This Friday

Hi Everyone,

This past Friday, Sean Pica, the head of Hudson Link, an education program in NY prisons, gave a deeply moving presentation. Sean spent 16 years in New York prisons for a serious mistake he made as a teenager. Once in prison, he learned that many inmates did not know how to read or write and was asked to read books and read and write letters for many. To make a long story short, Sean was able to eventually get a college degree and once released earned a master’s degree. Sean has made it his mission to make sure that others would get the same opportunity as he had and, through private funding for this program, many hundreds have been able to get degrees themselves. From those who have earned a degree and left the prison system only 1% have returned compared to a 67% return rate that did not earn a degree. What a remarkable man Sean is!

This Friday we have three young ladies coming to share about the 2019 Student of the Year campaign for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the great work they do to find a cure for blood cancers.
I have included the full bio of each, so you understand how special our young speakers are:

Shannon Hoffman is a junior at The Ursuline School in New Rochelle. Shannon has been at Ursuline for six years now and is involved in many activities. She has been on the Ursuline Track and Field team for six seasons and competes in the long and triple jump events. She is also part of the Peer Ministry program at Ursuline where she helps underclassmen grow spiritually. Shannon was a part of the National Junior Honor Society and was recently inducted into the National Honor Society. Shannon is very passionate about fundraising as it’s a big part of her life. Her father does fundraising for a living and it has always interested and inspired her. She hopes to raise a lot of money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society especially because she was so touched by the honored hero’s story about his fight against Leukemia.

Kristen Cadge is also a junior at the Ursuline School. Kristen went to Saint Augustine School in Ossining from Kindergarten to 8th grade and is now also part of the National Honor Society and Peer Ministry at Ursuline. Kristen is part of many clubs, and one of her favorites is Warm Hands Warm Hearts where students cook meals for the Soup Kitchen. Kristen also helps out at Midnight Run where she prepares sandwiches that are brought into the city for the homeless. Along with clubs at school, Kristen has been volunteering at Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville over the past two summers each week, and has been part of the Girl Scouts since Kindergarten. Kristen is very excited to be a part of this amazing cause to raise money for LLS, and is very determined to not only raise money, but to support the fight against cancer.

Like Kristen, Tori has also attended St. Augustine’s from kindergarten to eighth grade. Tori is now a junior at the Ursuline school in New Rochelle. At Ursuline, Tori has discovered her passion for medicine and for a future as a possible physician. To pursue this dream of hers, she has volunteered at Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville, stayed on the UCLA campus for a Future Doctors of American event, and started Ursuline’s very first medical club. When Tori heard about the fundraising competition for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society not only was she interested in the medical aspect of raising money for cancer research, but also the fact that this competition supports such an amazing cause that is so dear to so many people that she loves.

I hope to see each of you there and, as always, please bring a new guest!

Mark J.