Messages From The Heart

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( FAMILY COMES FIRST

MESSAGES FROM THE HEART (COPDY

#603

APPEARANCES IN ORDER:

VINCENT J. RUSSO, ESQ. Russo Law Group, P. C.

VICTORIA ROBERTS-DROGIN Russ O Law Group. P. C.

EMILY GORDON-SPENCER, Founder Heartillery Group

SUSAN RUSSO, Executive Director Theresa Academy for Performing Arts (TAPA)

( – TODD BELISLE, President

> Center for Special Needs Trust Administration

  1. ANTHONY STANGANIELILI

Y.*

(

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  1. RUSSO : Welcome, everyone, to

Family Comes First. I’m Vincent J.

RUSSO.

  1. ROBERTS – DIRIOGIN : AC I’m

Victoria Roberts-Drogin. Thank you for

joining us.

Today, we will be talking about an

inspiring Organization founded by a

beautiful young Soul in her dining room

to help those who serve Our Country.

  1. RUSSO: We should never forget

that Our military is protecting Our

freedom every day, and we need to support

Our troops.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Absolutely.

So, today we will be talking about

messages from the heart right here on

Family Comes First.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: The

Heartillery Group’s mission is to show

Support, love and gratitude to Our troops

Overseas in very simple but very powerful

ways.

  1. RUSSO: Absolutely. Let’s

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welcome Emily Gordon-Spencer, the founder of

The Heartillery Group.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN : Wel COme .
  2. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you.
  3. RUSSO: And we know Emily for

a long time.

MS . ROBERTS-DROGIN: YeS .

  1. RUSSO: And Who el Se do We

have?

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Well, we are

very fortunate to have today the

executive director of the Theresa Academy

for Performing Arts , TAPA, and if I may

say, Vincent, your better half, Susan

RUSS O .

  1. RUSSO: I will agree with

that.

  1. RUSSO: Thank you.
  2. RUSSO: It’s On the record.
  3. ROBERTS-DROGIN: It S. On the

record. Welcome to both of you. Thank

you for being here.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you.
  2. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Now, your

families have a long history together. I

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understand from when you were a little girl;

is that right?

  1. RUSSO: Yes. Her dad Harley

Gordon and I were involved as founders

of the National Academy of Elder Law

Attorneys.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Oh, okay.
  2. RUSSO: And so we go way back

when there was no field of elder law, and

we were colleagues at the time and we

became very good friends. And, we’re

able to share Our families over the

years.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Right.
  2. RUSSO: And so this is just

absolutely awesome .

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you so

Imuch.

  1. RUSSO: And you look so great.

You turned Out So well.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you.
  2. RUSSO: Your parents did a

wonderful job.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you so

Imuch. It’s such an honor to be here.

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Thank you for inviting me.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Now, at One

point even, I think you met Theresa.

  1. RUSSO: We were in Boston,

probably for a National Academy of Elder

Law Attorneys meeting.

  1. RUSSO: No, no. Well, maybe.

We were visiting.

  1. RUSSO: We were visiting – – –

all four kids and we went over to your

house, and hung Out, I think, for a

while, and Theresa was still pretty

little.

So, we pas sed around the baby.

  1. RUSSO: And you were the

oldest of the group.

  1. RUSSO: You were the Olde St.
  2. RUSSO: So we trusted you.

You held Theresa. Not Sure about the

Others.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Tell us a

little bit about Theresa, Susan, and

about TAPA.

  1. RUSSO: She was the third Of

our four children, and she was born with

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1 multiple disabilities, so she was predicted

2 to only live one year by most of the

3 doctors, but One who was the head Of the

  1. Neonatal Unit at Lenox Hill, and he said

5 oh, she’ll probably live to be about six

6 years old. And, she did.

7 She passed away at five-and-a-

8 half . We Started the Theresa Foundation

9 the very next year, because the things

10 that Theresa loved most were music,

11 recreation. She loved being in a

12 swimming pool, and SO we said the mission

13 of the foundation would be to Support

14 arts and recreation programs because, as

15 you all know, those are the first

16 programs that get Cut from any budget – –

17

18 MS. ROBERTS-DROGIN: And you have

19 a background in the arts as well.

2 O MS. RUSSO : – – – specifically

21 with kids for special needs; other little

22 Theresa S.

23 So, we’ve done some big projects

24 over the years. We just celebrated Our

21st year as a foundation, and seven

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years ago we started The Theresa Academy of

Performing Arts, which is locally based

and we serve kids in Nassau and Suffolk

Counties.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Wonderful.
  2. RUSSO: It’s an art – Centered

program, totally recreation, no

therapies, because these children have

therapy all the time.

So, this is a place for them to

Come and be safe and be comfortable. All

of Our faculty is certified in their

genre. We have several of us with

Special Ed Master’s On top of dance ed.

music ed. and art degrees.

And we’ve been doing really a lot

of – – – having a lot of fun, and doing a

lot of good work locally with our

families, because we have the kids, but

we also work with families.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Wonderful.
  2. RUSSO: So, now there’s going

to be this connection.

  1. ROBERTS – DROGIN : YeS ,
  2. RUSSO: Right? We’re going to

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circle back to Emily.

And how did you come up with the

idea of the Heartillery Group? What do

you do? Why do you do it? All those

questions.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Well,

Heartillery started very much by

accident.

  1. RUSSO: Out of your mind.
  2. GORDON-SPENCER: Just Out Of

my head. My husband and I had gotten

married in September of 12.

  1. RUSSO: He has a name?

MS … GORDON – SPENCER ; SCOtt

Spencer; my husband Scott and I, we got

married in September of 2012, and five

months later he was deploying to

Afghanistan. We had just moved into a

new house, and I didn’t really have a lot

of community around me.

SO, I was – – –

  1. RUSSO: So, the shy person

that you are – – –

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes, I’m very

shy. Very hard for me to meet people.

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  1. RUSSO: You created a community.

MS … GORDON – SPENCER ; I Created a

Community, and you know, you have

choices. You can be at home and be

lonely, or think, ‘Oh, my husband is

gone. What am I going to do?” Or, you

get up and do something. I was already

sending him cards and care packages, and

I thought maybe the other guys and

females in our unit might enjoy cards as

well, So I just put up a note On my

Facebook page, and so about six weeks

later we had about 17, 000 cards.

  1. RUSSO : 17, OOO2
  2. GORDON-SPENCER: Ye S. From

twenty-two states.

  1. RUSSO: Did the mail person

quit? Did they actually deliver 17, 000

envelopes?

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: They came in

spurts, but they were in – – –

  1. RUSSO: Were you investigated?

Why is this person who was getting no

mail – – – One day, all of a Sudden

starts getting all this mail?

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  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Amazing.

MS … GORDON – SPENCER : YeS … We

didn’t have a PO Box, so they came right

to my house. They came in hundreds.

  1. RUSSO: Whether sleet, SnOW,

irain – – –

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yep .
  2. RUSSO: They kept coming.
  3. GORDON-SPENCER: Yep. Yep.

MS, ROBERTS-DROGIN: That’s

amazing.

  1. RUSSO: Were they in boxes, or

were these in mail bags?

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: They were in

boxes and envelopes.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: The

Outpouring.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Ye S.
  2. RUSSO: And then you said?

MS … GORDON – SPENCER : And then II

said, wow ! I have to get these over

there.

Scott at the time didn’t know I

was doing this. He was gone and – – –

  1. RUSSO: Husbands never knoW

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what the wives are doing.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: It’s easier

that way.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: So I

actually – – –

  1. RUSSO: It is better that way.
  2. GORDON-SPENCER: – – – Called

him, or I didn’t call him. We were

emailing each other, because it’s an

eight-hour time difference, and I asked

him how many people are on Kandahar

Airfield, which is where he was

Stati Oned and he Said, I Can’t tell

you, but a lot.” And so I said, ‘Well,

I’m going to send you 17, 000 cards.” And

he said, ‘What?”

So, we packed them up in boxes of

300 and got them over there right in time

for Christmas, and he was able to play

Scotty Claus.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: That’s

3W6e:SOTT)6

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Ye S.
  2. RUSSO: Let’s Show SOme of the

Cards. I mean – – –

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Page

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: YeS.

MS … GORDON – SPENCER : Sure .

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: These, you

said now, were from a woman in Texas who

made the Se?

  1. GORDON-SIPENCER: Yes. The Se

ones are handmade, and they came from one

of our volunteers in Texas. She sends me

all Of these Custom Original art.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: They almost

look like ornaments.

  1. RUSSO: And I love this smile.

That’s really nice.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes. Yes, so

they’re all different.

  1. RUSSO: And this iS What?
  2. GORDON-SPENCER: This is

actually a handmade envelope, actually,

that somebody sent One of these cards in.

  1. RUSSO: Beautiful.
  2. ROBERTS-DROGIN: So they have

SOme news and SOme – – –

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes, SO SOme

of the kids will share stories, they

share jokes.

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  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: That’s

beautiful. And then you’ve reached Out –

MS . GORDON-SPENCER : Mm-hmm.

  1. ROBERTS – DIRIOGIN : – – – back to

SUS aIl .

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes. So, I

didn’t have any – – – there were people

reaching out to me locally that didn’t

have any cards available, and so I called

Vincent and Susan, and I asked them if

some of their children may want to donate

some art or do a project at the Theresa

Foundation, and they said yes.

SO, they Started Sending us images

that were created by their children.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: And here’s

Max, one of the kids in the program.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes. And we

turned them into cards. We include their

bio and their photo on the back, so that

people that are reading them know that

all of the stuff is donated, and it

really incorporates COmmunity.

So, that’s all this was Supposed

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to do, was bring people together and spread

love .

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: And Create

community.

Now, Susan, do the children know

what’s, you know, what’s – – –

  1. RUSSO: They do.
  2. ROBERTS – DIRIOGINI: SOme dO .
  3. RUSSO: We love thematic

units, because we’re all teachers, and so

Emily comes up with these great ideas and

themes.

This particular One was for

Valentine’s Day, and Emily had asked for

heart-themed artwork, and the kids had a

great time. This is just one piece. We

sent in several pieces that she was able

to recreate and send out for Valentine’s

Day, so we’ve done Christmas themes,

general beautiful art, and they know that

there’s a project and the art teachers

explain where everything is going and the

kids work very hard. They’re very proud

Of their artwork.

  1. RUSSO: It’s just incredible.

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  1. RUSSO: The Ones who can Write

will sometimes sign the Cards and will

Write little messages which is very

SWeet.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Emily, do you

ever get feedback? Like, someone’s

received a package or a letter?

MS . GORDON-SPENCER: YeS YeS .

So, we started – – – I started sending

them to just my husband’s unit. And then

the more that people found Out about what

we were doing, they started sending me

addresses; my son is here, my daughter is

here, my niece and nephew, Could you Send

them something, and we said, ‘Sure.”

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: That’s great.
  2. RUSSO: All right, so now

we’re going to take a break.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: When we get

back from the break – – –

  1. RUSSO: So everybody is going

to have to stay tuned.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Right.
  2. RUSSO: So you can tell us

what happens from there. This is

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awesome. It’s just great to have you. On.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you.
  2. RUSSO: Messages from the

Heart.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you.
  2. RUSSO: Family Comes First.
  3. ROBERTS-DROGIN: We’ll be back
  4. RUSSO: We’ll be back.
  5. ROBERTS-DROGIN: – – – in just

a minute.

***** ***

  1. BELISLE : The Center fOr

Special Needs Trust Administration was

created over fifteen years ago. The

reason for the creation of the Center was

to help those individuals who needed

help; to help those individuals who are

On SSI ; who are On Medi. Caid; who are On

housing assistance; who are On food

assistance.

Previously, those individuals were

left to fend for themselves. On One

particular day, their life Changed, and

they had nowhere to go. What the Center

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provides through its trust administration

Services is an Outlet for them; for them

to live a better and more productive

life.

太安安 宏 宏 ★安安

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Wel COme baCk

to Family Comes First. We are continuing

our conversation with Emily Gordon

Spencer and her wonderful initiative, the

Heartillery Group, and we were just about

to talk about Some of the WOnderful

things you put in these packages for Our

military.

We were wondering about the first

time you ever heard back from someone who

had received your packages.

MS GORDON-SPENCER: YeS. It WaS

fun. I mean, Facebook is amazing.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Ye Sp

MS … GORDON – SPENCER : It’s just SO

amazing to, you know, you send these

things out and you have a name and you

have an address and there ” S S Ort Of a

blind faith. You know they’re going to

get there and you hope that they get as

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1 much joy as you’ve gotten from doing it.

2 We get feedback on our Facebook

3 page from all service members, from all

4 branches.

5 MS. ROBERTS – DROGIN : WOnderful.

6 MS. GORDON—SPENCER : We Serve all

7 branches.

8 MR. RUSSO: So, share a couple of

9 Stories.

1 O MS. GORDON-SPENCER: So, we had a

11 – – – we sent a box to a service member

12 and he wrote back saying that he had been

13 Overseas for six months and hadn’t

14 received one piece of mail, until he got

15 One Of Our boxes.

16 So, we were able to incorporate

17 both cards and care package items,

18 because once people found Out we were

19 sending cards, people WOuld also ask if

2O they could send service items and I said

21 yes, of course. So, people Started

22 dropping those at my house.

23 MS. ROBERTS-DROGIN: So you’re

24 getting boxes of toothpaste and SOCkS.

25 MS. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes. And

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Halloween candy from the buybacks at

Halloween.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: That’s great.
  2. GORDON-SPENCER: Which is

great, because the candy is great,

because it’s miniature.

  1. ROBERTS – DIRIOGIN : YeS.

MS – GORDON — SPENCER : AC I CO

festivals, especially in the summer, and

so I’ll go and bring my little banner and

my Heartillery Crate, and I’ll go out and

kids will come over and they’ll draw

cards, and their parents get to have a

Conversation with them about where

they’re going and a conversation about

our service members and where they are in

the world . It’s a really nice learning

experience for them, and for us, we get

the art from these tiny babies, which is

SO CUlte.

  1. RUSSO: So, let’s look at the

bOX.

MS , ROBERTS – DROGIN : YeS.

  1. RUSSO: We keep talking about

package. So, let’s pull this box up

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and let’s take a look at all Of What’s in

here.

So, there are a bunch of Cards

that are put in the box?

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes. So, we

incorporate – – –

  1. RUSSO: You Can have the

SOCkS.

IMS … GORDON – SPENCER ; WES

incorporate cards in the box.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: So much good

Stuff.

  1. RUSSO : Ye S.
  2. GORDON-SPENCER: Toothpaste.
  3. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Toothpaste.

MS … GORDON – SPENCER : RaZOS .

  1. RUSSO: Ah, the Doritos.
  2. ROBERTS-DROGIN: I See OreCS

in here.

  1. RUSSO: Tot’s Of Oreos. And a

aZO

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: This is

great.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Any food that

you can mix water with is really great.

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  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: So the drink

mixes, you had Said.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes, the

drink mixes, and you now, Cup O NOOdles

and ma CarOni and Chee Se .

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: This is Stuff

that feels like home.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes. When

Scott was on his first deployment, I used

to make him homemade granola bars, and I

used to package them up separately

because some of them would have nuts in

them, some of them would have chocolate

in them, and you didn’t know who was

getting them, so you wanted to make Sure

you wrote, Has nuts in them” in Case

they had allergies.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Right, right.

MS . GORDON – SPENCER : YOU e Ver

knew. But, it was one of those ways to

bring a piece of home and send it

overseas, and it wasn’t terribly

unhealthy, but they always preferred the

junk food.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Now, there

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was a guy who recognized you. Once, when you

did a fair, right? And he came over to

your table.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes. Yes.

We send letters in the top of all these

boxes, and we do a lot of Community

involvement, so communities help us,

local churches help us, the military team

counsel did a project with us, so we

always recognize the people that COme

together that bring items, and we put

their logos up, and we took a team photo

and put it On this parti Cular letter, and

I was out at a festival, and he happened

to come by and he said, ‘I know

Heartillery Group from somewhere.” And I

said, ‘Oh, well, that’s great. That’s

awesome. We’ve only been around for

seven months. ” I mean, that’s really

Cool. And he said, ‘I went Out On a

miSSi On and I Came back and there were

thirty boxes addressed to me.”

MR, RUSSO: WOW TO me.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: That S

amazing.

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  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Yes, to me. I

said, ‘That’s awesome . ” And he said, ‘I

was a celebrity.” Everybody wanted to

See what was going On and what all the

boxes were .

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: That’ S

wonderful.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: And he said,

I don’t even know how you got my name, “

or anything like that. One of his family

members had reached out and provided us

his address, and we had the boxes, and SO

we said, why not send them?

  1. RUSSO: It’s got to make you

feel good inside.

MS … GORDON – SPENCER ; It’s great.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: That S

amazing.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: When they go

to individuals, it doesn’t just go to an

individual. It may get mailed to an

individual, but you know, people COme,

other people in their unit – – –

  1. RUSSO: Right.
  2. GORDON-SPENCER: – – – COS

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over and they get to share all this stuff,

so it’s a sense of Creating your Own

small community wherever you are; whether

you’re in- Country or overseas, it’s a

tremendous feeling of allowing an

individual to be a part of their Own

community with handing these things Out,

so it was pretty awesome.

MS, ROBERTS-DROGIN: In fact, One

of our guests on a show that we were

doing on women’s veterans, Justina Pena,

you met her, and she was the recipient Of

one of your boxes.

  1. RUSSO: Tell us about that .
  2. GORDON-SPENCER: It was really

cool to meet her and just, I mean these

women, they’re just SO, SO brave.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: I had tears

watching her.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Oh, my

goodness. And she just said, it means SO

much, and you have no idea how much it

means to get a message from home and to

get these letters and these cards and

these packages from people that you’ll

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never meet, she started to Cry and she just

gave me a hug, and it was like why I do

this stuff. I mean, it’s pure joy for

6.

  1. RUSSO: Did you have any idea

that this would happen?

MS . GORDON-SPENCER: NO ,

  1. RUSSO: That your idea would

do all this good?

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: No. I mean,

there’s so many – – – we live in such a

generous world, and it can be a very hard

world, but there’s so much love Out there

and there are so many people that care.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: But it takes

someone special to make it happen. There

is so much love in the world, and so many

people do care, but it takes a very

special person to actually put it

together and execute it.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you.

MR, RUSSO : It’s the

implementation.

MS, ROBERTS-DROGIN: Ye S.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you.

Page 26

1 MS. ROBERTS-DROGIN: And you did

2 that .

3 MS. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you.

  1. MR. RUSSO: So we want to just

5 give you a hug and the biggest thank you

6 for all that you’ve done and will

7 Continue to do.

8 MS … GORDON – SPENCER : Thank yOll. M

9 MR. RUSSO: And you’re just

1 O incredible and we want all our viewers to

11 Support.

12 MS. GORDON-SPENCER: Please.

13 MS. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Yes. So say

14 the website.

15 MS. GORDON-SPENCER: Ye S.

16 MS. ROBERTS-DROGIN: We’ll say it,

17 tCO.

18 MS. GORDON – SPENCER : YOUl Cain – – –

19 if you’d like to make a donation, we are

2O a hundred percent voluntary, SO every

21 dollar in, is every dollar out. You can

22 go to HeartilleryGroup. Org to make a

23 donation, or you can go Online, alSO to

24 Our website, and look at a really cool

25 list of packing items, and we’ll take

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cards and service items all year round.

  1. RUSSO: Fantastic.

MS ROBERTS-DROGIN: COme back and

tell us more.

  1. GORDON-SPENCER: Thank you.
  2. RUSSO: Yes. We will

definitely follow up.

We are now going to take a break,

and we will be right back.

كلمة !

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: So, Vincent,

we have just had the profound pleasure of

meeting with Emily and Heartillery and

having this conversation with Susan.

It’s incredible the generosity and the

lives that her – – – she’s created this

Out of nothing, and how many people it’s

touched.

  1. RUSSO: We learn that SOmeone

can have a simple idea, and then it’s the

question of doing it, implementing it.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Yes, SO

Simple.

  1. RUSSO: Saying, I believe it.

And then, it’s amazing how it can grOW,

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and grow and I mean, from a couple of Cards

to a few thousand to 17, 000 to 300, 000

cards, and it’s not just the relationship

she has in giving those cards, it’s then

the recipients, the individuals who give

them, who receive them.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: That touched

me almost the most was the , was having

the people who received the box be able

to give out the cards to the people

around them.

  1. RUSSO: That’s right.

M.S. ROBERTS-DROGIN: And

community. That ‘ s another theme that II

think really came Out from Our

Conversation there.

She created a community for

herself and also created communities for

everyone that sent cards, everyone that

received cards. You know, she built

these networks based on appreciation,

love and generosity.

  1. RUSSO: And how many families

has she touched?

MS ROBERTS-DROGIN: Hundred S?

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  1. RUSSO : Hundre CS .
  2. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Thousands.
  3. RUSSO: Thousands. Thousands

of families that now have joy from

receiving it. Conversation they’re now

having about the cards. So, it’s just

fantastic.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Yes, it is .
  2. RUSSO: So, we’re going to

welcome Our Spiritual advisor, Father

Tony Stanganelli .

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Yes, wel COme.
  2. STANGANELLI : Thank you very

Imuch. It was a wonderful, Wonderful

Sessi On you had .

MS, ROBERTS-DROGIN: It was fun,

wasn’t it?

  1. STANGANELLI : It really was .

You could see the energy that was right

here in this wonderful place of

COmmuni Cati On . AWe SOme.

You know what I thought was so

incredible about the work that Emily does

is that how she was able to reach out to

people; create community.

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How many times do people say, gee,

want to do something, and I don’t know

what to do. What difference can I make

in Wanting to better somebody el se s

life, wanting to reach out to somebody

Overseas, so she becomes a conduit so

that other people then can do something;

something simple, something small, but

with great love. Those were the words of

Mother Theresa.

Mother Theresa said, ‘Do small

things with great love.”

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: That S

beautiful.

  1. STANGANELILI : And isn’t that

wonderful that somebody can create the

conduit to allow that to happen, so that

people can actually connect with other

people and say thank you, what you’re

doing is worthwhile, what you’re doing is

important, and it makes a difference in

my life and then others feel that same

sense of importance in doing what they’re

doing overseas. It’s awesome.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: It’s really

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beautiful.

  1. RUSSO: Yes. We think about

joy, the greatest joy is giving; not

really receiving. It’s the giving, and

it’s all about the giving with the cards.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: I think about

the kids, who sat down and thought about

what they wanted to write. They maybe

never would have thought about that, if

what she created didn’t exist; to ask

them, think about what this means to you.

  1. RUSSO: All the envelopes with

the little kids writing Marines” or

Army” on the envelope, and Writing from

their heart.

  1. ROBERTS – DIROGIN : I know.

Right.

  1. RUSSO: You know? And

reaching Out.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: So beautiful.
  2. STANGANELLI : It just strikes

me that everyone wants to make a

difference.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: YeS
  2. STANGANELLI : FrOm the

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smallest child to the Senior Citizen,

everybody wants to make a difference in

this world, but it takes somebody

creative to call forth that gift and

allow that gift to materialize for the

sake Of someone else, and what a great

work that Emily does in that.

  1. RUSSO: Wonderful.
  2. ROBERTS-DROGIN: And, Susan,

to O.

  1. RUS SO: WOnderfUL .
  2. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Not to leave

Susan off the table, right?

  1. RUSSO: Wonderfully said. But

we’re running out of time.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Okay.
  2. RUSSO: We cannot thank enough

our men and women in the armed forces who

have put their lives on the line.

Today we shared with you one

Organization that has taken the time to

recognize their efforts.

  1. ROBERTS-DROGIN: Absolutely.

And for more information or if you want

to donate to Heartillery or participate,

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you can visit their website. It’s

HeartilleryGroup. Org, and you can also

Visit Vincent’s law firm website and

there’s a lot of information there about

other programs to benefit veterans, and

that S at VJ RuSSOLaw. COm.

  1. RUSSO: And I’ll menti On the

Theresa Academy of Performing Arts.

MS , ROBERTS – DROGIN : YeS.

  1. RUSSO: That S T-A-P-A-N-
  2. Org, and I want to thank all Of Our

viewers for joining us and remember,

family truly does Come first.

Y S SS SAA SS S S SEA SS S S SK S KA S S S AAAA