A Day of Hope in Central Park.

See Photos of this day here.

By all measure, this year’s Central Park Challenge was the biggest and the best in 23 years! There were more adults, more kids, more runners, more supporters and more refreshments! Choc full O’ Nuts, one of the refreshment sponsors for the day, brought a whole new feel to the park when it showed up in it’s “Coffee Bus”– a little reminiscent of the icecream man, but for adults (though the crazy parents these days will let their kids eat anything!).

As always, the Play area was alive with hundreds of energetic little people, draped in sometimes oversized orange shirts (this year, the Central Park Challenge stayed true to it’s brand colors– the park was alive with blue, yellow and orange). Face painting , sand art, the bouncing castle and the Jr. All American Races, all staples of the Central Park Challenge, were present again this year. One new addition to the show however was Audra Rox: from my vantage point, she sounded good, but I think she recieved mixed reviews overall. Whatever the case, the Play area was a success this year, and I hope the Central Park Challenge keeps it a success each year by reinventing it frequently.

The stage area this year was amazing! It had a huge yellow stage skirt with all the event sponsors listed in blue. On the stage itself, there was a HUGE-ONGOUS sign that read “A DAY OF HOPE” that acted as the back drop to all the perfomances. Close to the end of the event, as Dr. K’s Motown review brought the day to a close with “Ain’t no mountain high enough” (can you say authentic motown?!), I stood at the back of the crowd and marvelled at the number of people who had braved the warnings of a potential “severe thunderstom”, to be in Central Park, to celebrate this Day of Hope. As the last notes of the song were sang, the towering ”A DAY OF HOPE” sign on stage seemed to bolster the words of Dr. K’s music, and send a wave of excitement through the crowd which quickly rose, and then broke with loud cheers and applause…

…and then the rain finally came.

But by then most people had expended all the Hope they had been holding in for this wonderful event, for a year. And boy had they expended. Earlier in the day (7am-ish), most of these people that were now being ushered out of the park by the rain had run a 5k race, or walked and cheered a mile to show their support for people with disabilities, or both. The rain couldn’t have come at a more opportune time– people needed to be sent home to go recharge for next year’s Central Park Challenge. Will you be there?

I found some pictures of the day here for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy and leave a message.

Do something Now!

The countdown is on! 11 days from now the Central Park Challenge will happen! Act NOW to make a difference in the life of a child, an adult or a senior citizen with developmental and learning disabilities!

Here is what you can do to help:

1. Click here and make a donation of whatever you can afford
2. Form a team online and raise funds, or
3. Spread the word (by sending the URL to friends and family, encouraging them to help out too)

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, or signing up for email or RSS updates. You can also e-mail me at pbaffour.wordpress@gmail.com. Thank you.

Can you make a difference?

Disclaimer

The views expressed below are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views YAI/NIPD Network or any of it’s affiliates, or its Board of Directors or the people they represent.

I blogged about the Central Park Challenge in the past (please click here to visit that blog post), but I don’t think I said much about the organization that’s responsible for this wonderful day: YAI/National Institute for People with Disabilities Network.

The YAI/NIPD Network has been creating hope for people with disabilities for over 50 years. Most people who know about this organization usually know one thing: that it’s a “national leader in the provision of services, education and training in the field of developmental disabilities”. What people might not know is that the YAI/NIPD Network is a leader in the fight for human rights. You can read here about a recent gorundbreaking lawsuit won by the YAI/NIPD Network, that has major implications for the future of housing for people with developmental disabilities and their families.

Please help support YAI’s great work by clicking on the photo below and:

1. Making a donation of JUST $10 (or more if you can afford it)
2. Forming a team and raising funds, or
3. Spreading the word (by sending the URL to friends and family, encouraging them to help out too)

You can also view YAI/NIPD Network’s photostream on flickr here . You can also see YAI’s video’s here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment, or signing up for email or RSS updates. You can also e-mail me at pbaffour.wordpress@gmail.com. Thank you.

Amendment to “Stab-In-The-Dark-Innovation: Plausible?”

So, soon after I made my last post “Stab-In-The-Dark-Innovation: Plausible?”, I recieved and e-mail from Mr. Joachim Breitner letting me know he had responded to a comment I left after I read his blog Nomeata’s Mind Shares.

After reading his respose, I realized that I probably wasn’t too clear about what I said, so I replied to his response. I posted his response and my response below to help you understand better. You can find another one of his blogs here: http://planet.openghana.org/

Joachim Breitner:

Hi Papa,

I wasn’t there for the money (although it was nice to get it, of course), but I went in the spirit of a volunteer – so I went when I felt that it would fail.

Nevertheless I think the trip would have been worth it for SOSHGIC if it had been used properly. Some of the skills I hoped to teach to the kids were rare in Ghana and valuable everywhere else and would have benefitted them.

Ah, and I just find your blog entry at http://pbaffour.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/stab-in-the-dark-innovation-plausible/
and it has a slightly different tone than your comment here , and I agree with what you said there. Please note though that it wasn’t really missing research that caused the failure, but missing internal agreement or even communication.

And BTW, I wasn’t played “a lot” for the standards of a German university student, but it wasn’t cheap for a Ghanian school either.

Papa (Me):

Hi Joachim, thanks for getting back to me. And thanks for seeking out my blog too. I’m really sorry if it sounded a little “stiff” and cold– I can assure you it wasn’t aimed at you. The point I was trying to make in the blog (which I think I need to clean up a bit more) was that SOSHGIC did not do the research THEY needed before deciding that they needed someone to teach Linux. I’ve looked through your blog, so I know you’re very competent in your area of expertise, so again, I do NOT blame you at all for wanting to leave. Rather, I blame SOSHGIC for not taking the time to do the research into how to make sure the students took full advantage of your skills, BEFORE asking you to come in. I hope this clarfies my point.

Also, I agree with you, you probably were not paid “a lot” by German high school standard. I’ll make an amendment to my posting.

Again thanks for going out and trying to help. I am in NY and I work for a non-profit, so I fully understand the heart of a volunteer. Thank you and stay blessed.

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lemons to lemonade

You often hear people talk about making the best of a crappy situation and sometimes wonder, for example, “How the hell do I make the best out of being bitch slapped?”. Now, that’s a valid question…and the answer is, you don’t. In that particular situation, you have limited options: you could return the favor if you think you can take the slapper in a fist fight, or you could call the cops if you’re pretty sure you’re going to get your arse handed to you.

There are an almost infinite variety of crappy situations, and below are some of the relatively ‘nice’ ones that I have encountered in the past year:

• Being spit on by some stranger in the street
• Being stuck in a subway car when someone farts (though that actually inspired a poem I once wrote: “Ode to Train Farts”)
• Being puked on etc.

To be entirely honest, I still haven’t figured out how to turn being puked on or spit on into ‘lemonade’, however, I still believe anything can be made use of in a positive way if you open your mind to it.

I believe that the reason many people don’t turn their ‘lemons’ into ‘lemonade’ is because they don’t want to, not because they’re incapable of. And I believe the reason people don’t want to utilize their lemons is that they feel that by doing so, it somehow diminishes it’s importance. I want to tell you that making lemons into lemonade in no diminishes the importance you attach to your lemon.

Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way suggesting that it’s easy, say, to get over the loss of one of the most important people in your life. In fact, I don’t even encourage you to force yourself to get over that loss until you’re good and ready to– take your time and grieve. However, what I would encourage is that you harness all that emotional energy generated from your loss, and do something positive with it. Then you’ll have lemonade…lemonade you and your loved ones will be proud of.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions or ideas you’d want to share.

(Note: It’s also said that one man’s meat is another man’s poison, so if you figure out a way to make my lemons into lemonade, please let me know.)