Lisa
Buksbaum's Monthly Letter: June, 2007
June is my favorite month of the year… since I
like to celebrate my birthday all month long.
We had an action-packed month with lots of high-points
and excitement.
June kicked-off at Book Expo America where I spent three days
with 30,000 authors, publishers, agents, librarians, and aficionados.
It was very exciting to be there. I had a chance to meet several
celebrity authors including R.L. Stine (he wrote all of the
Goosebumps books for children) Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner)
and Russell Simmons (his new book is Do You!).
Photo above: R.L. Stein and
me at the Book Expo America
Make a Difference Day (Oct. 26-27):Join
us for our third national initiative on the largest day of volunteering
in the U.S. We are honored to be a national charity partner
with USA Weekend and the Points of Light Foundation. Our goal
is to have 10,000 volunteers be part of Soaringwords this year,
click
here to learn about how your company can get involved as
a corporate sponsor.
Soaringwords New Orleans Healing
Mission:
We’re talking to Marriott, JetBlue, Ellen DeGeneres,
Russell Simmons and hundreds of our best supporters about joining
us in New Orleans on Nov. 9-12 for the Fourth Soaringwords New
Orleans Healing Mission.
Soaringwords Volunteer Experience:
It’s always a wonderful feeling to be able to
thank people who made a difference in your life. That’s why
it was thrilling to share a Soaringwords hands-on team-building
employee volunteer experience with hundreds of employees at
UnitedHealthcare’s corporate headquarters in Trumbull, CT on
June 4th. I was happy to personally tell the nurses and claims
fulfillment professionals how their support was instrumental
in my son’s complete recovery many years ago. We all had a good
cry and they decorated 100 quilts and pillows to donate to Yale
New Haven Children's Hospital.
Photo above: UnitedHealthcare
employees are proud to embrace hospitalized kids at Yale New
Haven Children's Hospital
On June 6th, Soaringwords was the culmination of Pro-Bono week
at the law firm of Baker & McKenzie. Imagine how excited
75 students from Intermediate School 528 were to have a gourmet
lunch in the Corporate Board Room overlooking Bryant Park. Afterwards,
the professionals and students decorated SoaringQuilts®
and SoaringPillows® that were donated to children at The
Children's Hospital of Montefiore.
Photo above: Baker & McKenzie employees
with IS528 students
On June 7, I was invited to the American Advertising Federation’s
(AAF) national conference which was held in Louisville, Kentucky.
There were 1,000 participants including Corporate Marketing
Officers from Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Kellogg, AOL, Microsoft, and
all of the leading advertising agencies from around the country
including Ogilvy & Mather, Saatchi & Saatchi, DDB and
Porter Novelli. We went to Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky
Derby and heard behind-the-scenes insights on the latest trends
from industry leaders. I toured the Louisville Slugger factory
(sometimes it’s fun to be a tourist) and bought both of my son’s
engraved Major League Baseball bats which I was able to pack
in the suitcases and bring back to New York City. A major coup.
Saturday night Joe Piscopo was the Master of Ceremonies for
the ADDY Awards dinner, the best of the best ads from around
the country. Joe was doing his Las Vegas act with classic tunes
from Frank Sinatra and even some band members from Sinatra's
band. It was a fabulous evening. The conference was a great
opportunity to share Soaringwords with so many marketing and
advertising leaders. It was really interesting to meet the leaders
of the AAF Chapters from around the country. Many clubs are
interested in inviting members to donate public service advertising
to Soaringwords and engaging in community-service programs.
I look forward to announcing some exciting cause-related marketing
initiatives that came out of being part of the AAF Conference.
Photo left: Joe Piscopo and
me. Photo right: At Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby
with Frank Cooper, III , Vice President Carbonated Soft Drinks,
PepsiCo and the incoming Vice-Chair of the AAF
Transitions and
Graduations:
My son Joshua celebrated his Fourth Grade Moving
Up ceremony on June 14. Soaringwords was the hands-on community
service experience for the 67 fourth graders to mark their move
to the Middle School (this is the big time when you’re ten years
old!)
Photo above: Ramaz students
celebrate Moving Up Day with Soaringwords
On June 15th, 30 Summer Hires from JPMorgan celebrated
the end of their Orientation Week by mentoring 100 children
at PS152 with a full-day Soaringwords Educational Outreach program.
We had a kick-off assembly, hands-on decoration of 100 quilts
and pillows, followed by a Closing Awards ceremony, and spirited
Soaringwords NIA dance jam where the kids were flying around
the gym and having a blast. After a pizza lunch, we boarded
a bus and went to the Children's Hospital of Montefiore where
115 children were surprised and delighted to get their very
own SoaringQuilts and SoaringPillows hand-delivered by the JPMorgan
volunteers. I know that all of the volunteers slept very soundly
on Friday night! So did the hospitalized children.
Photos left: Nia Dance Jam led
by the Founder of NIA NY, Caroline Kohles at PS152. Photo
right: JPMorgan volunteers at The Children's Hospital
at Montefiore.
On June 21st, Soaringwords kicked off its fourth
year being part of Goldman Sachs Community TeamWorks employee
volunteer programs. The Goldman Sachs team mentored the second
and third graders at PS 152 for their end of year celebration.
Then we donated 100 quilts and pillows to children at the Morgan
Stanley Children's Hospital at Columbia Presbyterian.
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:
From the AAF: Peter Shuh and the President of the AAF, Wally
Synder; From Baesman Response Marketing: Angela Grywalski; From
Baker McKenzie: Michelle Burton, Robert Grauman and Danielle
Reno; The organizers of Book Expo America. R.L. Stine, Alan
Alda, Jodi Picoult, Russell Simmons and James Powell, his agent;
Marilyn Duffy Grande and Debbie Jacobson and from Goldman Sachs
for our fourth year as a Community TeamWorks charity partner.
From JPMorgan: Dalila Wilson-Scott, Monica Mack and Danielle
Crayton at the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Dan Temple and Gabrielle
Zandar for organizing the JPMorgan Summer associate program;
Caroline Kohles, founder, NIA NY for running a high-energy fun
NIA dance jam; for Thomas Elster for being the pied piper in
his NIA dance jam; From I.S 528: Barbara Diaz and Principal
Norma Perez; At Montefiore Medical Center, Megan Kelly and the
entire Child Life team; For the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital
thanks to Sharron Madden and the Child Life team. From Ogilvy
& Mather: Andy Berndt, Co-President; PepsiCo: Frank Cooper
III; The Washington Post: Richard Tippett, From P.S 152: David
Grisevich and Principal Julia Pietri; UnitedHealthcare: Dr.
Alan Muney, Maria Pomponi, Maria Gordon Shydlo; Soaringwords
Summer Interns Lindsay Brine, Abby Klausner, Joey Klausner,
Sara Sweetbaum, Diana Graham and Kenyella White; Soaringwords
volunteers: Brett Barndt, Linda Breskin, Fran Motola and Euphemia
Martin; Thanks to Moishes Movers and finally Sheryl Kaye for
an effervescent gift.
Sending you much love and soaring energy,
Lisa Honig Buksbaum
CEO & Founder, Soaringwords
lisa@soaringwords.org
212-290-7627
Join me next month at the following Soaringwords events: San
Jose on July 12 with Cisco; Chicago on July 13 with Goldman
Sachs and the James Jordan Boys & Girls Club kids; in Jersey
City with Goldman Sachs and the Hudson County Boys & Girls
Club on July 19.
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