The “Boatbusters! Halloween Parade, Race & Fundraiser” sure was a success! According to the History Channel, Halloween tradition is dated back 2000 years ago, where the Celts marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter. This tradition was spread through Europe and was modified by the church and different ethnic groups. In America, as the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups and the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” which were public events held to celebrate the harvest. Neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing. In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes. To me, Halloween has always been a holiday I had mixed feeling about. On one hand – I am all in when it comes to wearing costumes, decorating houses and having fun. On the other hand – I always felt a bit quite uncomfortable with the Trick-or-Treat tradition, as kids who are Trick-or-Treating are expecting to get candy, get upset when they don’t get enough and get pulled into crazy sugar-rush caused tantrums.

If there’s one good thing that came out from 2020 is a shift in attitude. Some sociologists and politicians thought that the long months of lockdown, learning, adapting and becoming accountable to new standards of behaviors, such as: personal hygiene, social distancing and mask wearing, would be detrimental to our society. In reality, people who care stepped up in solidarity and took action to make an impact on the lives of the less fortunate.

A few months ago I wrote an article telling about Michele Wiemer and Barry Richards, a sailor couple, who started cooking meals on their boat and delivered them along with masks to Jersey City Homeless in Journal Square. A couple of weeks later, Michele & Barry started a Go-Fund-Me campaign – “Sailors and Seniors Helping Jersey City Homeless” to raise money to fund food products and mask materials. Since then, Michele & Barry’s network of friends and family across the country got inspired by this initiative and joined them in making different nutritious meals every week and making sure that the homeless – who are part of our community and society, are protected and protect others who they come in contact with from Covid-19.

Halloween is always a bitter-sweet time of the year for us, sailors. While it’s fun to go sailing wearing costumes, it’s also the last sail for the season… Remembering Kennedy’s famous quote, I decided not to let covid-19 to get in the way of celebrating our community through extending kindness beyond. In that vein, I decided to re-imagine the Trick-or-Treat custom, from an act of getting something or feeling entitled to something, to an act of giving to others. The Trick-or-Treat became a way to either raise donations to the “Sailors and Seniors Helping Jersey City Homeless”Go-Fund-Me campaign (Trick) or donate a coat, a warm clothing item or a non-perishable food item to the homeless (Treat).

As a new member of Liberty Yacht Club, I was able to present this idea and gain their support. The officers of Liberty Yacht Club recognized the impact we can make as a community by supporting its members in bringing awareness a local NY Harbor region cause, through bringing members last opportunity for this year to get together on the water and to start an annual club tradition. With the assistance of LYC members, LLM tenants and others, I was able to present a day long event that included a boat parade, a sailboat race and a Trick-or-Treat contest.

 

The event started on a very cold morning of Saturday 10/31/2020, with the Boatbusters Boat Parade, led by Le Peniche – with Captain Jim Chambers at the helm. Le Peniche led the 9-boat parade along the Morris Canal from Liberty Landing Marina’s fuel dock west, and then back east towards green buoy 1 at the entrance to the Morris Canal. The parade participants stepped up for the game with decorating their boats, having Halloween theme accessories and costumes. A few kids were sited on board the different boats, and in spite of the cold temperatures, everybody seemed delighted and amused. After the boat parade, 7 of the boats prepared for the race start.

 

The special custom made prizes, created by glass artist Stephanie Baness of Moxie Sorbet Designs. Thank you Liberty Landing Marina and Dockmaster Andrew Licata for your help and support in coordinating the event.

The post Liberty Yacht Club’s First Boatbusters! Halloween Parade, Race & Fundraiser was a great success! appeared first on New York Harbor Channel.

The global pandemic crisis took a toll on many of us. The need to isolate ourselves from others in order to flatten the curve and protect people at high risk, required us to stay home. While some of us were able to adjust and re-invent their working and study habits, for many others, their lives had changed for the worse. For homeless people who are struggling to keep their personal hygiene and get food on a regular basis, it became even more challenging. The welfare services are interrupted and there are just not enough people out who would show random acts of kindness. 

On Sunday I joined my friends Michele Smith-Wiemer and Barry Richards on their 7th donation drive. As mentioned in my previous article, the preparations for the weekly drive are being operated from Michele’s boat docked at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City and supported by the local boaters community. Michele is collecting food donations and cooks at her boat galley, and together with Barry they are driving around every Sunday to deliver the meals. In addition to meals, Michele and Barry are also supplying masks made by seniors – Michele’s mom, Susan Smith, and her Eugene, Oregon retirement community. 

Michele & Barry made 45 meals – this week the recipients had a choice between chili or mac & cheese with a yummy cupcake for dessert – made by Barry’s daughter. We drove around Jersey City looking for homeless people in known spots. It was important to us to find those who prefer to be on their own rather than to congregate where other homeless people do. Eventually we arrived in Journal Square, where typically many homeless people hang out. At Journal Square we were welcomed by Louis – a resourceful and kind young man who Michele & Barry met on previous drives. Louis organized a line, making sure the homeless are keeping a 6’ distance between each other and wearing masks. For those who didn’t have masks, or had disposable masks – we provided one of the hand made masks we brought with us. 

Michele was handing out the main course along with a piece of bread and a spoon, and I handed out the cupcakes. The people were polite, grateful, friendly and patient for the most part. We apologized to those who came back for seconds, explaining we wanted to make sure everybody is getting a meal, and their reaction was nothing but understanding and appreciating. I felt that the simple acts of acknowledgment and interest in them, like asking for their names and introducing ourselves, along with a bit of humor – that made the bridge over our metaphorical and physical social distancing. 

After supplying meals to all the homeless in Journal Square, we still had another dozen meals left. We then drove to Hoboken’s train terminal, where we found several other homeless people who were excited by the gesture. We even got a few thumbs up from non-homeless passerbys. 

Over the last few days I’ve been covering this story, I learnt from Michele & Barry that the biggest challenge they are facing is getting the mask supplies. While the Oregon’s seniors community is making them in a relatively good pace, it is hard to rely on USPS to get the shipments on time. They also found it hard to get elastic for the masks. To that extent, and in order to enable remote support of their effort, they started a Go Fund Me Campaign to help raise funds to pay for mask making supplies and expedited shipping services. They are also trying to get more local mask makers, who they are hoping to be able to pick up ready made masks from. 

Interested in getting involved and contributing to this effort? Here are ways you can do so:

1. Donate elastic and fabrics for mask making
2. Any connection to postal or shipping services that can provide a quick delivery to Jersey City – as shipments from Oregon seem to take way too long….
3. Donate money through Go Fund Me
4. Of course, any food donations from individuals or restaurants are welcome! 

If you are interested in helping out or have any contacts who might be helpful – please contact Michele at: [email protected]

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