Do Thank You's Have an Expiration Date?

I've been away from the blog for awhile, so I'm going to jump back in with a few "thank you's" that are long overdue. There are a lot of people who have helped so much in the past few months, and it’s really important to take a minute and recognize some of them.

- Garrison Phillips, who has been an amazing blogger on Senior Planet and whose encouraging emails always seem to come just when I’m having a really frustrating day.
- Abby Stokes, Neil Harrison, David Dring, and Julie Pfeffer, our new board members who are already making an enormous difference for us in countless ways.
- Renee Martinez, Rob Finkenthal, Barbara Tawil, and the rest of the OATS staff and consultant crew who have worked so hard and so well to advance our mission.
- Julio Urbina and Lauren Weisenfeld at the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels foundation, Kathryn O’Neal Dunham and Juanita Ayala at United Way of NYC, Len McNally at New York Community Trust, Ben Esner at Independence Community Foundation, and Walter Shay at ConEdison—these philanthropic supporters have kept OATS alive this year after our budget was cut 90 percent in the City Council last June.
- Speaking of City Council, we still receive critical support from Christine Quinn, Gale Brewer, Maria del Carmen Arroyo, Annabel Palma, Bill de Blasio, Vincent Gentile, Melissa Mark Viverito, Inez Dickens, and Rosie Mendez. Individual discretionary allocations from these councilmembers make up about a third of the OATS budget.
- Bridget Gallagher at Jewish Home Lifecare, Sean Andrews at the Prospect Park Y, Michael Adams at SAGE, Plinio Ayala at Per Scholas, Maria Alejandro at Union Settlement, Leo Asen at Self-Help, Ben Sherman at the East-West School—all of these partners supported our work and helped us reach more seniors and youth in more communities around the city.
- Jen McGarrity, Arturo O’Farrill, Andrew MacDowell, Yalda Nikoomanesh, Matthew Viragh, Kami Griffiths—all donated time or music or services at a fraction of what they were worth.
- OATS activists Ida Harris, Marie Tomao, Lester Johnson, Art Matarazzo, Shirley Fickling, Areatha Bryant, Charlotte Rogers, and Estelle Owusu.
- Rae Linefsky, Susan Stamler, Eric Brettschneider, Ruth Finkelstein, Caryn Resnick, and Jennifer Weiss, Rob Salkowitz and the rest of the OATS board, who have all given me invaluable advice, support, and encouragement when it really mattered.

OK, so that’s a really long list and I know I left a lot of people out. But it’s also a testament to just how many people believe in what we do at OATS, and how many people refuse to stand on the sidelines when there is important work to be done. Next time I’m feeling empty and frustrated that we’re not making faster progress, I think I’ll look over this list and remind myself just how many people have had our back when we needed it most. Thanks to all of you!