News

January 2018 Newsletter

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND CONGRATULATIONS ON TEN YEARS!!!!
It was a wonderful celebratory first meeting of 2018. Few of us have ever had the
pleasure/good fortune of being awarded a check for $10,000. Yes, the highlight of our Tenth Anniversary meeting this past Wednesday evening was presentation from Cesar Claro of Richmond County Savings Foundation of a $10,000 grant to the Staten Island Giving Circle. This is the largest monetary recognition we have received and we should all be ecstatic as it will assist so many needy in our community. This money is earmarked for needy children; we will send the S.T.E.A.M. Wagon, an extraordinary school enrichment program to five different schools; we will provide Teachers’ Closets (school supplies) to six different schools; and we will provide Clothing Closets to schools or children’s groups, as needed. We are so fortunate and so grateful! In our thanks, we include Charlotte and Marcello Sciarrino who put our organization on Mr. Claro’s radar screen and advocated for us.

$10,000.00

We felt that the following quote was a 100% perfect fit for our ten years’ work to date and was so apropos for this huge award from Richmond County Savings Foundation. The quote reads: “There is no Royal Road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly endures.” We worked and grew slowly, careful not to overstep our abilities and resources and we are now being rewarded.

And Wednesday’s meeting was only mid-week, right? So we actually have two more exciting bits of news to relay. On Thursday we heard from Northfield Bank that they approved a $1,000 grant which we were earmarking for Jeanne Raleigh’s P.S. 19 Social Emotional Program/Reader’s Theater. We thank Lisa Lamantia for facilitating our grant quest with Northfield and Robin Lefkowitz for her positive determination in granting this request.

Joan Wilton approached me at Wednesday’s meeting with another lovely, generous consideration of the Staten Island Giving Circle. Joan explained that she and her siblings some time ago gave up exchanging holiday gifts as everyone had enough of everything. They decided to pool their Christmas monies to donate to a worthy charity/cause. It is Joan’s turn this year to decide on the charity and she very kindly chose the Staten Island Giving Circle. We’ve provided Joan our 501(c)(3) number and Joan will award us her family’s donation for 2018. How kind, unselfish and generous. Thank you, Joan.

Back to our special Tenth Anniversary Meeting surprises. I thought it would be particularly nice to invite as many of the original 24 members (from January 2008) as we could to this special anniversary meeting. We were so pleased to see a good number of these pillars of our organization present on Wednesday evening. As I mentioned, a number of our Original Members have had lulls in attendance due to life interruptions, so we were so happy to see a dozen of them at the meeting. We hope that you will consider popping in from time to time still as there is “something for everyone” in our diverse, long list of ‘good works’ opportunities.

New Segments
We were happy to insert a new idea/segment into our first of the year meeting. It has occurred to us over and over that we have so many special people in our group – there should be some sort of special recognition (we liken it to our community’s “Women (men for us too) of Achievement” honors). So we will choose to single out some of our special “can do” leaders on a quarterly basis (so four recipients a year). We will give them $250 to donate to the charity of their choice. We will call this our Those Who Do initiative.

Our first “Those Who Do” award was presented to a two-member team (rather than an individual) on Wednesday. Phyllis O’Hanlon and Lucille Lenza work as one in a remarkable giving way. We host bi-monthly birthday parties at Hospitality House (Project Hospitality’s shelter for homeless children and their single parents). Phyllis and Lucille have grown to love this assignment and execute it without fail every two months. In addition, they lead our holiday parties there and also provide “Movie Nights” for the children a couple of times a year. We are now going to talk about adding Saturday morning pajama/reading breakfasts occasionally. The Giving Circle would provide new “jammies” and new children’s books. We’d like to see a few more “readers” sign on to help with this idea. What do you think?

In the continued spirit of giving to those who deserve…..Michele then presented Donna Fischer and Ceil Scalia (in absentia) $250 each for their work putting together our annual holiday brunch. Because we realized some profits from this brunch (and we don’t use this as a fundraiser), we wanted Donna to utilize $250 for her favorite charity (On Your Mark) and Ceil is very grateful and is donating her $250 to Seton Foundation.

We had several new people join us Wednesday evening. Michele gave them each two $5 Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards (one for themselves as a welcome and the other to pass forward to someone who looks like they need a lift). This is the new participants’ first “giving” assignment. By the way, one of our new participants has a tread mill to give away. Any takers? This might be good for an organization that has room enough for it…would it be something Julius might want for his new endeavor?

The evening’s Gift Basket was donated by Jamie Daraghati and it attracted $270.00 which Jamie donated to Emma’s Place (NFP). Our faithful (brave) male member, Chris Rizzo won the basket.
February’s Gift Basket will be donated by Liz Cotter.

Because we had such a nice big crowd for our Tenth Anniversary meeting, the Charity Raffle collection was substantial. We collected $610.00 and because it exceeded our $500 requirement to honor two winners, we did indeed split the proceeds in half. Mary Alfano had a magic wand over her head and won both portions (in reality, the reason Mary won is because she buys ten (10) tickets for the Charity Raffle each month). Mary chose to donate $310.00 to Julius Walker’s Drop-In Program (Julius was our speaker Wednesday and I will fill you in on his endeavor later on in the newsletter). The second $310.00 will be donated to Jamie Daraghati’s project of handmaking pillows for children enduring cancer chemo treatments.

Because we don’t have a meeting agenda in December (as we enjoy our internal holiday celebration [brunch], there was no December Newsletter. I just want to add here that you need to know that our December 13 dessert buffet and holiday celebration at Canterbury House was a total success. Al Lambert sang Christmas carols to the delight of our audience which included Canterbury residents, ActCares and Arches clients. Our Lady Star of the Sea students provided gift bags and Dorothy Gordon ran the Bingo fun for the day. I thank all the helping hands that went with me that day and all those who provided baked goods.

Our other December “give” was to have our Hispanic team and Patrick the Music Man go provide the children of Los Promotores a wonderful Christmas party. We collaborated with Rev. Terry Troia (who provided a great Santa and refreshments) to make this a great day.

And, of course, we thank so, so many of you who came forward to fill Christmas bags for children in need and who responded to some extraordinary call outs for adults and children in need (on one of the coldest, nastiest days a few weeks ago, we got an S.O.S. from an agency who knew of a woman and two children being moved away from a domestic violence scenario and the children needed clothing, school supplies, etc.). MaryEllen Heveghan went to Penney’s for me in that terrible weather and personally took care of these needs.

We had one sad announcement to make at Wednesday’s meeting. You will remember Linda Taubman who spoke so passionately to us at a meeting about her son’s substance abuse addiction. Linda worked long and hard and was able to save her son and many others by facilitating care and counseling. Unfortunately, Linda died rather unexpectedly right at the beginning of this New Year. Linda would be gratified, I think, to know that we reached out to you good members to find replacements for her service through us to the Church that Never Closes on Seguine Avenue and two volunteered at Wednesday’s meeting. We cook for the homeless at the church on Thursday nights and Sundays. Linda was faithful to this volunteer assignment so I am glad we can cover for her (not replace her….she was very special).

​We didn’t have anyone volunteer for a “Ted Talks” for January, but we’d like to be sure to have someone for February….be brave; it’s only for three minutes. It’s a great platform to spew your community passion and let us learn more about you.

​If you aren’t acquainted with Ted Talks, please google www.Ted.com and see this innovative way to platform passions. Also, I can make a few suggestions for categories on which we’d love to see more advocacy….how about literacy, gun control, mental health, nutrition, adoption, stamp collecting, environmental and/or climate issues…..As I said, I could name hundreds and I will, at some point, pare down my list and make one 3-minute talk (which as you know will be difficult for me….the 3-minute limit might stifle me).

Please contact me if you want to make a Ted Talks presentation at the February 21st meeting. This is a great way, especially for newer people, to tell us a little bit about yourselves and let us know your community service passions.

NEW PROJECTS/IDEAS FOR 2018
Next we spotlighted another 2018 emphasis. We will highlight one of our on-going projects at each month’s meeting with the mindset to find a strong team/committee to orchestrate that project as their own (using Phyllis and Lucille as perfect examples). We chose to spotlight our Adopt-a-Pantry Program on Wednesday. This program, we feel, is absolutely one that can be grown much larger with the right leadership. We began in 2014 to utilize this idea similar to the Adopt-a-Highway program. We look for businesses, organizations and individuals to commit to monetarily sponsoring one of our nearly 40 food pantries on Staten Island. To date, we have collected $40,000 but feel that the simplicity and awesome need for supporting food pantries should attract way more interest than it has. So I asked if anyone in our audience on Wednesday would be interested in taking the reins and building this program. After a moment, Charlotte Sciarrino and then several others building this program. After a moment, Charlotte Sciarrino and then several others raised their hands. I can’t tell you how exquisitely happy this made me. So Charlotte will lead Linda Mampalao, Chris Rizzo, Michele Izabela and Jamie Daraghati in making this a huge, premier initiative. I truly can see this as a national idea but “one step at a time, right?” I’ve spoken to Charlotte who has an absolute dynamite idea for rocketing this project off the ground. Her new group will meet and hopefully she will be able to report to you all in February what this idea is and how we will achieve it.

GUEST SPEAKER
Our guest speaker, who, by the way, had to wait through our very long agenda, was
Julius Walker. I think we were all riveted to Julius’ brand new initiative which he is calling Drop-In Program, scheduled to formally open in a couple of weeks at 340 Bay Street. Julius works full-time at New York Center for Interpersonal Development by day, but has found time to create and implement a program for which he saw a tremendous need – he will be providing this Safe Space for adolescents ages 16-24, many of whom are probationers. Julius explained the culture of potholes and roadblocks facing these adolescents. Julius educated us on the gang activity and general negative influences that this population encounters. So…Julius is opening a safe space where this population can go without question and get shelter and snacks and work on a computer station or watch television for awhile without the fear of being harassed on the streets. Ann Marie Muro of our Giving Circle donated a flat- screen TV and Ann Marie and Charlotte and Marcello Sciarrino provided money for Julius to purchase 30 brand new, stackable chairs. When Julius opens and sees exactly what else is needed to help these kids/adults, he will keep us informed. Julius is jumping into this endeavor virtually by himself and he will look to organizations such as ours for support and assistance. He wants to provide workshops/seminars (resume writing, money management, behavior, etc.) and will look for volunteers. A couple of our Hispanic team have already expressed interest in helping as the group will embody Latino and African American ethnicities in need of guidance and support.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS (at a glance)
FEBRUARY 21, 2018 – Monthly Meeting with Unique Agenda! We will be using this meeting as a big roundtable-type forum and our discussion will be facilitated by Deacon Paul Kosinski. We are going to be looking for your thoughts, questions, suggestions, comments, etc. You can e-mail Paul with suggestions if you aren’t going to be at the February meeting or if you feel uncomfortable expressing them in front of the group. Silent voices can be heard too. Paul’s e-mail address is: paul_kosinski@projecthospitality.org. (there is an underscore after paul). If we get hearty discussion and enthusiasm, we can extend our roundtable discussion into March as well.

Our “bring along” for February will be candy and cookies (hey, it’s Valentine’s Day
and people at the pantries could use a treat!). We’ll distribute all your goodies to a number of pantries. They need chicken noodle soup but they also would delight in a few sweet treats.

SOMETIME SOON – I was interviewed yesterday via telephone by Jessica Jones- Gorman of “Staten Island Business Trends” and Jessica will include our (Staten Island Giving Circle) story in an upcoming issue of this monthly newspaper. This is great exposure and recognition. Jessica will be spotlighting a different Not-for- Profit in each issue of the newspaper this year.

APRIL 8, 2018 – I (Evelyn) will be honored at a luncheon at the Staaten at noon as a recipient of an Award of Distinction from New York State Women, Inc., Staten Island Chapter. As you might guess, I am hoping many of you will come and learn with me the good works of NYS Women, Inc. and enjoy a lovely Spring luncheon and gathering. I will be receiving the actual invitations soon to give you!

***Since our calendar for the New Year is still quite open, how about thinking about taking a date to host a fundraiser or activity that you are passionate about?!?!?

ALWAYS LOOKING FOR USED CELL PHONES AND EYE GLASSES

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “Don’t wait for people to be friendly, show them how.” – Henry James
P.S. One of our new members has a tread mill to donate (individual or organization) …let me know. And I acquired a lady’s scarf (left behind) from the meeting. I think it belongs to one of the Camp Good Grief girls….let me know.

Explaining our Monthly Raffles:
As a way of shortening the newsletter’s content, we’ll explain the raffles here at the end of the newsletter each time; if you know these long-established portions of the meeting, you can stop reading here.

CHARITY GIFT RAFFLE – SINCE OUR INCEPTION IN 2008, WE HAVE OFFERED OUR INNOVATIVE CHARITY RAFFLE AT THE END OF OUR MONTHLY MEETINGS. THE TICKETS ARE $10 AND WE ENCOURAGE PEOPLE, OF COURSE, TO BUY MORE THAN ONE….AND, IF YOU CAN’T BE PHYSICALLY PRESENT AT A MEETING, YOU CAN SEND YOUR DONATION FOR A RAFFLE TICKET VIA OUR WEBSITE AND/OR PAYPAL LIKE OUR PARTICIPANTS FROM IDAHO, FLORIDA AND WATERTOWN DO. IF WE COLLECT $500 OR MORE IN THE MONTHLY RAFFLE, WE PICK TWO WINNERS. IF THE “POT” COMES IN

MORE IN THE MONTHLY RAFFLE, WE PICK TWO WINNERS. IF THE “POT” COMES IN
UNDER $500, THERE IS ONE WINNER.

​THE WINNER OR WINNERS CHOOSE THE CHARITIES OF HIS/HER CHOICE TO WHICH THE MONIES ARE SENT. TO DATE (APRIL 2017) WE HAVE COLLECTED AND DISTRIBUTED OVER $125,000 TO A VARIETY OF WORTHY CHARITIES. THIS IS A NOVEL IDEA WHICH GIVES OUR PARTICIPANTS OWNERSHIP OF A GREAT DECISION (WHAT CHARITY TO TARGET) AND GREAT PERSONAL SATISFACTION. ABSENTEE PURCHASES ARE ENCOURAGED; YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AT THE MEETING TO WIN AND CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITE CHARITY.

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.

Upcoming Events