LOOKING FOR SOCKS, SNEAKERS OR UNDERWEAR

Beyond the joy of having a new son(s) or daughter(s), going through the adoption process has other effects. One result, especially when the adoption process was (tortuously-)involved and lengthy as occurs in most international adoptions, is how the adopting parents are left with the haunting memories of orphans met along the way and who may never find a "forever family." For the past two years, we've been advocating for Michael's younger biological brother, Jose, in hopes of helping to find him a family. It's a joy to announce that Jose will be adopted in the next coming months by, as it turns out, a very talented artist/photographer/dancer based in Nyack, New York, Victor Gagliardi! (I keep thinking that makes him an in-law, but I don't actually know what to call the relationship between two or more sets of people who adopt biologically-related children. These ever-changing family structures are interesting, aren't they?!)

Victor will be going to Colombia in March to pick up Jose. For his visit there, he is conducting a drive for socks, shoes and underwear. A modest request, but meaningful. If you are interested, send to him by March 5. Here is his letter with details and video references to Fundacion Hogar San Mauricio where Michael lived for nearly 7 years:

Dear Friends, Family, Dancers, and the People I have met and worked with.

I am adopting a son, Jose David from Colombia. I and hundreds of other Americans will and have adopted children through KidSave. The San Mauricio Orphanage in Bogota, Colombia, is one of the places these remarkable children come from. Jose spent five weeks with me this summer, and if you met him, you would understand why only after just greeting Jose at the airport, I decided to adopt him as my son.

When I visited Colombia in November, I was very moved by what I saw in the amount of love and attention these children receive from the founder Gloria Londoño de Cajiao and her staff. So I asked Gloria what she needed. She said besides an industrial dishwasher and Bus, (which are both broken down) the children, newborn to 11 years old, are constantly in need of socks, sneakers and underwear. I was also concerned that the children eat from metal plates and metal cups, which we know that the metal flakes eventually make their way into the children.

I will be visiting Colombia this March to bring Jose home to live with me. I ask you to please if you can, join in and help those left behind there with socks, sneakers and underwear or ideas about plates and cups or even a Bus for San Mauricio (I have a good lead on the Dishwasher). So on your next trip to the mall, pick up a couple of extra socks, sneakers or underwear and drop them off or send them to the Gagliardi Studio at 39 Hudson Avenue, Nyack, NY 10960, before March 5th, 2011. As a token of my appreciation for anything you send, I will send you a box of greeting cards from my collection.

Please take a moment, if you can, to view the You Tube video clips of San Mauricio below, I'm sure you'll find the children heartwarming.



This is the link to San Mauricio Orphanage.

Please visit the website home of Kidsave and see how you might want to get involved in whatever way you can.

I thank you from my heart for taking the time to read this and for considering to make a difference in the lives of these children.

Come visit our new gallery at:
39 Hudson Avenue Nyack, NY 10960 • Phone: 845-358-7031 • Across from the Post Office

By the way, this is a great way to get one of Victor's card collections. I've noticed that, at times, he juxtaposes his photographed imagery with, but of course, poetry!

And, woo-hoo! With Jose's adoption, that's one chipped off from "147 million orphans" worldwide whose existence is one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies of our time, of all time.

The waiting ones haunted me into my current manuscript-in-progress, 147 MILLION ORPHANS. Can the number be decreased by the time it gets published?