Ralph Rotella: Cobbler to Champion
At the New York State Fair, Ralph Rotella, who began collecting shoes for charity in 2011, was presented as the Today’s Option Champion. A Today’s Options Champion is someone who is using his or her time and talent to make a difference in the lives of an aging population. The vote was tallied previously, but today he was officially named the Grand Champion. Rotella won $10,000 for his charity, the Rescue Mission Alliance.
Downtown
This week is a holiday week for many with the highlight being the Thanksgiving Holiday, or this year,the beginning of Hanukkah; still others look forward to Black Friday shopping (and the beginning of the Christmas season).
We met Gina Stokes at the Social Media Breakfast and found out that last week was National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. To celebrate and highlight the issue, the Rescue Mission invited filmmaker and homeless advocate Mark Horvath to Syracuse. He premiered his film @home, and participated in a panel discussion at the Palace Theater. Horvath is from Binghamton and is the creator of Invisible People. Listen to a clip of his statement during the Q&A below. Also there’s a comment by the Syracuse Rescue Mission’s Alan Thornton.
The former and current head of The Syracuse Rescue Mission (Clarence Jordan and Alan Thornton) talk at the Vision Center on South Salina Street following the 2013 Teen Tech graduation ceremony.