AVRUM'S BLOG is hosted and authored by me, Avrum Rosensweig, the founder and president of Ve'ahavta: The Canadian Jewish Humanitarian & Relief Committee. I am also a writer, artist and a father.
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B'shalom, Avrum (avrum@veahavta.org) 
Last night I co-coordinated a fundraiser for Haiti at a shelter for homeless teens.
My friends Eli and Joan were there and played (on guitar) and sang Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. Two young women living in the shelter came up and sang, exquisitely. A young fellow did a musical interlude on the keyboard. We raised $84.38.
I was impressed. Homeless teens are intense kids. They focus very heavily on the ills of the world and understand clearly, survivalism. They get it, so the language of “Haiti” is clear to them.
When I spoke and said that each and every one of us need to be a citizen of the world when a “Haiti’ occurs, it resonated with them. When I said, “the children of Haiti yell out to us…be there for us,” they got it.
The young people living in this shelter are not much different at all than those living in Haiti, aside from the rubble all strewn about. They live day-to-day, and have little faith in leaders. They wonder where they will be fed next and if anyone gives a shit about them.
Haiti is their language, just short of the fallen walls.
Last night we held a fundraiser at a local shelter. I was touched and impressed and teared up when I was alone later on thinking about what I had just participated in….an evening full of respect for the donor and recipient…full of equality for the homeless kid and the orphaned Haitian.
Help the homeless. Donate respect! Help the people of Haiti by doing the same, and a little cash.
Love Avrum
1 Comment(s)
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There was something very moving about seeing the generosity of youth who have virtually nothing material in this world. For kids who survive on as little as $27 a week, $84 is a fortune.
Eli told a beautiful story about Romeo Dallaire and Rwanda. Dallaire was questioning what he was doing so far away from home in a volatile place with a different culture, language, etc. Then he saved a little boy whose whole village had been massacred. When he looked into the little boy’s eyes, he saw that they were the same as the eyes of his own children, and he had the realization that “No human is more human than any other human.”
I think kids who live in the shelter system often have the experience of being dismissed and discounted because of their life circumstances. They seemed to be very moved that Avrum had expectations of them, that he included them in our collective responsibility to help people that are suffering. He spoke to their humanity, and they rose to the occasion.
I felt very lucky to be part of such a meaningful event.
Thanks Avrum.