Sorry that I have not gotten a chance to blog recently. I have been busy with multiple events and school work. I took the NYS Common Core Standardized Tests and that occupied a lot of my time. I practiced for and participated in a horse show at Boulder Brook Equestrian Center. I also went to the Barclay’s Center with my fellow student volunteers from William B. Ward Elementary School. There are many opportunities to volunteer at my school. I volunteer for three jobs at my school; Green Team, Safety Squad, and Peer Mediation. There are many opportunities for volunteering in my community as well. I had a busy weekend with my family. On Friday we went to the Volunteer Center of United Way’s Volunteer Spirit Awards. I was thrilled to see all of the volunteers at the event at the Rye Town Hilton. I was glad to see the Executive Director, Mrs. Alisa Kesten. She is so enthusiastic! I was also happy to see Mr. Douglas Rogers, from New York Life. He presented the New York Life Youth Leader Award to me last year and this year the award was given to a very selfless person named, Joseph Gusmano. Joseph volunteers at the East Fishkill Library. I didn’t get to meet Joseph or the other honorees, but I got to meet and then volunteer for Mrs. Deborah Blatt from The Sharing Shelf of Family Services of Westchester. Mrs. Blatt was presented with the Social Advocacy Award from Mack-Cali Realty Corporation. Our family was able to volunteer at her Girl-topia event on Sunday, 4/28/13. I will blog about this in the future. It can only be defined with one word—SUCCESS! Other winners included Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct presented by Con Edison, Marie Rama who won the Education and Literacy Award presented by Reader’s Digest, Carol Morse who won for Arts and Culture and her award was presented by Bunge, Let’s Play It Forward, Inc., and this was presented by New York Life for the Youth Group Action Award, Lynn Halprin and Sandy Samberg won the Quality of Life Award and this was presented by United Way of Westchester and Putnam, and Haina Just Michael who won the Community Hero Award which was presented to her by Journal News Media Group. I am encouraging people to go to this event and support all volunteers in our community and in communities all over the country.
I want to take some time to acknowledge the victims and the heroes of the Boston Marathon Bombing. Spectators and other runners had the volunteer spirit to stop and aid the wounded. The First Responders who were at the scene rushed over to help despite the risk that there could be more bombs besides the two that went off. Luckily, there were no more explosions after that. In the worst situation the spirit of volunteerism was at its peak. Peace comes when tragedy happens and people come through and put their lives on the line for the safety of their fellow neighbors. This is peace and this is hope. The volunteer spirit is also represented when Our Military sacrifice their lives to protect and save their fellow team members and our country. The volunteer spirit has an influence over me.
Your Neighbor,
Jake
Jake & Deborah Blatt at Girl-topia
My Family at the Volunteer Spirit Awards
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