Quiet night here at home. Diane and Gabe decided at the last moment to go down to the Cape with the Kenny’s and Townsend’s.   Leaving me here all alone with ‘only’ 7 Voices house guests tonight. Poor me J.. I ‘m going to use the quit to catch up on my sleep.  I got up this morning after 5 hours of sleep feeling pretty groggy. I wondered over to the computer to check out my MySpace and was pleased to see several messages about the article that Kate and Adam at WCAX had done on the Friends of Sam benefit last night. This is one of those few days when I regret not having real TV in the house I checked the WCAX website and was surprised to see the Friends of Sam story on their front  page.

 

The article is here and includes a media link and this  transcript

South Burlington, Vermont – July 30, 2007

Teenagers having fun at the Talent Skate Park in South Burlington have already learned life has its ups and downs. The toughest downturn: when their friend Sam Cohn was hit by a car and killed in November. He was just 14.

“When we lost Sam it was shocking,” 15-year-old Hannah Townsend said. “Really shocking.”

“Losing a best friend, it doesn’t hit you at first,” explained 14-year-old Sumner Williams. “And a few weeks in, you’re like, ‘Wow, I can’t do anything with this person anymore. It’s just so hard.”

Townsend said none of them had lost a friend like this, so they didn’t know how to grieve. But they knew Sam — a skater, snowboarder, guitarist and athlete — wasn’t the type who would want them to sit back and mourn.

“We wanted to do something for him because he would have done it for us,” she said. “He was a really good kid. We had to do something.”

That something turned out to be raising money for other kids in need. They collected money at the skate park’s door and sold ice cream and pizza that had been donated by local businesses. It was the third fundraiser the group had organized. Just a month after Sam died, his friends raised money to buy Christmas presents for kids who might not get any. Then they raised almost $3,000 to help a paralyzed snowboarder make his house wheelchair accessible.

“They’re not only raising the money, they’re finding the people who need it,” Sam’s father, John, said. “It’s really a kids-to-kids connection, and the rest of the adults are sitting back going ‘Who knew?’ It’s really cool.”

Sam Cohn has already saved four lives — his parents donated his organs when he died. Now he’s helping more people live better lives.

“I think he would have been really proud of his friends,” Cohn said. “And to the extent that he’s somewhere watching, he’s probably bummed he’s not here. We certainly are.”

Sam packed a lot of life into 14 years. But even in death, he’s making a difference.

“It’s amazing how big people’s hearts are,” Cohn said.

Kate Duffy – WCAX News

I’m still struggling  to download the media link so I can put it on a CD..   for now, I just recorded this on my camera… see the link  above for better quality video

 

I was so proud of Sam’s friends (and Sam) after seeing this article. They really are doing something great here.

I was talking to my friend Deanna and we were discussing different folks approach to grief. I showed  her the Friends of Sam video and she commented that it looked like we’d found a way to convert some of our grief into goodness. I liked that thought.. Nothing we do is going to fill the hole in our hearts left by Sam’s passing.. but it still sure feels good to turn our missing Sam into fun and helpful efforts like the benefit last night, SamStones and the work we do with Sam’s Foundation. I can’t imagine surviving without that.

 
OK.. Time for bed. .   I came home after snacks/dinner with friends Doug, Mark. Paul. Adger and Bryan,  

and fell asleep on the floor petting Chai. have to get more than 5 hours of sleep tonight.. Gnite all, gnite Sam.. you’re still doing good in the world !

 

-dad

 

ps. here’s a montage of skate board deck art I made last night.at Talent .. They are real works of art ! (thanks again Talent-people .. you’re wonderful)