Thanks to all who came to our Earth Day~Tab Night Program on April 22nd! It was a phenomenal success! Below is an article written for the TJ. Enjoy!
erika
Library's
Tab Night Refuels Shriners
Erika Schmid
Schoharie Free Library celebrated Earth Day Monday night with a
unique blend of environmentalism and community service. Since 2009
the library has been collecting pull tabs for Shriners Hospitals for
Children in Springfield, MA in honor of patient, and lower limb
amputee, Jubilee Schmid. As part of the library's Earth Day
programming a tab collection night was planned as well as a program
presented by Shriners John Minozzi, Associate Member of the Board of
Governors, Jerry Divendorf, Donald Bond, Jack Norray, and Richard
Huntermark all members of the Cyprus Shrine which was chartered in
1877 in Albany.
“The only thing I can say is that Shriners is a place where
miracles happen,” John Minozzi began as he shared about the
program.
Newly elected to the Board of Governors, Mr. Minozzi has been making
several visits to the hospital to meet with the doctors, patients and
staff. “One day I got lost, and Dr. D. (Dr. David Drvaric), the
chief-of-staff, found me and walked me right to where I needed to go.
What other hospital can you to to where a chief-of-staff does such
things?”
Mr. Minozzi went on to explain how Shriners has 22 hospitals in the
United States that are funded through private donations and
fundraising. The very tabs that the library was collecting were
going to be used to help fuel the vans that transport patients to
their Springfield hospital. “Every single hospital we have built
is exactly the same, and we treat patients regardless of their
ability to pay,” he shared. “I cannot walk into the hospital
without shedding a tear.”
At the close of his presentation the floor was opened for a Q&A
session. One participant inquired about how the tab program worked.
Jack Norray, a Shriner from Glenmont, shared pictures with the
audience of 55 gallon drums filled with pull tabs. “Each one of
these containers is filled with enough tabs to fuel a van round trip
to Shriners. One drum holds 80 pounds of tabs,” he explained.
The next set of pictures showed pick-up trucks filled with tabs from
a school in the Capitol District area whose goal it was to fill one
pick-up truck with tabs for Shriners. “They filled two!” Mr.
Norray replied proudly.
Another audience member was amazed at how she had never heard of such
a wonderful institution. “For many years we confess we have hidden
our light under a bushel,” Jerry Divendorf admitted. “We are
currently remedying that. We have begun advertising, and of course
you can see us in parades. In fact I am one of the Shriners who
drives the cars you see in the parades.”
All Shriners are volunteers and donate their time and energy to help
support the hospital from marching in parades, to driving the vans,
to helping man the visitor desk at the hospital. In fact, Richard
Huntermark spends a great deal of time woodworking and making
projects for the hospitals which can be seen by the patients upon
their visits.
Donald Bond, a Cobleskill resident and president of the Schoharie
County Shrine Club, is a van driver who recently made his 80th
trip to the hospital. However, it is not just to Springfield where
he is asked to drive. Other trips have included shuttling patients
to Shriners hospitals in Boston where they have a burn center, and
Philadelphia as well. “In all of my time as a driver,” he began,
“I have never heard a child cry.”
The goal of the Shriners is to make their hospitals a home away from
home for children who go through, for many, a life time of
procedures. “Some of these children come into the programs when
they are babies,” Mr Minozzi explained, “and are with us until
they are twenty-one. I was there the other day when a young woman
was graduating out of the program and had come to receive her
records. It was very emotional. She was saying good-bye to people
who had been her family.”
Mr. Minozzi continues to explain that children are referred into the
Shriners program by a local Shriner. They then have an assessment to
see if their medical condition is treatable by the hospital. Once
this is completed the child is entered into the program where they
receive treatment regardless of their ability to pay until the age of
21.
At the conclusion of the Q&A a video montage of testimonials of
patients was shared followed by the ceremonial filling of the thirty
gallon trash can. Jubilee Schmid received the donated tabs and began
to pour them into the can. When it was seen that there was more
than she could fill on her own other children from the audience were
called in to assist.
The library received word from Shriners on Friday that fifty pounds
of tabs were collected on Earth Day, enough to put enough fuel into
the van for a one way trip. “It took two people to load the tabs
into the pick-up truck,” Director Cathy Caiazzo said. “Fifty
pounds of tabs made their way out of the library! That is just
phenomenal!”
Schoharie Free Library continues to be a collection center for pull
tabs and welcomes residents of Schoharie to drop off their tabs any
time during library hours. The library also has literature on
Shriners Hospitals and information on how to refer a child. Shriners
Hospital in Springfield specializes in Orthopaedic, Cleft Lip/Palate
and Rheumatological care. You can also learn more at
www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org.
