This particular event was set to raise funds for "Stephen's House" in Haiti. After the earthquake in Haiti, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation committed to join New Hope Baptist Church to raise funds to relocate an orphanage housing over 100 children who need a safe place to heal and thrive. This project is still ongoing and the needs of the children remain immense. Local students and educators were being honored at the event to thank them for their fundraising efforts in our school community.
The room at The Staaten was packed and beautifully decorated in black and silver. There were only a few baskets but they were awesome so, of course, I bought some tickets. After all, the $800 Dine Around Staten Island basket had my name written all over it. What greater way to celebrate post Miss NY then with free food!?
The event began with a video of the orphans in Haiti who would be the recipients of everyone’s generosity. It was pretty inspiring watching the resiliency of these kids. When the video was over, a woman who cares for over 100 of these children stood up to speak. What an incredible, humble lady she is. I wanted to meet her so after the speeches were over, I did just that. We exchanged information and I promised her that in a few weeks we would arrange a pen-pal system so that her children could write back and forth to some Staten Island students. She was thrilled with the idea and so was I!
The evening continued with a magic show. The magician, Robert Coghlin, was amazing! I’m still trying to figure out how he pulled off the tricks that he did. Not even a crown could get him to spill his secrets! I then helped the foundation sell their "Birthday Board" raffles.
I met some old friends and made quite a few new ones. As a matter of fact, I met a women at our table who I would be seeing in a few days as her daughter is a Soroptimist Violet Richardson Award Winner and I was asked to speak at their dinner. Everyone on Staten Island is most certainly connected! The baskets were called (sadly I didn’t win that Dine Around SI one) and the evening came to an end.
Thank you Mary Siller-Scullin for inviting me to come out to support this event. It was inspiring to see the work the Siller Foundation does even outside of our own country. This organization has grown greatly over the past few years and it has been wonderful to take part in it. You are all incredible people. Congratulations on your tremendous work with the children of Haiti.
No comments:
Post a Comment