Friday, June 19, 2009
Exceptional Human Beings
8:35 PM | 
Posted by
David Boston
I know this is a little off-topic, but I just read three stories in a row about good people doing good things related to poverty and I felt pretty good myself afterwards, so I thought I'd share. Besides, with all of the corruption, threats and violence in the world being a little more prevalent in the media right now, it helps to read a good story or two to keep your chin up.
The first story is actually about a pair of sibling do-gooders who run a multicultural not-for-profit organization. Qurrat Ann Kadwani actually founded the organization, eyeBLINK, and she is also the artistic director and an actor. The purpose of eyeBLINK is to open peoples' minds to themes of multiculturalism through plays, music and dance.
Qurrat's brother, Obaid Kadwani, is also an actor and he hosts the TV-network "Namaste America," frequently covering Bollywood news among other things. He is the business manager of eyeBLINK, and he started eyeBLINK's charitable event called "Pizza for the Hungry" which hosts pizza parties in homeless shelters for one week every year. There are six lunches going on tomorrow. I have listed the cities, shelters, and times below:
- Los Angeles, CA: PATH: 12:00pm
- Chicago, IL: Door of Hope Rescue Mission: 12:00pm
- Boston, MA: Boston Rescue Mission: 11:30am
- Boston, MA: Rosie's Place: 11:30am
- Boston, MA: Pine St. Inn: 11:00am
- Boston, MA: St. Francis House: 11:30am
I hope that this brother-sister actor duo continue to expand multiculturalism and hunger prevention for many years to come, because they truly seem like exceptional human beings.
The second story that I read about was an old story from a couple years back, but included Rob Brezsny, the astrology column guy. Though he doesn't, to my knowledge, have a track record in helping the poor, this was a pretty exceptional deed, if only for how strange of a method it was.
This is a picture of Brezsny on the side of the road near a highway exit handing out wads of cash as people drove by. He clearly wasn't targeting the poorest of poor people, or he wouldn't be trying to hand cash out to car owners. However, he still acted on the fact that he's rich, wants to help, and didn't even do it in a way that allows him to deduct from his taxes. So good for him.
The third story that I read was sad, but it includes two young boys who are definitely exceptional human beings. Both of the young boys are walking to DC from Florida in order to spread awareness of child homelessness.
The first boy, Zach, is in the fifth grade, and he has walked from Tampa to Atlanta so far. This summer, he is finishing the walk from Atlanta to DC in order to raise awareness about child homelessness. He will be collecting letters as he goes, and will be delivering them all to President Obama when he arrives in DC to encourage him to support the fight against homelessness.
The second boy, David, is in the eighth grade, and he started his walk from Orlando to DC this summer. He had planned to stop in homeless shelters to sleep during the nights and receive free meals wherever he could. However, by the time that he arrived in DeLand, he found out that his younger sister had fallen off of her bike face first and suffered a brain injury that she is due for surgery on at the University of Virginia Medical Center.
David was brought back home quickly to be with his sister until the surgery. However, he is quoted saying he would eventually continue his trip, but not until after he spends time with his sister.
"I am sorry if this delay inconveniences anyone," Ashby said, "but my family comes first, and I must be there for my sister in this crisis. I promise to return very shortly. My mission will not be complete until I return and continue my trek."
Hopefully all ends well.
Thanks for reading.
- David
Categories:
Poverty
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Search the Blog
Translate
Subscribe to the Blog:
Posts
Comments
Followers
Categories
- Books (6)
- Community Planning (2)
- Films (2)
- Homelessness (2)
- International Planning (11)
- People in Planning (6)
- Planning in History (4)
- Planning Today (16)
- Politics (26)
- Poverty (39)
- Transportation (10)
- Urban Design (4)
- Urban Planning (64)
Related Blogs
Who is this fool?
- David Boston
- I graduated from the University of North Florida with a BA in Political Science, double-minoring in Public Administration and Urban & Metropolitan Studies. Starting in the Fall of 2010, I'll be pursuing a Master's degree in Urban Studies and Planning from the University of Maryland - College Park.
0 comments:
Post a Comment