NewYorkSaysThankYou.Org UPDATE

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14, 2003 6:00am  

Dear Friends:

As of yesterday Nov 13, The NewYorkSaysThankYou.org  -- NYC to CA Fire Victim Relief Drive story is GETTING BIGGER. As you know, the cross-country adventure started last Wednesday Nov 5 in NYC inspired by my 5 year old son’s vision of sharing his toys with the kids in CA who lost theirs due the wildfires. The story was covered by NY Newsday and a number of TV stations including CBS affiliates in NYC, St. Louis, in Yuma (when the truck broke down) and finally in San Diego where we delivered the FULL truck on Monday Nov. 10 and were met by 8 camera crews. More importantly, the needed relief items were delivered via Father Joe’s Village distribution hub to needy families in Crest and in San Diego. The story got bigger on Tuesday Nov 11 when I did a live interview on KFMB Channel 8 (CBS – San Diego) and then headed out to one of the more isolated communities devastated by the wildfires, Harbison Canyon. All the residents there recognized me from the TV coverage and I spent 7 hours with them. Of the 388 homes in the community, 287 burned and only 101 remain standing – nearly 75% of the homes wiped out. Many of the poorer residents do not have insurance. They have approximately 300 children in this community who are walking around in a fog – the school was saved but after school they are playing in the debris. The people there have formed an impromptu town governing council to coordinate rescue/relief efforts. THEY NAMED A STREET SIGN AFTER EVAN IN HONOR OF HIS DESIRE TO REACH OUT AND INSPIRE COMPASSION. They invited me to a BBQ in the burned out remains of their community’s center – THEIR GROUND ZERO -- The Canyon Inn -- and then I realized we can MAKE AN EVEN GREATER IMPACT NEXT WEEK by creating a sister city relationship.

So here’s how this story just got bigger… 

Yesterday, Irwin Shlachter and the cabinet of the Rodeph Shalom School where my son Evan attends, decided to help me start a “sister community” style program with the residents of Harbison Canyon so that we can gather the necessary items to help keep these 300 kids distracted and furnish one of the remaining buildings in their central park as a “recreation center – lounge - daycare center” with games, videos, interactive/educational toys, crayons, school supplies, hand-drawn pictures, and the like. Today, Friday Nov 14, I am presenting to the Rodeph Shalom Middle School at 2PM on 79th street so that we can have the kids at Rodeph “up the ante” and collect these items over the weekend to deliver next week to Harbison Canyon. I also presented my slide presentation of the trip last evening to residents in the Columbia Condominium where I live and we discussed the possibility of getting a collapsible ping-pong table, other relief items, and perhaps more volunteers over to Harbison Canyon. I’m thinking about flying back next week for 1-2 days as well. I have someone contacting Jet Blue about sponsorship to help defray some costs.

Point is, we can AND WILL make an even greater impact than we did last week. Unlike NYC in 9/11 the devastation from the wildfires is widespread, distributed, and isolated. The Cedar fire spread across 30 MILES, racing through canyons at 60 MPH and destroyed these isolated communities who are going to be sitting in their rubble for weeks, if not months. While the residents are busy forming and managing impromptu city government infrastructures, their kids will be, and probably already are, entering a downward psychological spiral. WE CAN HELP CHANGE THAT.

The media has played a critical role in helping to create this movement of caring for the California fire victims inspired by the compassion shown to New York following 9/11. The Jet Blue flight attendant announced my presence and our story on the flight home Wed night. The whole plane applauded and San Diego residents came over to hug me. A truck driver sitting in back of me offered his truck for the next drive to San Diego. Read the “Guestbook” on the website (www.newyorksaysthankyou.org) to see how people across America are responding to this act of kindness – AND MOVEMENT -- started by a 5 year-old boy in New York wanting to share his toys and love.

When I started this effort I new that the goal would be to replicate the model we created at 96th Street and Broadway and allow other New Yorkers to participate as well in saying “Thank You” for the love we received post 9/11. It’s happening. We’ve received hundreds of e-mails from people wanting to help more. A truck driver is telling his union members. A school is involving their students. A rabbi wants me to tell the congregation. There are so many points of leverage and affiliations for me to meet with to get this story bigger so we can deliver an even greater impact to the people in California and show the world that New Yorkers and Americans care. The newspapers in NY should know. The TV stations should follow the next actions taken by the Rodeph school kids. The other schools can adopt other communities. The firefighters, police, and unions should know. Please continue to tell everyone you know about this. 

If your children want to draw pictures of homes and rainbows or anything else like Jessica and Maya did, please encourage them to do so. Jessica's and Maya's pictures made it safefly cross-country on the truck and are now hanging in the grief-counseling area of a Red Cross tent in Crest with a sign underneath that says "from kids in New York City." The "rec room" in Harbison should be covered with these types of drawings as well.

Once again, if you have any of the above items, please drop them by my apartment 9F/G. I'll assemble them with the items being collected at Rodeph and figure out a way to get them to California next week.

The hugs and tears and blessings I have received over these past days all belong to you.

Please continue to help.

Jeff Parness

917-806-8061

Jeff@NewYorkSaysThankYou.org

www.NewYorkSaysThankYou.org