Portrait of Pesach

I met Pesach at Big Sunday’s 5th Annual MLK Day Clothing Collection & Community Breakfast, his second year at the event. Pesach was in a celebratory mood as he volunteered with various friends and Kevin, his caregiver. Pesach means Passover in Hebrew, so it was not surprising that he was festive.

Pesach was a 26 years old, orthodox Jew, who played basketball in the Special Maccabiah; the Jewish version of the Special Olympics. He had lived his whole life in Los Angeles, California, USA with his parents and multiple siblings. He regularly participated in community-based volunteering, such as Meals on Wheels ‎ and assignments with the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) who helped provide housing for lower income and underserved people.

Image Credits: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.

Portrait of Charming

I met Charming at the  Big Sunday’s 5th Annual MLK Day Clothing Collection & Community Breakfast. She was originally from St. Lucia in the Southeastern part of the Caribbean, but she lived in Los Angeles, California, US for about 20 years, specifically, the mid-Wilshire area.

Charming worked for a fundraising company called Angel Bins. She helped get funds for companies like Sierra Club who sought funds for their environmental projects: to educate, engage, and empower volunteers to restore, improve, and protect waterways, water-quality and water monitoring

Charming  does all social media postings for Angel Bins: on Angel Bins | Facebook   Angel Bins (@Angel_Bins) | Twitter, @angel_bins_fundraisingInstagram.

Image Credits: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.

Portrait of Murray

This is Murray, originally from Borough Park, Brooklyn, New York, USA but at the time of this posting, from Woodland Hills, California, USA. He had attended  New Utrecht High School.

January 16th, 2017  Martin Luther King Day, was Murray’s 84  birthday.

Murray takes pictures, at events, at the zoo and other places. In fact, he had a better camera than I had and showed me

Murray practiced as a realtor. He managed units and did  showings for Keller Williams Realty.

Murray considered the Big Sunday’s 5th Annual MLK Day Clothing Collection & Community Breakfast event a wonderful day.

Image Credits: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.

Portrait of Paris

I met Paris at Big Sunday’s 5th Annual MLK Day Clothing Collection & Community Breakfast. He had come to lead a team of severs and cleaner-uppers, who volunteered at these types of events to “make sure that they were well-rounded.” He represented an organization that had a basketball and mentorship team.

In the mentorship program, Paris had a group of about 5-100 kids ranging from ages 4 to about 17. He worked with them weekly on basketball, life skills and character development. This had been the third time that his group participated in the Big Sunday event.

More than 1,000 people turned out and the volunteers collected more than 23,000 articles of clothing. Paris said, “It’s a great opportunity and a great day for me.”  At this event, various people assembled, volunteered, coordinated with the food serving and clothing collecting, all with love and cheer. The kids that Paris worked were called the Mambas and had great respect and adoration for him as a leader.

Paris, himself, had three children; a twelve year old, an eight year old and a nine month old. He lived in Redondo Beach, California, USA and was originally. from Stockton California, USA

Photo credits: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.

Portrait of Claudia

This is a portrait of Claudia who ran track and attended Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, USA, as a Marketing and Spanish undergraduate. Her ambition for her future was talent management, particularly in the music field. She believed that Los Angeles, California, USA was the perfect place to get a foot in the door in that industry.

Claudia’s favorite music group was Earth Wind & Fire, which Blue Breeze Band (see previous portrait) was playing as we spoke. Earth Wind & Fire was the group that actually got her interested in talent management. Claudia noted that Charlie Wilson and other artists who influenced Rhythm and Blues (R&B) and Hip Hop today, helped her make this decision. Of course, she also appreciated contemporary R&B and Hip Hop.

Claudia defined Earth Wind & Fire‘s style as definitely R&B, but she also considered them funky. “They dabbled in disco a little, even though that wasn’t their preference. They are a feel good music. Everyone can get down to it no matter who they are,” she said.

Claudia was not from Los Angeles, but from Nashville, Tenn, USA, where she excelled at Hume-Fogg AcademiMagnet High School  Claudia came to the Martin Luther King Day Event because the team didn’t have practice and her coach asserted that each student/athlete had to volunteer somewhere. Claudia googled events for Martin Luther King Day, and the Big Sunday 5th Annual MLK Day Clothing Collection & Community Breakfast was one of the first things that came up. The event was accessible to her and a fellow teammate because Claudia had a car.

Claudia believed in the importance of helping out every single day and was hoping she could do more throughout the year as a volunteer. The two teammates were having a blast helping out on Martin Luther King Day.

It was such a pleasure to meet Claudia. At the time of the posting, I knew so many people her age who were cry babies, didn’t get things done, were chronically late, made excuses for everything, etc. Claudia knew what she wanted, was intelligent about it and expressed her views perfectly. Talking to her made me look forward to the future and to what young people could achieve.

Image Credits: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.