Habitat for Humanity

Since September 2022, once a month, I drive up to Newburgh , New York (upstate NY) to work on a Habitat for Humanity house. I became involved through a friend, as her mother and the mother’s church group started going in honor of her brother who passed away who once worked with Habitat for Humanity. It is an all day affair full of hard labor, but I absolutely love my time doing the work. It is incredibly rewarding and eye opening to all the work it takes to build a house.

 

My friend’s brother was named Johnny, and so many of the houses we build in honor of the brother are called ‘Johnny’s House’ based on the donations from the family in honor of Johnny.

This particular house, I have worked on and seen it through so many stages.

One day, I spent the entire time stapling some type of plastic (yes, obviously I have not learned any of the terminology) to the wall.

The town of Newburgh is fascinating because it is extremely poor with a lot of gang violence. But the town itself is beautiful set in a gorgeous setting on the Hudson River.

I am bad with all knives, and somehow managed to not cut myself here (not sure what I was doing).

In action. 99.9 percent of the volunteers are older, retired people. If you have any interest in volunteering, get involved and do so! It is so rewarding.

The church group — but you can volunteer on your own. I am not involved in the church but come when they do, because it is more fun to drive up with my friend, Katama, then to go solo.

One time, we built stairs!!!!

Me, Katama, and our hard hats.

Carrying rubble to a dump truck — workout of the day!

Stair building.

Completed stairs, and me being brave and walking up them.

FINITO.

Me and my work bags.

The cement truck — we had to transport the cement to the backyard — HARD workout.

The patio.

Us volunteers getting the cement to pour in the backyard.

Even more scary — me on this power chainsaw.

Not not scary.

Spackling all morning long….

You get so dirty and dusty — but it doesn’t matter. All worth it.

The rundown neighborhood.

 

If at all interested in volunteering, let me know, as I would love to go more often. It is extremely rewarding and you see your hard work in a finished product. Doing good FEELS good. I hope you have a great week!

Anika Yael Natori, aka, The Josie Girl

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Voice of the Free- Center of Hope

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!  Ken was gone last week in Asia and came back over the weekend.  While in Manila, he re-visited the Center of Hope, a shelter that Natori has been supporting.  Here he is with an update!


 

I was introduced to the global epidemic of child / human trafficking through the amazing Cecilia Flores-Oebanda a few years ago.  A victim of child trafficking herself, Cecilia has devoted her life to both rehabilitating and supporting its victims, and also helping root out and prosecute its organizers and enablers.  The global child / human trafficking network is both organized and widespread, and thanks to Cecilia’s Voice of the Free (previously called the Visayan Forum Foundation) in the Philippines and similar organizations worldwide, at least some of its perpetrators have been caught and imprisoned.

I visited the Center of Hope a year ago, and was thrilled to be able to return last week to see the progress and visit with the amazingly strong survivors.

Located outside of Manila, the Center of Hope’s main purpose is to rehabilitate and support victims of child trafficking. The girls are provided shelter, education, and support as they grapple with all they have been put through.

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NYC Marathon 2018: Achilles Guide

This past Sunday, I ran as a guide for Achilles International, an organization for disabled athletes. Although it was my overall 12th marathon, it was my first marathon as a guide. It was an incredibly difficult, overwhelming, emotional, and beautiful experience. I was paired with a 25 year old blind runner, Eddy, who I had met with twice beforehand. Before our marathon together, Eddy showed me his spirit of positivity, gratefulness, and sincerity, so I knew that that would help carry me through our run together. And it did.

 

 

Me and Eddy after the marathon (and after the shower) at his family’s apartment on Roosevelt Island. Yes, I took a tram after running a marathon, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

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Ball Girl For The Day

One of my lifelong dreams is to be a ball girl for the US Open. Not as a joke or as a ‘maybe someday’ … but an actual ‘this is going to happen at some point’ dream.  One of the prerequisites to be a US Open Ball Person is to volunteer at the Jana Hunsaker Wheelchair Tennis Tournament that takes places annually at Flushing Meadow (where the US Open is held). So, despite it being an incredibly busy time in the end of the school year rush, I signed up to volunteer (and even got two friends to join)!  And I am so glad I did — truly a highlight of my week, month, and YEAR!

 

To say we were excited was an understatement. The three of us were giggling nonstop, before, during and after. Truly, a fun and highly enjoyable day. And we all want to do it again next year — this specific tournament as well as sign up to try out to be official Ball People at the US Open. I was a little unprepared and had to buy myself some tennis shoes — I only own running shoes (which scuff up the courts) — literally, they arrived the night before.

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Visayan Forum Foundation- The Center of Hope

Here is Ken with an important guest blog post:


 

After our recent trip to India, the Josie Girl went home and I moved on to Manila, to work out of our factory for a week.  While there, I also had the privilege of visiting the Visayan Forum Foundation, a charity we are now happily supporting.  Visayan has for 25 years been innovating solutions to end human, and particularly child trafficking in the Philippines.  In addition to fighting to shut down and prosecute trafficking organizations and individuals, Visayan has also been helping rehabilitate, train, and educate rescued victims of trafficking.  My visit to their rehabilitation home, the Center of Hope, was beyond overwhelming.

 

The Center of Hope is located in the Philippines, just outside of Manila. The outside of the Center is protected, and beautifully painted, representing hope, rehabilitation, and a bright future.

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