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 | | See photos from the groundbreaking for Gateway Elton II |
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 | | Take a look at our 2012 annual report
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CAMBA is a non-profit agency that provides services that connect people with opportunities to enhance their
quality of life.
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 CAMBA Volunteers Get a Night of Thanks
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On so many nights throughout the year, the volunteers in our Respite Bed Program bring much-needed meals and beds to the City's homeless people. For one night this month, these same volunteers received the recognition they deserve at the annual Respite Bed Program Volunteer Appreciation Event.
More than 150 people filled the hall of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Brooklyn Heights. Volunteers, representatives from partner sites, CAMBA staff and City officials shared a meal and took part in a ceremony honoring Respite Bed's work and the many people who make it possible.
The Respite Bed Program is a network of 20 churches and synagogues that donate their time and space to serve homeless clients of The Gathering Place, CAMBA's Drop-In Center. The program provides almost 13,000 meals and beds annually and runs on the kindness of 2,000 volunteers who prepare food and sleep at the sites.
"It was so nice for the volunteers to come together and see other people who do the same work," said Ramona Gant, the Respite Bed Operations Manager.
Also addressing the crowd that night were two representatives from the NYC Department of Homeless Services, Respite Bed staff members and CAMBA President and CEO Joanne Oplustil.
Learn about volunteering for the Respite Bed Program here. |
Speakers Show High-Schoolers Paths to Success |
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Kerri Holloway with students at Cascades High School |
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From real estate development to running a bakery... students at CAMBA's Learning to Work (LTW) program at Cascades High School in Manhattan's Lower East Side recently got a taste of career possibilities from two high-powered New York City professionals.
The presentations were part of CAMBA's annual Speakers Series, where young, successful professionals share their stories to inspire---and challenge---older high school students to pursue careers of their own.
Kerri Holloway, Vice President and Community Reinvestment Officer at the Bank of New York Mellon Corp., described her stepping stones to a successful community development career. Armed with a journalism degree, she veered into New York City real estate and then economic development before joining BNY Mellon. Today, Kerri manages her bank's community reinvestment efforts in the Tri-State region.
"Become active in your prospective field," Kerri counseled students, who shared their career plans with her.
Shannon Pridgen has been cooking since childhood. But even with these years of practice, Shannon went to school to gain formal culinary and business training before opening her bakery, Heavenly Crumbs, in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Baking was one skill---running a business required a different recipe. Shannon said she stumbled initially until she developed a solid business plan. It was an apt lesson for the Cascades Economics and Entrepreneur class, which was studying the art of business planning while operating their own caf�.
"I read somewhere that you don't master a recipe until you do it a thousand times. And it's true," she told students---encouraging them to keep trying until they meet their goals. |
CAMBA Events Old and New Bring Out Crowds
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CAMBA board member Julia Beardwood (left with Shona reception honorees Eugenie Woo and Christopher Scott |
From the gently rolling hills of Prospect Park to the sculptures of Zimbabwe, May was a month of fun and fundraising for CAMBA and our supporters.
Our first ever run/walk, the Healthy Way 5k, raised $20k, as more than 200 runners and walkers participated in a 3.1 mile race around Prospect Park on May 5. (See photos on our Facebook page.)
The race was sponsored by EmblemHealth and our six team sponsors: Beardwood & Co., The Flatbush Food Coop, Garden Works, Gotham City Runners, Jeffrey Sobel Consulting and Mary Kay Gallagher Real Estate. A group of CAMBA clients was able to join the race, thanks to generous registrants who donated entry fees.
On May 16, CAMBA's Shona Gallery opened its doors for our 22nd annual Shona Sculpture Benefit Sale. The three-day event kicked off with an opening night reception, honoring four individuals who have made a difference in the CAMBA community. Honorees included: Eugenie Woo and Christopher Scott, proprietors of Brooklyn Commune; Mary McDonald, Principal of P.S. 139; and Rana Boodoo, a client in CAMBA's Families for Kids Program and the Flagstone Family Center. |
Team CAMBA Represents at AIDS Walk NY |
More than 50 CAMBA clients and staff braved the rain on Sunday, May 19, for the AIDS Walk New York in Central Park.
The annual walk has seen an enthusiastic CAMBA showing in recent years, and this year was no different. "Many people were very excited to be there for the first time," says Carlos Guevara, CAMBA Program Manager for Housing and Support Services. "They liked coming out for the community."
Team CAMBA included clients from upper Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn, including a group of students from one of CAMBA's Beacon Centers, who performed a step routine for fellow walkers. Another client, confined to a wheelchair, was determined to finish the miles-long walk. ''I don't care if it's raining out---I'm going to make it," he told Guevara.
Also among this year's many highlights was a CAMBA client---a former teacher---who addressed the crowd, recounting her HIV diagnosis, time in a CAMBA transitional housing facility and return to independent living in an apartment of her own.
The CAMBA clients and staff were among 30,000 people who took park in the 28th annual walk, taking steps toward a future without HIV/AIDS. |
Through Voice and Verse, CAMBA Residents Show Power of the Arts
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880 Willoughby poet residents and staff |
Move over, America's Got Talent. There are some new kids on the block.
A recent Afternoon of Poetry and Arts showcased the impressive creativity of residents at 880 Willoughby, CAMBA's afordable and supportive housing development in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Gospel singer Garland R., a formerly homeless man who is working now and moving toward independent housing, kicked off the program with a powerful rendition of Moving Forward, a song that sums up the experiences of 880 Willoughby clients.
Members of a seven-week poetry class read from their works, which were displayed alongside photographs taken by resident photographer Yvonne W.
"The snow is falling, whitewashing all my anxieties and sorrows," wrote Nancy H., in a poem entitled "Capture of Peace." She said, "The group mean so much to me and helped me express myself."
Elizabeth E. wrote a sassy ode to poetry instructor (and case manager) Darlene Hayes: "I'm no writer, I'm no poet. Stop getting on my nerves, telling me what to write about." Despite her lament, the novice poet said, "I learned that you can succeed if you try. You can find something to put on paper . . . and it stays with you."
Ocita L., who says she came to the poetry group "without a clue, and learned a lot," penned the lines "I suffered a lot of loss in my life - children, mother, father, as well as myself for a while - and I'm here to say I am a living testimony that anything can be done with faith, strength and self-love." |
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Help Us Serve 45,000 New Yorkers In Need
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