Tunnel to Towers warms hearts of HOPE students

As the nights stretch longer and months grow colder, it’s important to bundle up. Some students at a Westchester Avenue high school won’t have to worry about an arctic freeze, however, after the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation warmed their hearts with new coats, hats and gloves, stylishly picked out from Lord & Taylor.

“I love it,” said Louie Garcia, a student at P.S. X721-Stephen McSweeney School, who also is a part of Hebrew Home at Riverdale’s Healthcare Opportunities for Permanent Employment — or HOPE — program. “This is really cool, especially the scarf. Like how did you come up with this?”

Garcia likened the dapper look of his new bag to a bank robber’s — all black and big enough to discreetly fit wads of cash, or in his case, books. The 20-year-old has been a part of HOPE for two years. The program is meant to provide students with the skills they will need in the work force like resume writing, and working with nursing home residents and co-workers.

HOPE students attend classes at the Hebrew Home giving them on-the-job training, which they can use at health care jobs once they are out of high school. In fact, many HOPE students ultimately end up at the Hebrew Home, helping the facility take care of its many residents. Work could ultimately include loading boxes of supplies or hanging out with residents who have trouble doing things on their own.

When Hebrew Home president and chief executive Daniel Reingold created HOPE, it was important the program took place on the Hebrew Home Palisade Avenue campus.

Josephine Catalano, director of volunteer services and inter-generational programming, works with the education department’s Nicholas Kinas, giving students a social and academic education. That could range from check balancing, economics, interview techniques, résumé skills and self-advocacy courses.

On their shopping trip to Lord & Taylor in Scarsdale, Catalano and Kinas worked with a personal shopper who picked out fashionable coats that typically fit the style of young adults.

The personal shoppers “made magic happen,” Catalano said, making all the purchases fit inside their $1,000 budget. However, when it came to making the presents personal, Catalano and Kinas knew whose characters would match certain coats best.

“We know them … and their personalities,” Catalano said, “so we were like, ‘Oh this would be great for this one.’”

Catalano’s work at the Hebrew Home is like a ministry, allowing her to wrap her arms around people in need. When Kinas suggested HOPE students needed coats, Hebrew Home’s grants manager, Patricia Greaney, turned to Tunnel to Towers. The foundation honors Stephen Siller, a firefighter who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

The foundation’s name comes from that tragic day when Siller ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to reach the Twin Towers. He later died rescuing others.

Last year, Tunnel to Towers raise more than $900,000 to purchase a Skyview-on-the-Hudson home for the family of slain police officer Miosotis Familia.

“The Hebrew Home really treats these students like they’re family,” Kinas said. “Like they’re their own kids.”

Kinas’ connection to his work is personal. Before he worked with the education department, he was a portfolio manager and trader on Wall Street. But after his daughter was born with her own disability, Kinas left the financial district to take care of her. He even found time to go back to school and earn his master’s degree in special education.

Kinas taught high school math and science for six years, and in 2015, joined the HOPE program at the Hebrew Home. There he teaches interpersonal skills, how to deal with the changing schedule of a work place, and how to communicate with managers.

“I do this to just to try to give back a little bit,” Kinas said. “We give them a lot of skills, but our goal is to make them self-sufficient and to be able to function as good adults in society.”

Together the Hebrew Home and the education department collaborate in a special way, Catalano said, to give students the proper footing for their future.

It all started when Hebrew Home administrators noticed many of the students boarding their bus back home without proper warm clothes. That opened the door for Tunnel to Towers on the suggestion of Greaney, whose husband worked the Ground Zero site in lower Manhattan for five months after 9/11. Tunnel to Towers provided the funds in honor of his service.

But at the heart of the gift was a thank you to the 12 students for their work with the senior citizens at the home. Garcia, like some of the other students, spends his time reading, talking and assisting the elderly residents in their daily activities like lunchtime or keeping them company.

“To be honest,” Garcia said, “I like the place, and the residents, and my co-workers, and my supervisor — everyone.”

The HOPE program has been a part of the Hebrew Home since 1995. It was founded by Reingold with a focus on students with intellectual disabilities.

“We are very grateful to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation for their generous support that’s allowing us to give these disadvantaged youngsters, beautiful warm winter coats and gloves,” Reingold said.

“We are so proud of these youngsters for their work ethic and their light and energy and love that they bring to the residents of the Hebrew Home.”