Inspiration

    As I read my Facebook newsfeed, I noticed several posts from a childhood friend. She was helping to spread the word that a pizza place in Staten Island, another borough which is just over the bridge from my home in Brooklyn, was accepting donations for pizzas to be delivered to families in the flooded areas of their community. Hmmm...I could donate a pie. I can, at the very least, afford $8. (a very discounted price!) 
    I went to get my credit card to make the call and I stopped cold. Here was my exact thought process:
     "Yum pizza. I like pizza. It's so cold in here, hot pizza would be really good. When is the heat coming back on? I wonder if Pizza D'Amore is delivering. I wonder if Pizza D'Amore will deliver to Breezy Point and Rockaway (two communities just 7 miles from my home and over a different bridge)? I bet they are all cold. Maybe I should call and find out."
       So, I called Pizza D'Amore. It took a few minutes for the waitress to understand what I was asking, "Will you let people call in from all over the country and donate money so we can deliver food to the families in Breezy Point and Rockaway that are homeless?". After consulting her manger, they gave me the green light.
      I will interrupt my own narrative here to give you some background. For the past 3 years, I have been networking through Facebook with a large teacher community. We live all over the United States. We teach the spectrum of grades, abilities and specialties. Most of us met because of our affiliation with an online educational charity*.
     Over the years we have known one another, we have posted information about various activities in our lives. We often ask for small donations for charities or activities we are involved with. The majority of the community members are more than generous. We support each other. It was time to ask for their support again. I posted this message :
      "Hey friends. Many people from here have reached out to me offer support and in a few instances, have actually offered to send food and/or money. You can not believe how touched by love that makes me feel. I know many of you want to help in some way, but feel powerless. There is an online outpouring of love right now for all of the communities hit so hard. One of our teacher friend's community was devastated. Entire blocks of families are living in the streets on the ashes of what used to be their homes. In some cases, these homes have literally been in their families for generations. Anyway, there is a pizza place nearby that accepts credit cards over the phone and will deliver food to a random family in need. If anyone is interested in donating a pie or salad or sandwich, inbox me and I will send you the info. If many people are interested, I will post the info here. No pressure, no worries. Thank you for just being here for me right now. :-) ♥"

    The communities that I was referring to not only suffered from the effects of SSS, but over 150 of their homes burned down during the storm. A large majority of the residents here are first responders. As their own homes burned, they were out in the streets in other neighborhoods saving other people's homes and lives. How do I allow them to go hungry?

   Next, I headed to Twitter and tweeted my appeal. Even if I didn't raise a single dime, I had 2 goals in mind. First, no matter what, I was going to send a pizza to someone in need. And second, I WAS DOING SOMETHING! I believe strongly in the simple philosophy that you can either sit around wishing you could do something or you can actually DO SOMETHING. 
    I reached out to a Twitter friend to retweet my appeal. This way, more people would see what I was trying to do. Maybe it would help. I am honored to say that this Twitter friend, who is most generous, but prefers to remain anonymous to his benefactors, was my first donor! He had supported many of my educational projects in the past. I shouldn't have been surprised. 
    After that, the response was, well, nothing short of phenomenal. Right away, people were requesting that I post the info publicly. From there, it just steam rolled. By the end of the first night, we had collected about $250 in phoned in donations from across the country, in increments of $10 to $50. People donated from Texas, California, North Carolina, New Jersey, Indiana and Missouri, just to name a few! I was pumped! I had a mission and and I had my voice back. People were FINALLY listening to me again!
   When I called Pizza D'Amore, they were slammed! Between the phone ringing off the hook for donors and the restaurant being jam packed (it was one of the only restaurants open in our area), they were unable to do a large order right then. I was disappointed, but I know the money was "on account", and it was getting late. I wasn't sure who would even be around to accept the food so late in the evening. Tomorrow was another day.
   I finally slept. And I didn't cry.

Next: A Sunny Saturday Dawns

We are still accepting donations of any size.
The NY area is expecting a snowstorm tomorrow. These people need our support!

Please call Pizza D'Amore at (718) 531-2223.

Ask for Glenn or Tayla.

Tell them Ellen Goodman told you to call to donate to the food for Rockaway.

Here are the families that we are helping. Katie Couric did this piece. It is no coincidence that she is focused here, they need help!
http://bcove.me/3fm9l675    

     

*We are teacher members and donors of www.DonorsChoose.org
DonorsChoose.org  is an olnline charity that connects ordinary citizen donors to classrooms in need. Donors get to choose the classrooms/projects that they support, and receive feedback from the teacher and students. You can check out the projects for storm effected classrooms here:

www.donorschoose.org/dashfordonors

www.donorschoose.org/JustBecause

www.donorschoose.org/hurricane-sandy