For two days, about 100 different students from the Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University (LIU) took time out from their academic, athletic and social calendars to perform an unusual public demonstration of caring for others. They participated in Rock-A-Thon IX. The event first appeared on campus nine years ago, and it was the brainchild of former student Joy White, who is now a full-time nurse at a Manhattan hospital.
Nine years ago, when Father Charles Keeney, chaplain of LIU’s Brooklyn Campus Ministry, returned from a university trip to Tanzania, East Africa, he told members of the Newman Club about a small home that cared for tiny children whose mothers were incarcerated. He told students of the terrible conditions at the Arusha City Jail.
He explained the overcrowding, meager meals, the lack of legal services and the fact that most people waited an average of five years to see a judge to defend themselves against an accusation. If those conditions were not enough, the mothers of small children took their little ones to jail with them.
Father Keeney explained to the LIU students that a Polish priest in Arusha, Father Jacek Rejman, had started a modest home to take care of the little children. He likened it to a child’s hotel. They would live in the home with religious sisters from the Congregation of St. Gemma Galgani until the mothers were released and then they would go home with their moms. Unfortunately, Father Rejman told Father Keeney that he would soon run out of money and close the home.
Guardian Angels
That is when LIU students and staff jumped in as guardian angels. Newman Club members said they would hold fundraisers for the home. At first, they thought of cake sales,, but Father Keeney explained that cake sales make hundreds of dollars and they needed to make thousands.
That is where Joy White’s idea came to save the day. She explained that in her high school there was a fundraiser where students got sponsors and promised to sit and rock in rocking chairs for as long as their family and friends sponsored them. They called it a Rock-A-Thon.
In October, 2006, LIU held its first such event and last month held it for the ninth time. This was one of the best attended events. Ninety-two students as well as faculty and staff participated. They rocked in eight rocking chairs in front of the chapel for two days and asked everyone walking by them to help donate to the cause.
Sports Support
Of particular interest this year was the large number of student athletes from the Brooklyn Blackbirds Division I athletic teams. All members of the baseball, softball and volleyball teams participated. Joining them, were members from lacrosse, soccer, golf, track and basketball. The highlight of the event was when the school mascot, The Brooklyn Blackbird, rocked in a chair and encouraged people to donate.
Caring young men and women from every race and origin came together to help the less fortunate. Students not only raised about $8,000 for St. Gabriel’s Home and St. Gemma’s School in Tanzania, but they did it appropriately – with fun, passion and enthusiasm.
