Several weeks ago I got a surprise email from the Alliance of Community Service Providers stating that they wanted to give me their 2017 Humanitarian of the Year award. Honestly, my first thought was that they had confused me with our adult/teen librarian Chera Kowalski. After all, what is more deserving of an award than saving six lives? But, they said no, they meant me. The award was for creating a safe haven for the children of McPherson Square, and for addressing issues brought on by the opioid crisis. Wow, that was amazing, but I felt really uncomfortable about taking all this credit because what we’ve done at McPherson Square is absolutely a group effort. I decided to accept the award on behalf of our team, and I planned to name everybody in my speech. However, I then realized that most of the people who shared in the award wouldn’t be present to hear their work being acknowledged, and the people who were present wouldn’t know who all these fine people are. So, I asked Marion Parkinson if I could hijack her blog to give some credit where credit is overdue. Let’s call this the Humanitarian Team Award! Let me introduce the team.
Chera Kowalski – In addition to those six lives she has saved, Chera has been in the forefront of our efforts to raise awareness about the needs of users, the neighborhood, and the children. Chera is a real fighter, and I am sure we would not be where we are today without her advocacy. I still think she should have been the one on stage with the mayor to accept the award.
Marion Parkinson – I got credit for all the Narcan training our staff got, but really it was Marion who gave us the okay to do it. She has also been behind us in everything we did, and she has been our biggest cheerleader. She is responsible for forming the McPherson Square Action Committee.
Mike Newall – Where would we be without Mike’s columns in the Inquirer? We’d still be coping with the village of users camping in the park. The publicity brought on by Mike’s writing inspired Parks & Recreation to provide a play camp and field trips for the children, we got extra police presence, we got financial donations that enabled us to buy an iPad and learning toys for the children, and we got meaningful messages of support from all over the country. NBC, CNN, NPR, and others jumped on the bandwagon with our story, but Mike was the first and still the best and most accurate.
Sterling Davis – It is true that Chera administered the Narcan, but in most of the cases, it was Sterling, watching over the park, who alerted Chera that she was needed. Several years ago I nominated Sterling for the Free Library’s Customer Service Award. He won that award because of his involvement in the McPherson Square community. For instance, Sterling brought his whole baseball team to help install our playground.
Karen Vincent, Roseanna Feenan, Orlando Torres, Tashiba Hightower, Aisha Sims, Antonio Daniels, David Roche, Tuesday Chalmers, Kiyumba Case, Chris Torres – These past and present staff members of McPherson Square can tell you that working at the epicenter of a national crisis is not easy. These people cope with it every day and rise to the need when there is an overdose or a patron under the influence. They watch over the overdose victims, they protect the children, and they “keep calm and carry on.” All of our current staff is Narcan trained.
The Free Library administration – In particular Lynn Williamson, Joe Benford, and Sara Moran put time, effort and funding into helping address this crisis. They provide us with funding for bathroom monitors and extra security. Joe participates in the city’s taskforce that addresses the opioid problem. Honestly, the Free Library stepped up to address the opioid epidemic long before it got national attention, and before other city departments saw the problem. Lynn always checks in with kind, supportive words whenever we have a crisis, as does T. Kim Robinson.
Ted Hackett – Ted picks up the discarded needles in the park every day. He doesn’t get paid, and he doesn’t have children using the park. Ted says he “does it for God.” In the past, he often got over 100 needles a day. Now, it is usually less than 20 per day. We are making progress.
Maria Rivas – Our children can get a free meal at the library all year round. Most days it is our Lunch Lady Maria passing out the food. I have given out the lunches often enough to know that it is not an easy job to monitor all the lunchroom shenanigans. However, this is an important part of our library safe haven. Maria has been our Lunch Lady for many years, and she and her cousin Carmen Suarez also cook for the homeless each week.
Bryan Belknap – McPherson has a hugely successful Maker Jawn program due to Bryan’s Pied Piper personality. He has endless amounts of patience and good humor. Bryan is also committed to helping the neighborhood cope with the opioid epidemic.
Jose Benitez and Elvis Rosado – We have learned so much from our friends at Prevention Point Philadelphia. Elvis, of course, as charismatic Narcan trainer, gets much well-deserved credit. However, Jose is also a font of information and help. He provided us with our bathroom sharps box and limitless amounts of support. Both Elvis and Jose maintain a positive attitude despite the overwhelming gravity of the growing overdose crisis.
Lisa Roche-Rodriguez, Patty Codina, & Phyllis Martino – The staff at Impact Services have been our community partners for many years. They provide us with Santa, the Book Bunny, the Spring Fest, a Halloween parade, karaoke nights, and more. Life is a lot richer for McPherson children because of the work of Impact Services.
And, last but certainly not least…
Awilda Ocasio – Awilda was the best friend the children of McPherson Square ever had. I wanted to talk about Awilda when I accepted the award because so much of what I got credit for was begun by Awilda, but I knew that I would cry if I tried to talk about her. We lost Awilda this year because she was too busy planning an Easter event for the children to go to the doctor on time. She died from pneumonia on the day of the Easter bunny event. Awilda was the one who introduced us to the free lunch program. She also managed up to 19 play streets each summer. She would go to extraordinary effort to bring fun to the children in the form of horse rides, bounce houses, water slides, and much more. The children called her the Karaoke Lady and were devastated by her passing. The street next to the library was officially renamed Paseo Awilda Ocasio. Awilda was a friend and inspiration to me and many other people. I know that she would have been over the moon about all the wonderful things that have happened to her park and library since her passing. I want to dedicate the Alliance Award to Awilda because she literally gave her life to the neighborhood children she loved so much.
