17 meeting. You should all plan to dine out at one of our participating restaurants on the 11th!
This initiative has required lots of work for this Committee but they are creating and executing one of the biggest projects we have taken on. We thank them all. Please help them with this wonderful initiative.
GUEST SPEAKER and GUEST INTRODUCTION
Our Guest Speaker, Vincent Moltisanti from Jaime’s LILAC Foundation, made a strong impact on our group. Vincent is the father of Jaime Moltisanti Cucuzza. Jaime died a number of years ago from adverse physical effects (lung cancer) from working at the 9/11 clean-up site. Jaime’s cousin accompanied Vincent Wednesday evening and also provided us information. Jaime’s death has been overwhelming to her family, but they decided to channel their crushing grief into a project to help other cancer victims. Jaime’s experience with chemotherapy cast a lasting light on to a need. Entering into chemotherapy or radiation creates new needs for clients and Vincent and his team are using this need as the backbone of their organization’s contributions to others. They fill boxes with items such as scarves, blankets, candies (to alleviate nausea), playing cards, etc. The boxes cost them $50/each and they have distributed about 600 of the boxes. Their operation could be way, way bigger but that would require space for storage of supplies and lots of volunteer hands to pack and send. All proceeds go to cancer research. This idea is one of the most compelling we’ve heard about in a long time. Their website is: www.jaimeslilac.org.
We also had a short introduction to The Foundation for Dignity, Ltd. The founders of this 501(c)(3) are Helen Timari and Diane Kramer. These ladies asked for a few minutes to just introduce themselves and give us a thumbnail sketch of their organization. They explained that they work toward providing dignity in death for stillborn babies and indigent men and women. Their efforts prevent these individuals from being buried in unmarked graves; instead they are buried at Resurrection Cemetery. They are looking for people to attend the graveside services as representatives of these people had no one in the world to do so. They are also looking for wedding gowns from which they make burial covers for the stillborn babies and/or knitted and crocheted blankets to include in the babies’ caskets. You can e-mail at: foundationfordignity@gmail.com.
Last month’s Guest Speaker, Ilene Pappert, from Children’s Aid Society Goodhue Center. has referred us to colleague who has expertise and experience with the 18-30 year old population who have aged out of agencies/shelters, etc. and we will secure her as a speaker very soon as this “aging out” crisis is one we hope to address with an initiative if we are fortunate enough to be gifted some grant money.
Our Guest Speaker for September will be: Rose Elsadany from Staten Island Laughter Yoga.
REPORTS AND NEWS
In the Wings Production is an amateur (you’d never guess amateur; they are so, so professional and excellent) acting troupe on Staten Island. They recently presented “The Little Mermaid” at Snug Harbor. Tony Verilli and his wife, Mimi, are actors in the group and Tony is a member of South Shore Rotary (Mimi is my tennis and book club friend). The Founder of In the Wings Production was recognized by South Shore Rotary this year with a monetary community service award and in her thank you remarks, she offered tickets to anyone working with underserved children. Tony gave me 20 tickets for one of the performances and the kids were over-the-moon happy. So it occurred to me to ask if possibly, when the performance was age/population appropriate, the troupe could dedicate one performance solely to disabled and underserved young adults. I am so excited to tell you that, yes, this idea resonated with the production group and in mid-November when the actors are performing “Annie,” the audience will be comprised of these kids/adolescents/adults at their final full dress rehearsal performance. This is outrageously generous of In the Wings Production and hopefully they will get some extra notoriety and community thanks for this generous gesture. I will suggest that this special performance be singled out in a “Staten Island Advance” article. If you know of, are associated with, or want to just suggest a group to attend, please let me know. We will have no trouble filling the hundreds of seats.
Lynn Pershing, Nancy and Karina Gonzalez, Lillian Escobar, Mirtha Moriarity, and Inova McCoughlin who have come together to form a team to work with Hispanic kids from Los Promotores (a Project Hospitality-sponsored group) hosted along with Rev. Terry Troia a kick-off BBQ late last month. Now the projected idea is to teach teenaged kids in this group some Fine Arts (music, dance, singing). This team will give this idea a go…..we have already been gifted some dance costumes and we hope this Arts idea can take flight.
Kathy Barzel is looking for books for Grades 1-5 for Lavalle Prep school. Amanda, at Lavalle made this specific request so let’s get a pile of books ready to give them. You can contact Kathy Barzell at: KathySIGC@gmail.com. If you have some contribution.
Fran Iannone, Kathy Barzel and Evelyn will be planning an all-day HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE at Evelyn’s (240 Guyon Avenue) in early December to give us an opportunity to come together with no business agenda at and to toast the season and each other. This will be in lieu of a holiday brunch because we feel that everyone is far too busy to dedicate a full day to showering ourselves with food. This “speed date” Open House will be just enough to gather as friends and fellow community servants. We might not even let you sit down….tee hee. We will no doubt have a lovely door prize or two and lots of wine, cheese and chocolates…..we think it sounds elegant and want to just give thanks to each other and our community at holiday time. Many of you who are original members know how “beauteous” and welcoming my house becomes at holiday time. This is a DON’T BRING ANYTHING ALONG occasion; just stop by to mingle with other GC members and toast the season. Food will be refreshed every hour, on the hour…..come in glumps or individually. Fran, Kathy and I will await.
We are commandeering Fran Iannone for yet another assignment. We want to make a comprehensive inventory of our goods and supplies which have spilled over from my attic to Oakwood Community Church. Fran Sisto is working with the church to secure a new door/lock for the room which we use so it is more secure. This room has been invaluable to us these last couple of years.
LOOKING FOR….. Attendees at our meetings who haven’t done so already, to stand up and tell us a little about yourself, where your passions lie and what you’d like to see accomplished through your affiliation with the Staten Island Giving Circle. This is particularly important for new people; we want to get to know you and this will also make you feel more comfortable with us as well.
CALENDAR EVENTS (at a glance)
Friday, August 24, 6:00-8:00 p.m. – ANNUAL ICE CREAM SOCIAL
At the Carousel, Willowbrook Park. We will be collecting school supplies and stuffing backpacks during the social and then the bags will be distributed. If you plan on attending, please bring along Crayola 24-packs of crayons, marble notebooks, loose leaf packages, and two-pocket folders (we have the rest of needed supplies). We collaborated with SI Community Partnership and their members to fill 100 backpacks with school supplies which will be delivered by Literacy Inc. to four public schools in need. The overflow packed the night of the Ice Cream Social will be distributed to other needy returning student groups.
Wednesday, August 22 – Project Hospitality Birthday Party
Wednesday Evening, September 19, 7 p.m. – Monthly Meeting at the Old Bermuda Inn
Thursday, October 11 – DINE OUT FOR PANTRIES
ALWAYS LOOKING FOR USED CELL PHONES AND EYE GLASSES
The cell phones are refurbished to dial only 911 for women living on the streets.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true.” Robert Brault
Explaining our Gift Basket Raffles:
GIFT BASKET RAFFLE – IT OCCURRED TO US IN LATE 2015-2016 THAT SOME MEETING ATTENDEES HAD NEVER WON THE MONTHLY CHARITY RAFFLE, TRY AS THEY MAY. SOME OF OUR ATTENDEES HAVE BEEN COMING SINCE OUR INCEPTION IN 2008. WE NEEDED A SOLUTION SO THAT THE RAFFLE “GIVES” WERE MORE INCLUSIVE.
SO WE DECIDED TO ADD ANOTHER FEATURE TO OUR MONTHLY MEETINGS. WE INVITE PEOPLE TO SIGN UP FOR A MONTH EVERY NEW YEAR (SO WE QUICKLY FILL A LIST OF 12 PARTICIPANTS). THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT WON THE CHARITY RAFFLE IN ALL THEIR TRYING. SO EACH MONTH A NEW PERSON MAKES UP A GIFT BASKET WITH THEMATIC GOODIES (AND WE ASK THAT THE BASKET REPRESENT $100+ OF GIFTS). THE BASKET IS RAFFLED OFF FOR $2/TICKET OR 3 TICKETS FOR $5. THE TICKET WINNER TAKES THE BASKET AND THE PROCEEDS OF TICKET SALES GO TO THE CHARITY OF THE GIFT BASKET DONOR’S CHOICE.
MONTHLY CHARITY RAFFLE – SINCE OUR INCEPTION IN 2008, WE HAVE OFFERED OUR INNOVATIVE CHARITY RAFFLE AT THE END OF OUR MONTHLY MEETINGS. THE TICKETS ARE $10 EACH, AND WE ENCOURAGE PEOPLE, OF COURSE, TO BUY MORE THAN ONE.
WE HAVE MODIFIED THIS RAFFLE JUST RECENTLY (APRIL 2018). THE TICKET COST IS THE SAME BUT DISTRIBUTION HAS BEEN ALTERED TO ALLOW ONE WINNER HALF OF THE TOTAL COLLECTION. THAT WINNER CHOOSES THE CHARITY OF HIS/HER CHOICE TO WHICH THE MONIES ARE SENT. THE OTHER HALF OF THE COLLECTION IS DEPOSITED IN THE STATEN ISLAND GIVING CIRCLE’S SAVINGS ACCOUNT TO BE USED FOR LOCAL EMERGENCY NEEDS.
WE ARE HAPPY TO REPORT THAT THE CHARITY RAFFLE SEGMENT OF OUR MEETINGS HAS COLLECTED OVER $140,000 TO DATE. ALL THESE MONIES WERE DISTRIBUTED TO CHARITIES; NONE WAS KEPT WITH US, UNTIL NOW. WE STILL HOPE TO HAVE HAPPY WINNERS GIVING TO A MYRAID OF CHARITIES AS WE GO FORWARD. ABSENTEE PARTICIPANTS ARE VERY WELCOME; IT’S A WAY TO STAY IN TOUCH IF YOU ARE “LONG DISTANCE” OR UNABLE TO PHYSICALLY ATTEND MEETINGS.