Sandy Volunteers: Why I Came
Volunteers from Hudson Valley Community College Troy, New York How They Came? After a student tried to get funding to bring a group to Staten Island and it fell through, the Hudson Valley Community College stepped up with the funds. They were able to hire a bus to make the 6 hour round trip. […]
A Tree of Hope In a Sea of Sadness
These are not ordinary times on Staten Island. For my neighbors in New Dorp, the days are full of feeling overwhelmed. It’s getting colder and confusion and sadness are growing deeper. You would think, though, that as the holidays approach, the residents would give into despondency. Uh-Uh. Yesterday, I went to the sweetest Christmas decorating […]
Hurricane Sandy Comfort Campaign
If you want to do something to help someone who has been devastated by Sandy, consider donating to Tory Johnson’s Hurricane Sandy Comfort Campaign, inspired by Bon Jovi’s words, “We may not have electricity, but we have power.” No other words needed…except Happy Thanksgiving.
Sandy and Teaching Kindness
The date of my last post was October 29th. Since then, things have changed on our Island of Staten. I feel as if the Island has been through a war and everyone is shell-shocked. Kindness hasn’t been so important to our oxygen since 9/11. As I walked this desperate neighborhoods a few days after the […]
Sandy…and One Million Acts of Kindness
Can’t type too much today. Sandy is upon us. Since this has to be brief, I wanted to tell you about someone really cool who we can all support, even in stormy weather. He’s riding his bike as part of the One Million Acts of Kindness Campaign. Beginning in New York City in mid-October 2012, […]
Is There a Teacher In Your Life That Taught You How To Step Up?
If so, you have a fantastic opportunity to pay them back. Facing History and Ourselves, an awesome organization that devotes itself to teaching kids how to be “upstanders,” is offering a $5,000 grant to an educator who has inspired kids to step up. As my Irish friends would say, “Brilliant!” I really believe that we […]
Use Common Sense to Stop Kids from Being Victims
(Warning. Be prepared for two things. These are the words of a girl who took her own life last week — about a month after she posted this. She was also a “cutter” and there is a photo of her “cut” arm at the end.) This is Amanda Todd, a Canadian 15-year old who, it […]
Bullying Prevention Month: Is Television Making our Kids Mean?
I wanted to share some news about a study about what kids are seeing on television every day. Meanness. Kids are surrounded by verbal and non-verbal mean messages. When I look back on my childhood, bullying definitely existed but when I went home from school, we watched Leave It To Beaver, or Father Knows Best. […]
Young Kids, Bullying Prevention and Inspiring Leaders
What perfect timing. October is National Bullying Prevention Month and this morning I had a great conversation with an elementary school principal. She brought up a great point. She was worried that kids seem to react the opposite way when they host a bullying prevention assembly in the school. She says that during the days immediately […]
Teach Teachers Tech: A Platform for Good
Raise your hand if you think we’re experiencing a generation gap in this country. How many of you admit that your child (even your young child) knows more about navigating cyberspace than you do — a lot more. Our kids are throwing themselves headlong into this new neighborhood of technology while many of us are […]
