Rockland Journal News
News and Eve
By Nancy Cacioppo
April 15, 1998
Making the World A better Place with Stone Soup:
Richard Deats tells the story of Vedran Smailovic, the principal
cellist of the Sarajevo Opera, who played Albinoni's sorrowful "Adagio"
in a Sarajevo bread line every day for 22 days in memory of the 22 people
who were killed in a 1992 bombing in the besieged city.
In his story, Deats writes that Smailovic's cello "held more power than
bombs and guns and all the ugly instruments of terror combined. With
his music, the cellist of Sarajevo had defied the power of death itself,
inspiring many to resist despair by celebrating love, life, and that
spark of human spirit that can never be destroyed."
"Adagio in Sarajevo" is one of 100 inspirational stories in "Stone Soup
for the World" (Conari Press, $15.95).
Deats, executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Upper
Nyack, will help launch National Volunteer Week, which is April 19 to 25.
He will lead a reading and signing of the book at 7 p.m. Friday at the
Pickwick Book Shop, 8 S. Broadway, Nyack. For information, call 358-9126.
"Stone Soup for the World " is billed as "a magical collection of stories
that celebrate unforgettable deeds, tap our imaginations and rekindle the
spirit of giving."
The book, written in vignettes, tells about the simple efforts of
individuals who have an impact on mankind. Among them are stories of
Mother Teresa, Jimmy Carter, Nelson Mandela, Eleanor Roosevelt,
Martin Luther King Jr ., Cesar Chavez, Steven Spielberg, Wynton Marsalis,
and actor Edward James Olmos who lives in Palisades.
"Stone Soup" also has stories about lesser-known people. Among them is
12-year-old Isis Johnson, who at the age of four began a
food drive in New Orleans and now has a foundation of her own that helps
people.
There is nine-year-old Bess Lynn Sarinino of Virginia Beach, Va., who
threw , a "forgiveness party" for teen-agers who had robbed and vandalized
her home.
Another story is about a 27 -year-old businessman, whose efforts to raise
scholarship money for the children of the victims of the Oklahoma City
bombing eventually totaled more than $3.5 million.
Another is about the people of Blillings, Mont., who came together to
fight anti-semitism.
Then there is David Levitt, who at 11 convinced his Tampa Bay, Fla.,
school board to donate leftover cafeteria food for local soup kitchens.
Now 15, he is working to pass legislation that would make such a program
possible throughout Florida schools.
Stone Soup for the World" also includes a resource guide to link readers
with an extensive array of community building organizations around the
world.
Packwick is one of 35 bookstores across the country that is hosting
readings and signings of the book on Friday, hoping to motivate
volunteers in their own communities.
Janet Anderson is executive director of the Volunteer Action Center
of Rockland County, which represents the county's nonprofit organizations.
The Volunteer Action Center matches volunteers skills and interests with
crime prevention, the environment, literacy and education, health care and
housing needs. Fore more, call 364-2114.
Anderson realizes how difficult it is these days to recruit volunteers.
That's why, she said, "the book's life-changing stories of kindness and
courageous acts of service" are the perfect inspiration behind
volunteerism.
"The launching of "Stone Soup for the World" is a direct tie-in with
National Volunteer Week," Anderson said. "Our role is to honor all
volunteers and to encourage the idea of volunteerism."
Proceeds form the book will help support the non-profit Stone Soup
Foundation and its educational curricula of caring and action.
For further information, call (508)696-8514; fax: (508) 696-9460;
or write the Stone Soup Foundation, P.O. Box 4301, Vineyard Haven,
Mass. 02568.
For more than 20 years, community strategist and volunteer Marianne
Larned, the book's editor, has been helping corporate government,
civic and community leaders develop public/private partnerships to
build healthier communities.
Deats and Larned worked together in the Philippines in the late 1980's.
Three years ago, Deats said, Larned started searching worldwide to find
real-life, inspirational stories of ordinary/extraordinary people whose
actions help heal the world.
About a dozen students from Edgewood College in Madison, Wis., will
attend Friday's reading and book signing, Deats said. During their East
Coast visit, they will participate in three days of nonviolence training
at F.O.R and visit the United Nations.
And, putting principle into practice, Deats added, "the students will
be making stone soup for supper and learning what can be accomplished
when all pitch in."
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