Our Support Making a Difference
National Grid Foundation volunteers to Light the Night to wipe out blood cancer. D EST I N Y I X Q 4 2019
National Grid Foundation
Team National Grid Foundation
Shines a Light and Raises $ for Leumemia and Lymphoma Society By Christine Berardi
One lantern glows. Many lanterns shine. Thousands of lanterns brighten the night sky at the Light the Night events sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).
www.nationalgridfoundation.com
Destiny newsletter is a quarterly publication created to give you a glimpse into the stories of some of the organizations and programs National Grid Foundation supports. 2
Editor Creative Director Executive Director
Christine Berardi Pamela Focá Edward H. White Jr.
Destiny Newsletter Issue - IX Q4 2019
National Grid Foundation
Proceeds from the annual event supported by local LLS chapters across the country help advance theorganization’s mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life for patients and their families. Team National Grid Foundation volunteered and participated at the Long Island Light the Night event held October 19 at Eisenhower Park in Westbury, NY. Foundation employees, National Grid colleagues, family and friends joined together and raised $6,500 toward the already $1.4 million in donations for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A final total has not been reported as fundraising continued until the end of 2019. “National Grid Foundation and National Grid are extremely proud to come together in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,” said Ed White, executive director, National Grid Foundation. “Light the Night event is special because it brings everyone together for the same purpose – to improve lives and destroy blood cancers.” Illuminated 3-D inspirational words including “love”, “courage”, “support”, “light”, “hope” and “cure” were placed across the field where participants gathered before the walk. Family and friends enjoyed delicious food and took photos in the photo booth while kids played in the bounce houses and had their faces painted by volunteer artists. Walkers carried illuminated lanterns in three colors: white lanterns by survivors; red lanterns by supporters; gold lanterns by those walking in memory of loved ones lost to cancer. After the sun set and Event Emcee Tony Makrides and Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon completed their speeches, all walkers shared a moving and inspirational moment.
The stadium lights were turned off and the night sky was illuminated by all the lanterns. Emcee Makrides asked those battling cancer to go up to the front of the stage and form a circle with their white lanterns. Family members and friends of those who have passed away, formed a circle with their yellow lanterns around the survivors. All supporters with red lanterns surrounded both groups to show support and to bring light to the darkness of cancer. In support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night event, more than 6,500 walkers gathered at Eisenhower Park to celebrate, honor and remember those touched by cancer. With their lanterns shining bright, walkers completed the 1.3-mile route through the neighborhood and headed back to the park for a fireworks display. Now that’s lighting up the sky! ❧
● Rudolph and Antoinette Roesler de Villiers started a fundraising and education organization in 1949 five years after their son Robbie died of leukemia at age 16. The Foundation named in their son’s name later became The Leukemia Society. ● The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) mission is to cure blood cancers with pioneering cancer research and treatments and provide patient support services. ● Leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other blood cancers affect bone marrow, blood cells, lymph nodes and other parts of the lymphatic system. ● LLS helped advance 34 of the 39 blood cancer treatment options approved by the FDA in 2017 and 2018. ● 1.2 million Americans live with blood cancer ● Every 3 minutes someone is diagnosed; every 9 minutes someone dies of blood cancer ● Five-year survival rates for all blood cancers have doubled, tripled and even quadrupled since the 1960s and 1970s due to advanced treatment therapies.
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National Grid Foundation
SI Students Use Their Minds and Hands to Build a Rigamajig By Christine Berardi
What do you get when you give a group of inquisitive and imaginative children wooden planks, nuts and bolts, wheels, pulleys, rope and gears?
A Rigamajig! Thanks to a new program and traveling exhibit, the Staten Island Children’s Museum (SICM) is fostering children’s curiosity and giving them the freedom to unlock their creativity. Children at several Staten Island North Shore libraries are participating in the new “SICM on the Go with STEAM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) outreach program. The program provides opportunities for children to take part in hands-on STEAM activities at local libraries, afterschool programs and in community centers. It’s a big hit with students and librarians. “We are thrilled to be part of the ‘SICM on the Go with STEAM’ program,” said Cherryl Bailey from the West New Brighton Library. “It gives our staff a chance to engage with the children in a new and exciting way and helps the kids see that the library is more than a place that you can go to for books. It’s also a place where they can try some new things and engage in these types of learning activities that feel more like play.” The program’s activity is centered on the Rigamajig traveling engineering exhibit, which
the Children’s Museum lends for one to two months at a time. The Rigamajig allows children ages 4-12 to build simple machines while using their imaginations and fine motor skills. The concepts are openended and without formal instructions, allowing the young builders to let their imaginations soar and while creating their own original structures. “The Rigamajig builder project has been enthusiastically received by the participants,” said Zoë Tirado, Program Manager at the Staten Island Children’s Museum. “By bringing this mobile design lab to the library branches, we are able to reach children who may not have the opportunity to visit us here on site at the Museum.” “We are excited to deliver creative expression and STEAM exploration with more children and families beyond our walls and to make even deeper connections with our community,” said Dina Rosenthal, Executive Director of the Staten Island Children’s Museum. “We are grateful to the National Grid Foundation for their support of this new outreach program.❧
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National Grid Foundation
SevenHills ASPiRE Finds a Home for Workforce Readiness Training in Worcester ASPIRATION: A hope or ambition of achieving something By Debrah Drew
At SevenHills, ASPiRE is their “middle name” and what this non-profit organization achieves is nothing short of ambitious. The mission of Seven Hills Family ASPiRE!, an Affiliate of Seven Hills Foundation, is to promote and encourage the empowerment of people with significant challenges so that each may pursue their highest possible degree of personal well-being and independence. Services include adult day programming and job skills development and employment opportunities that are provided throughout Central Massachusetts, North Central and South Valley. Its new Workforce Readiness and Employment program provides a pathway to employment for individuals with disabilities, and it now also has a new historical site at which program participants can experience real time employment.
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National Grid Foundation
ASPiRE! Participant, Anne Chandler outside of the new Seven Hills Café along with Jay Hayston, Vice President of Seven Hills ASPiRE! and Tim Johnson, Assistant Vice President of Seven Hills ASPiRE!
“We are grateful to The National Grid Foundation for its generous $25,000 grant to Seven Hills ASPiRE! towards our Workforce Readiness and Employment program. These muchappreciated funds were instrumental in helping us launch a new community-based workforce readiness and job-training site, Seven Hills Café, located in the former Stearns Tavern at Coe’s Park in Worcester” commented Kathleen Jordan, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Seven Hills Foundation. “This job training site is particularly meaningful as it provides real-time training experiences in a community setting for the individuals we support and helps prepare them for competitive employment in their own community.” The new Seven Hills Café at Coe’s Park – opened in collaboration with the City of
Worcester and Preservation Worcester, is the fourth Café that is operated by Seven Hills and participants of the Seven Hills’ Workforce Readiness and Employment program. In addition to internship tracks in Café management, food service, landscaping, and facilities maintenance, paid interns help to coordinate and provide catering for the on-site community meeting space. Seven Hills Workforce Readiness and Employment program provides over 300 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism and brain injury with functional vocational assessments, career planning, soft skills training, job-specific training, job placement, on-site job coaching, and more on an annual basis.❧ 7
National Grid Foundation
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National Grid Foundation
LAZARUS HOUSE: Beyond Workforce Development; Providing Sustainable Employment to Break the Cycle of Poverty By Deborah Drew
Did you know there were two men named Lazarus who were mentioned in the Bible? The first, was raised from the dead. The other, was very poor, probably homeless and a beggar. He often stayed at the gates of a rich man in hopes of getting scraps to eat. Did you know there were two men named Lazarus who were mentioned in the Bible? The first, was raised from the dead. The other, was very poor, probably homeless and a beggar. He often stayed at the gates of a rich man in hopes of getting scraps to eat. Lazarus House, named for the latter, and a National Grid Foundation supported nonprofit organization based in Lawrence, MA, is a gospel-based ministry and seeks to restore dignity and self-respect to empower its guests: The poor, underserved and homeless individuals and families. Since opening its doors as a five-bed emergency homeless shelter in 1983, Lazarus House has been breaking the cycle of poverty in the Merrimack Valley region. Its food and clothing programs assist families by stretching their dollars so they can afford rent, heat and utilities. Shelter and housing provide a safe haven for homeless families and individuals. Certainly, the more than 25,000 households annually served by Lazarus House live a daily struggle to get their most basic needs met. It provides physical, emotional and spiritual shelter from the hardships suffered in their lives, giving
them the opportunity to see the possibilities and have choices they otherwise would not have. But it also provides a specific program, supported by the Foundation, that enables adults with low incomes to build sustainable independent lives and move well beyond poverty. Lazarus House’s Education and Work Preparation Program combines intensive, standards-based ESOL instruction that helps 60 students build practical language skills as well as professional-level training. Under the Culinary Training Program, with Foundation funding, 20 students (and their families) annually are beneficiaries of the program. Kae LeFebre, a veteran teacher with 40 years in the Lawrence Public School system, and Elaine Chirichiello, executive chef at Andover (MA) Country Club, have helped shaped the program into what it is today. Each year, together, they take interns from the program, and provide training and opportunity for them. “On a professional level, the culinary prep program provides such a service to our surrounding communities. We are providing local establishments with much needed trained 9
National Grid Foundation
Top row: Jonathan Romero,John Zarella, Chef Elaine Chirichiello, Kae lefebre, Chef Bonnie Hyslip Bottom row: Irene Magunga, Michelle Powell, Lisette Cruz
foodservice employees,” Chef Elaine Chirichiello, explained. “On a personal level, I am so blessed and honored to be part of this program. Not only do I get to see each student work toward achieving personal goals, but I get to help them realize that they are part something bigger: A team. I love watching each class start off as individuals only to grow with each other and for each other each week. They learn that when they help each other they can accomplish so many things. That’s what Lazarus House means
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to me: Helping one another.” “Helping to develop this critical program is one of the greatest accomplishments of my career,” said Kae LeFebre. “Each session, I get to personally help break the cycle of poverty in this area by teaching my students much-needed skills, preparing them with required certifications, and launching them into careers and jobs that positions them for independence, dignity and success.”❧
National Grid Foundation
On behalf of the Lazarus House Work Preparation Program, a sincere ‘Thank You’ to The National Grid Foundation for your generous support of our education programming. With your support it is possible for participants of our culinary training to be nationally ServSafe Certified as Food Managers, gain realworld experience, and an additional 300 hours, as paid interns in local restaurants and food establishments, and advance their proficiency in the field to move forward to permanent employment with amazing growth potential. What a difference your support makes in the lives of our Guests!!! Linda Vincent
Education & Work Preparation Coordinator
Under the Lazarus House training program: ● More than 100 graduates currently are working in the food service industry in many settings such as fine dining, schools and hospitals ● The organization partners with more than 50 chefs and local establishments for internships and placement opportunities
● Several program graduates have started their own businesses ● Several graduates return to serve as instructors and mentors
● Most students come from challenging backgrounds; are immigrants; are unemployed or underemployed; survivors of domestic violence; etc.
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“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.” — Jane Goodall