Sometimes
you're a Light House, sometimes you're lost at sea.
July
was about soaring....as I flew around the country connecting
with amazing children and adults from San Francisco and San
Jose, Chicago, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and hundreds
of professionals at the Working Mother Media Multicultural
Conference right here in the Big Apple.
While in Maine walking along the cliffs on the outskirts of
Portland, we came to a lighthouse that was built in 1790 by
George Washington. It was tall and elegant, painted white with
green trim. And, it was extremely comforting. I felt a strong
affinity towards this lighthouse because we have the same purpose.
When I started Soaringwords six years ago, I knew that its mission
was to be a beacon of hope and inspiration for millions of ill
children and their families during the height of serious illnesses.
Just like the lighthouse! I sat there for some time and felt
peaceful and hopeful. I feel blessed to be part of a universal
legacy of providing strength to others when they are feeling
lost.
As
you know, the people of New Orleans
are still putting their lives together after the storm. We're
inviting you to come with us! Invite your co-workers, bring
your children and family, come with friends or make new ones
by joining the Soaringwords delegation. You'll have the opportunity
to mentor hundreds of children in New Orleans and share the
hands-on Soaringwords team-building programs.... with school
children and hospitalized children.... participate in the world's
largest Dance Jam that will rock New Orleans, enjoy an Awards
Dinner, and a SoaringCelebration at the Art Museum. Click
here to get more information and sign up. Please
forward this link to all your friends and co-workers. Also,
forward it to your Human Resources person to see if they can
post the initiative on your company's Intranet. You can also
share it with your children’s schools to see if your kids and
their friends would like to join us. Check out the new Soaringwords
New Orleans video on YouTube.
One of our corporate sponsors, Cisco Systems doesn't do anything
small and their Take Our Children to Work Day event was no exception.
I was standing in the largest tent I've ever seen at Cisco's
headquarters in San Jose waiting to be the inspirational speaker
for 2,000 kids and professionals. Imagine the biggest tent you've
ever seen at a wedding or celebration and multiply it tenfold.
Annmarie Neal, one of the top Human Resources leaders was the
emcee of the program and the person who was going to introduce
me and John Chambers, Cisco's CEO. Annmarie shared a powerful
story from her childhood with the audience. Her brother was
hospitalized for two years and died when he was five years old.
During this time, her mother created a special quilt. She sewed
a lot of her grief, blessings and love into that quilt. This
story represents how many people are affected by childhood illness
and loss. And how the need for Soaringwords really resonates
with them.
After the
presentation, over 600 Cisco employees and their children decorated
hundreds of SoaringQuilts® and SoaringPillows® with
inspirational messages and artwork. These quilts and pillows
will be donated to hospitalized children as part of Cisco Santa
Claus Connection which links hospitalized kids to Santa in the
North Pole with Cisco technology. Soaringwords was honored to
be the charity partner for this program which will be featured
on Dan Rather's show in December.
And this is what it's all about. Sharing love and creativity
to make a difference in the lives of ill children and their
families.
Photos
above:
Left-At Cisco's Take Our Children to Work Day. Right-me with
with John Chambers, CEO of Cisco
Speaking
of sharing love and creativity, energy and passion, we had four
fabulous Soaringwords Goldman
Sachs Community TeamWorks projects with 85 Goldman
Sachs volunteers in Chicago, Jersey City, and two events in
New York City where the Goldman teams mentored 165 children
from local Boys & Girls Clubs and the Educational Alliance.
It's always moving to see how a group of strangers comes together
as a cohesive community in a matter of a few hours. This is
our fourth year as a Community TeamWorks partner. This year,
we added a new twist to the full-day employee volunteer experience...
after the Opening Assembly, hands-on Quilts and Pillows project
and Closing Awards Ceremony came the Soaringwords NIA dance
jam. Why have a dance jam as part of our Soaringwords events
you may ask? Well, it's a logical question with a relevant answer
that supports Soaringwords' mission. Many pediatric illnesses
including obesity, diabetes, asthma, heart disease, and many
other serious conditions have strong links to poor diet, nutrition
and lack of exercise. That's why we've been sharing Soaringwords
NIA dance jams with thousands of kids and grown-ups these past
three years. Our latest innovation is to invite each team to
spend 15 minutes putting together some original choreography
before performing these red hot individual dance jams for the
entire group. We will start posting these mini dance jams on
the Soaringwords site so you can experience the energy and joy.
At the close of the program, the entire group participates in
a one-hour jam led by a professional NIA dance instructor.
Photos
above:
Left- Children at the Educational Alliance rock the house with
Soaringwords Nia Dance Jam. Right- Kids at the James Jordan
Boys & Girls Club in Chicago.
I had the
honor of learning from Edie Weiner author of FutureThink:
How to Think Clearly in a Time of Change. Edie is going
to be one of the expert side-bar contributors for my upcoming
book, Soaringwords 10 ways to Overcome Life’s Pain and Obstacles
which will be published in 2008.
Wishing
you strength and soaringwords.
Much love,
Photo Above: With Carol Evans, CEO & Publisher,
Working Mother Media. At this year’s Working Mother
Media Multicultural Conference. Imagine the POWER and energy
of 800 professionals: it was transformational.
Best of the Best
You know
who you are. Thanks for doing something truly wonderful to help
us soar higher. This month we want to thank:
Nurit Amdur
of Alex Toys; Angela Grywalski of Baesman Response Marketing;
Rich Marcar of Buttons Sound; Margaret Hopes of Hudson County
Boys & Girls Club; from Cisco Systems: Ray Hadulco and Jennifer
Mitchell, Annmarie Neal; Jere King and Lauren Ventura; Pat David
at CitiGroup; from Goldman Sachs: Joan Ai, Debbie Jacobson,
Pam Kolzow and Mahnaz Maqsudi, Goldman Sachs Community TeamWorks
leaders: Kimberley Arrington, Megan Barker, Thomas Gilligan,
Kate Greenthal, James Langan, Debbie Leone and Luis Santos;
Cynthia McKnight of Educational Alliance; Khari Humphries of
James Jordan Boys & Girls Club; Robert Sherman of Paul Hastings;
Scott Buckley of Saatchi Youth Connection; Jeff Bitsimis and
Olof Wadehn from SRT for DVD reproduction; Jim Lodge of UJC;
from UnitedHealthcare: Dr. Alan Muney and Maria Pomponi; from
Working Mother Media for the Multicultural Marketing
Conference: Carol Evans and her team; Beth Rosenberg for the
Women's Executive Circle conference in the Hamptons; Kristan
Bridges and Stephanie Rickert for the Nia Dance Jam at Hudson
County Boys & Girls Club; Thomas Estler for the Nia Dance
Jam at Educational Alliance; Beth Gelles for her hospitality
and California flair; my book agent Michael Larsen of Larsen
Pomada; Caitlin Miller for superb editing on New Orleans video;
Brian Muni for his original soundtrack for New Orleans video
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