Special Guest Mezzo Soprano Denyce Graves at The Peninsula Hotel As we arrive at The Peninsula Hotel in New York City, we meet Lauren Vernon, on the board of directors at The New York Center for Children. She shares with us the difference NYCC makes and its mission.
The center and its exceptional staff provide bilingual, trauma-focused therapy services to victims of child abuse and their families, free of charge, for as long as their healing requires.
For the past 28 years, NYCC has provided tutoring, mentoring, and extracurricular events in a child-friendly and welcoming environment. The Chair, Christine Rales, shares that children are at times unable to express with words what they feel inside or the traumatic experiences they have endured, and art therapy, one of the types of treatment they focus on, does just that, allowing the child to express themselves without having to use words. Through this art, professionals can find a way to communicate and offer the healing necessary.
Children of NYCC created beautiful and moving floral-themed works of art, especially for this evening, knowing they would be helping raise money for the center. Silent auctioneers were able to bid on these pieces and help provide the funding needed to continue providing care to the children the center serves in all five boroughs of New York City. There are many ways in which donors and volunteers are genuinely making a difference. The fundraising allows NYCC to continue offering therapy to children, salary to the therapists working alongside the children, roundtrip fare for a commute to and from the center, and much more. The auction offered different tiers allowing all to partake from $50.00 to $5,000.00.
With live musical entertainment, passed hor d’oeuvres, and cocktails, auctioneers walked around The Peninsula Hotel’s Clement Restaurant turned art gallery, silent bidding on magnificent experiences and items throughout the evening. Event organizers do a good job year after year with bid offerings. Such as a stay in Napa Valley at The Quail Lodge, a stay at The Peninsula Beverly Hills, or a two-night stay at The Peninsula NYC in their deluxe suite, all with breakfast for two. All for a great cause, the hard work that goes into putting these events together is gratifying.
Samir Ibrahim and Christine Rales
The Peninsula’s manager, Samir Ibrahim, is honored with an art piece for his dedication to the cause. The First Bloom of the Spring Season Begins, illustrated by one of the children of NYCC, is presented to Ibrahim by Chair Christine Rales. He has been working with the organization since 2009, where they have hosted back-to-school events, bake sales, and their annual Christmas tree lighting on the roof. Filled with memories and incredible impact, Ibrahim and the team at The Peninsula’s motivating factor has been in being able to make a difference. Ibrahim loves to work alongside NYCC as they make up a big part of the fabric of the hotel. Together they appreciate the long-standing relationship they share.
Drena Fagen
Two special guests were Drena Fagen and Denyce Graves. Fagen is a co-founder of New York Creative Arts Therapists. Her approach combines art and talk therapy to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression related to current life challenges, childhood abuse, emotional abuse, trauma, daily stress, ADHD, and burnout.
It may be failed to realize the public health problem that untreated abuse can cause in the long term. Poor or affluent, abuse and neglect are experienced in 1 in 7 children, and many cases go unreported. In 2020 1,800 children died of abuse in the United States. Growing up with toxic stress from abuse may have difficulties leading into adulthood, causing depression, suicide, substance abuse, and loss of educational job opportunities. The abused individual is likely to repeat the cycle in future generations.
The work at NYCC is changing lives, and this is where that abuse can stop. It is a loving and safe environment, breaking that cycle of abuse. Because abuse is often inflicted in silence, physical expression is often helpful. Using visual art therapy is just one in a collection of creative arts approaches, including music therapy, drama therapy, dance/movement therapy, expressive therapy, and poetry therapy. All of these techniques treat a variety of mental health needs for both children and adults.
Fagen describes abuse as though you have a garden growing and thriving, and someone comes and stomps through the garden, and so all the thriving, growing, and joy gets crushed, and what the center does is help to regrow that garden. She shares that the garden may not be what it once was, but there will be many possibilities. One of the titles on a work of art is I Like The Meaning of The Lotus Because It Grows Through The Mud, so the images and symbolisms of flowers on this evening are just perfect.
Denyce Graves and daughter Ella Thomas-Montgomery
The internationally celebrated mezzo-soprano opera singer Denyce Graves was present with her daughter, Ella Thomas-Montgomery. We listened as she was introduced as a voice that touches the heavens and uses her voice in so many ways. With so many standing ovations from audiences worldwide, we learn from her how the power of music is an integral part of the healing process. Graves and her foundation, The Denyce Graves Foundation, have also done much work with children.
The New York Center for Children, this event, the guests, the effortlessly forthcoming charity, and the artwork all hits her directly in her core as she is a survivor of child abuse. She looks around the room and shares with us how we tend to drown in the daily mirage of unbelievable news we hear daily and finds herself thinking the stories of the people in this room should be told, the tales of their strength, of their resilience, of the joy of their once again beautiful gardens.
Denyce Graves
Graves believes the work she has been doing throughout her life in music has been a privilege and honor. To have that beautiful exchange is healing. She thanks everyone for doing their significant work and breaking the patterns from generation to generation because “Childhood is the most important thing in the world,” the emotion and importance of the evening is felt throughout the room. She reminds us all to protect, heal and nurture the most vulnerable members of our society.
Before the meaningful evening comes to an end, Rales mentions Graves’s involvement with Sesame Street. She exclaims it made her the coolest person in the world among her nieces and nephews. You can view that here.
There are several ways to be involved with this “small charity with a big heart,” a quote we loved from the evening. They have an active volunteer program in which training is provided. Volunteers may assist in providing essential assistance and individualized care to children and their families during visits to the center. It may be as a tutor, a special events coordinator, or an administrative volunteer. Read on for more information on volunteer opportunities here.
Stay blooming.
