Like to do something REALLY nice? (Dan H.)

DanHolohan

I work (through New York Cares) with two shelters on Manhattan's Lower East Side. In one of them, Nazareth Housing, we take the kids to the library on a Saturday each month and read to them. Some of you are Secret Santas to these kids this year. Bless you for that because yours may be the only present that child gets this year.

All the woman who live at Nazareth are young. To live there they have to either be in school, be working, or be actively seeking one of those two things. These people really are wonderful. They're just young and they made some choices in life that led them here. The kids are absolutely adorable, and they really don't know they're living in a shelter. Most are between three and six years old.

And there's a nice turnover out of this place. No one moves in forever. They're usually there for less than a year and then they get on their feet and move into apartments.

I'd like to propose that we do something for those kids who "graduate" from the shelter (and I only need a couple of volunteers for this). Since what we do with the kids is reading-based, I'd like to give a kid's Mom a $50 gift card to Barnes & Noble when she and her child move out of the shelter and into an apartment. This is a HUGE amount of money for these Moms, and the thought of them being in B&N, looking at books, and talking about books, and making decisions and then taking those books home to read together really gets to me. Life is sweet.

If you agree, I could use a handful of volunteers right now who would be willing to invest $50 in a Mom and her child. Down the road, as others move out, I'll ask again.

If you're interested in being a part of this, please email me: mailroom@heatinghelp.com.

Happy Holidays!

DanHolohan

Thanks to

Alan Mercurio. Always there for the less fortunate. Thanks, Alan.

Alan R. Mercurio_3

My Pleasure Dan. And you're very welcome.

Your friend in the industry,
Alan R. Mercurio

www.oiltechtalk.com

DanHolohan

Success stories


Love one another:

Success Stories

DanHolohan

And thanks to

Tim Yeo. Great holiday spirit. Tim is also a Secret Santa to these kids, as is Alan. Thanks, guys.

Pinball

The e-mail is on the way Dan!
Im in !

DanHolohan

Al,

you da man!

DanHolohan

Those who help

will, of course, be getting some mail from the child. It's a wonderful thing to share with your own kids, if you're lucky enough to have them. It gives a glimpse into the lives of others who are not so fortunate.

Shine by example.

DanHolohan

Looking for

a few more good guys. Like to be a part of this?

DanHolohan

Thanks to

Paul Kekalos for stepping up. Another good man. Thanks.

Donald Lebnikoff

Like to do something nice

Just e-mail me with the information. I'll help out.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

DanHolohan

These are some of the kids we're working with right now.

The volunteers get pretty close to them and there are mixed feelings when the kids finally get to leave the shelter. They're very bright and they're always so happy to see us.

ken fitzpatrick

What a great cause

Count me in - $50 gift card sent just now!

Added the message: "The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. -Dr. Seuss"

Thanks Dan.

-ken
hacker industries, inc.

DanHolohan

Thanks, Ken.

You're changing the world in small ways.

You never stand so tall as when you stoop to help a child.

Ken Ditchfield

Something REALLY Nice

Dan, you never cease to amaze me with your humor, knowledge and compassion. A donation to this most worthy cause is in the mail.

DanHolohan

Thanks, Ken.

Would anyone else like to help these people?

DanHolohan

This would make

a wonderful Christmas present for someone you love. Do this and tell him or her what you did.

Or do it instead of sending Christmas cards this year.

Bend a twig.

DanHolohan

Anyone else

want to be a hero?

DanHolohan

Why I volunteer with New York Cares

My daughter Meghan works in Annual Events at New York Cares. She’s the sort of woman who wraps everyone around her in the sweetness of life, and she is impossible to turn down. So when she told me one day that I was going to be the Site Captain at a school in Queens on New York Cares Day, and that I didn’t have to worry about not knowing what to do because she’d be there for me, I just nodded and smiled. First-timer.

The walls of that school were so dreary, but one day a team of talented mural artists showed up and I watched them work on into the night. The next morning, I heard that the children gathered in wonder. There was something new and exciting about their school that day.

The following Saturday, eighty volunteers spent the day painting those murals. And later on, as I was bringing out the trash, a second-grader and his mom came walking up the block. He stopped by the front door and looked in at the brand-new rainbow of color that soared up the staircase. His eyes went wide, and he shouted, “Mom! They did it! They did it!” He jumped up and down, and I thought that kid was going to faint. And then I thought about how the rest of them would react on Monday.

In one day, we had affected the lives of New York City kids for the next 50 years. Think of it. Kids whose parents haven’t even been born yet, we affected them. That’s the wonder and the magic of volunteerism. You change the world in small ways.

There’s a shelter on East Sixth and another on East Second, and I team-lead a project in both.

On East Sixth we take kids to the library on a Saturday each month. It’s one of those glorious old Carnegie libraries where the light flows like honey through the tall windows and makes you feel like anything’s possible.

We read to them, and we listen as they read to us. They follow the words across the page with little fingers, often mixing the English with the Spanish, and making that scrunched face that kids make over the tough words.

And we tell them that they’re wonderful, and smart, and strong, and I really believe that you change the world when you do this.

You never stand so tall as when you stoop to help a child.

In the shelter on East Second the people are older. They’re all disabled, but they play a mean game of Bingo. That’s what we do there. Each month we laugh, and joke, and compete for little prizes – a bar of soap, a deck of cards, a small radio – and that laughter is so beautiful to hear because it doesn’t come along nearly often enough.

A guy once asked me if shelter people are scary. I told him that the only difference between them and us is about six paychecks, or the lack of a good medical plan after a devastating illness.

Life is so fragile and so sweet, and the small voices of the kids on East Sixth and those of the folks on East Second constantly remind me of this.

And that’s also why I volunteer. There’s a gulf of years between my library kids and my Bingo people, and we need to be there in those years because life is so fragile.
Last September 11, my wife, Marianne, and I represented New York Cares in the Honor Guard at Ground Zero.

A man with a single red rose came over to me and told me about his wife, and about how she used to donate her old coats to the coat drive. He was so peaceful, and he spoke of her with such love. Such tender love.

At one point, we were walking out on a change of shift when the bell rang. The moment the North Tower had fallen. And we stopped and stood very still. And I heard a sob.

He was about 40 years old and he was holding the hand of a small boy and all the grief in the world was on that guy’s face.

So I hugged him.

And so did the woman who was to my left in the Honor Guard. We didn’t know each other but it didn’t matter. We just hugged that guy. And we spoke to him in small voices. We’re so sorry for your loss. We’re so sorry. We’re here for you.

And I think that's probably why we were there that day – to hug that guy.

I told this to Oriana Palumbo at New York Cares because she’s the woman who had sent us. And if not for Oriana, that guy might not have been hugged.
And in that way, she was there as well, and so were you because, in a way, we are all New Yorkers. And New York cares.

Isn't life sweet? How circumstances can come together to turn terrible sadness into caring. How it can help a child to read, or a disabled person to laugh, if only for a little while. Because people care.

Each of us is but a small voice, but when we join together we have the power to help. And in doing so, we change the world. We really do.

And this is why I volunteer.

Pinball

Bump

Dont let this one go away
Al

DanHolohan

Modest suggestion.

Do this in memory of our friend, Dan Peel, who was ALWAYS there to help EVERYBODY. It would make him smile in heaven. It would. Thanks.