July 2018 Newsletter
July’s Gift Basket was donated by me (Evelyn). The $160.00 in proceeds will be donated to the Hebrew Free Burial Association because I know and love Joel Cohen and the volunteerism he puts forward there. Joel explained that the Association buries indigent Jewish people and there must be a quorum of ten to complete the service. Joel mentioned on the way home last night that it is interesting to note that there are people who were lost in the infamous Triangel Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911) in Manhattan buried in the Staten Island cemetery. Kathy Barzel won the Gift Basket. Next month’s Gift Basket will be donated by Carol Lundrigan.
Our newly-modified monthly Charity Raffle attracted $265.00. Until this past April, we had for years followed the same idea of collecting $10 per raffle ticket and if the “pot” added up to $500 or more, we would have two winners; each winner donating his/her portion to the charity of his/her choice. If the collection was under $500, we’d have one winner. To date, we had collected in excess of $130,000 for charities in this way. In April, Fran Sisto suggested we modify our Charity Raffle segment. Fran proposed that half of each month’s Charity Raffle be kept for our own coffers and the other half gifted to the winner’s charity of choice. Fran opined that we should be keeping money here on Staten Island and utilizing local mom and pop stores/ establishments for emergency needs which pop up every day. The idea resonated with the group and they voted to make this change immediately. So at our June meeting, Mary Alfano won half the collected $265.00 and chose to donate to Juvenile Diabetes.
Our “bring along” for August will 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. See the Meals on Wheels project under NEW IDEAS/ INITIATIVES. This is a winner!
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.
MONEY MATTERS
Last month, we awarded a check for $250.00 to Sajda Musawwir and her Universal Temple of the Arts. We received a very appreciative phone call from Sajda thanking us for our generosity. These kids are very underprivileged and very lucky to be under Ms. Ladner’s wing. As she said, “This is Jersey Street. Enough said.”
We sponsored our favorite face painting artist to attend Literacy Inc.’s Summer Celebration.
We are working with United Federation of Teachers (UFT) to identify schools/teachers for our Teachers’ Closets where we award $500 worth of supplies to classrooms that need supplies.
NEWS REVIEW/ROUND-UP
Ann Rodriguez, a member of our Adopt-a-Pantry Committee continued the dialog started last month, reporting on the Committee’s year-long fundraising campaign. Ann reiterated that on May 8 the second “mini” event for the ultimate total objective took the form of a Basket Bash at Jamie Daragjati’s Confections Dessert Lounge, 65 Page Avenue. The first “mini” fundraiser was a jewelry party which garnered a few hundred dollars. The Basket Bash provided $4,545.00 toward the final goal. And now with the on-going sale of the Adopt-a-Pantry raffle tickets, the Committee already has money to give ten (10) food pantries $500 (in gift cards). The ultimate goal is to collect $21,000 (in total of all efforts mentioned) to distribute to our Island’s 40+ food pantries. To date, 150 tickets have been sold, but if you do the math, you can see that we need to exceed that number because we first must account for the three ticket prizes to be paid out.
Ann gave out more books of tickets on Wednesday. The individual tickets are $20/each and each book of tickets contains ten tickets. We have all summer/early fall to sell them, making the money jolt less intrusive to our friends/family, etc. Last year, we conducted a Limited Raffle (tickets $100/each) and contributed the final proceeds to the military. We are very proud to have successfully completed that assignment, but $100 tickets are VERY difficult to sell and with a limited raffle, you MUST sell all the tickets or swallow the shortfall. This food pantry initiative seems much more “doable” and palatable. This project will culminate on October 11 when we all “Dine Out for a Food Pantry.” Ann said that a number of restaurants have committed to pledging 20% of their October 11 receipts to our initiative. We hope a large number of you will go out that evening to support the project. The winners of the raffle prizes will be picked at our October monthly meeting. To entice you: First Prize is $2,500; Second Prize is $1,000 and Third Prize is $500.
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 participate by buying and selling your share of the raffle tickets.
The Giving Circle donated money to complete 12 Donor Choice projects benefiting nine schools. We like to “pay off” small balances for Donor Choice initiatives listed on the website. See: https://www.donorschoose.org.
Carole Speth, Mike and Ev Kormanik traveled to East Harlem last week to deliver the mountain of afghans and fleece throws collected for the 100 migrant border children being housed in the Bronx. We went to East Harlem because it is Sr. Florence Speth who heads Fox House (a women/babies shelter) who was going to deliver the collection to the Bronx. We thank you all for your kind donations; your kindness will be remembered by these children who are at such loose ends.
This paragraph appeared in the May newsletter, but really bears repeating….
We are very pleased to know that Cesar Claro continues to promote our grassroots Giving Circle idea/model. While at last week’s SINFPA Conference, Michele learned that Mr. Claro has approached some leaders in New Jersey about establishing a New Jersey Giving Circle. We couldn’t be more flattered and supportive. When efforts begin in New Jersey, we are always available to provide information and guidance. Hey, I’ve always thought our Circle idea could be mimicked (without jealously) all over the U.S. The concept is so easy and the results are so rewarding. Maybe we could make the national news some Friday evening on Lester Holt’s “Making a Difference” segment!!!
Let me circle back to another segment of last month as it is taking on some legs.
A number of us attended Melody Alesi’s opera troupe’s performance on April 28 at Christ Church. It was magnificent and such a pleasure to know that these fine arts opportunities are springing up on Staten Island. It always sounds enticing to “have tickets” for a Manhattan performance, say on a Friday night….but as our busy days wear on, the thought of “having to travel” into Manhattan become way less than enticing. How wonderful it would be to be provided rich cultural activities right here at home. We were wondering how we could insert such support into our mission (which, of course, concentrates on the underserved). Well, for one thing, it is another opportunity to introduce something very different to the populations not usually seen in the audience and also, Melody’s troupe is trying to revitalize a Landmark Building (Christ Church) in our own community. To be clear, the Giving Circle, does not commit to anyone’s church in particular (another unwritten policy, the same as politics), but interest in restoring Landmark Buildings in our own back yards is, we think, apropos to our overall mission. Therefore, we are hoping to elicit monies to help sponsor the opera troupe’s performance in November. In addition to a verbal request at the meeting for monetary support (if you are interested), we hand delivered several envelopes to other prospective donors. If you are interested, please contact Melody Alesi directly at: melodyalesi@yahoo.com or phone or text her at: 347-489-1129.
GUEST SPEAKER
Our guest speaker, Ilene Pappert from Children’s Aid Society Goodhue Center. First and foremost, Ilene delivered a comprehensive overview of her agency’s ‘good works’ and we were all enthralled. Ilene thanked us so eloquently for our donation of new swimwear, flip flops, towels and goggles (the kids’ favorite item). Ilene made us aware of how many programs and initiatives are spearheaded by Children’s Aid Society. Their goals and objectives certainly parallel ours only they are on steroids! We were all totally impressed and grateful for all that is done there and all that Ilene does personally to assist the underserved. We hope to collaborate with them again and one possible idea came up to collect used Halloween costumes and possibly dance rehearsal costumes. Our Guest Speaker for August will be: John Cucuzzano from Jaime’s Lilac Foundation.
NEW IDEAS/INITIATIVES
Lynn Pershing, Nancy and Karina Gonzalez, Lillian Escobar, Mirtha Moriarity, and Inova McCoughlin have come together to form a team to work with Hispanic kids from Los Promotores (a Project Hospitality-sponsored group). Rev. Terry Troia met with Lynn and Nancy and the small sparks of a bigger fire have been ignited. The projected idea is to teach teenaged kids in this group some Fine Arts (music, dance, singing). The first step, however, will be to get to know each other and for our team to see if there is sufficient interest. So on July 30, our team will host a BBQ for Los Promotores (Lynn Pershing has volunteered to bear much of the expense so she is generous as well as the talented teacher).
The Staten Island Giving Circle will give the volunteer drives of Meals on Wheels a day off some day in late September/early October when we will take over the routes (we’ll need drivers for this!). We will be delivering the food to the clients but, in addition, will be giving each of them a “Blessing Bag” containing all sorts of hygiene products and needs for daily living. As winter inevitably approaches, we will include socks and gloves too. Again, we will be collecting these new items at our August 15 meeting as your “Bring Along.”
Fran Iannone and Evelyn did some information gathering to see if we could use a $500 deposit laying idle at Grand Plaza (where we hosted our International Food Gala) toward a wine/cheese/chocolate “in and out/meet and greet/thank you” evening. We found that additional charges would make this untenable….so LISTEN UP. An early December date (probably Wednesday, December 12 or Saturday, December 15 will be an all-day OPEN HOUSE at Evelyn’s (240 Guyon Avenue) 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 buy 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 and I will await.
Kathy Barzel introduced us to her Kindness Rocks Project in collaboration with Girl Scout Troop 5406. Kathy brought two small bins of the decorated rocks for us to see. Each rock is painted with an inspirational word or symbol and the finished products will be shared with local nursing homes and day program.
Last month, we were so happy that we had vocal suggestions/requests from the floor. They included a desire to see another “Night at the Races” fundraiser. Joan Wilton also suggested we think about a way to support an organization assisting returning, disabled military WOMEN. At this past Wednesday’s meeting (July), I opened another discussion by asking, “If the GC was gifted some more monies from grants, what would you want the monies earmarked for?” I was so happily surprised to see about a half dozen hands pop up. It’s absolutely so good to know you each have passions for helping all sorts of people in need. Tobias offered that he has retired from working in the computer tech field and wondered if there was a way we could incorporate his skills into an outreach project. Certainly SENIORS could use his talents and we are brainstorming how to broach this as a viable partnership. Another thought regarding seniors was thinking about establishing a small food pantry designed for seniors only. Ann Rodriguez was going to check back to see if there are such seniors only pantries and we can continue brainstorming this idea.
One of our new members was very concerned about the 18-30 year group of homeless which is on the rise. Young people fall through the cracks when they “age out” of various facilities and programs and we need to think how best to possibly offer some help. We are not equipped to delve in as a big agency would, but if we are made aware of specific cases and are given personal information for clothing, hygiene needs, etc., we can certainly meet those needs.
Cassandra mentioned that we need to keep focusing on Teachers’ Closets as schools require more and more supplies be brought by students, but many still go in without the whole laundry lift required and the teachers many times make the purchases out of their own pockets.
Another concerned member suggested we find out about needy families trying to take care of disabled children. I suggested that Nancy Gonzalez might steer us toward these families as she tends to may undocumented Latino families desperate for help when they have a severely disabled child to care for.
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)
Saturday, August 11, 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 Evening, August 15, 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: “The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway. – Henry Boyle
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.
