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    There Has to Be More
    There Has to Be More
    There Has to Be More
    Ebook85 pages1 hour

    There Has to Be More

    By S. Dolores Gartanutti

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    About this ebook

    THERE HAS TO BE MORE is a walk down memory lane of working with, and living with runaway and homeless youth. It was their courage and spirit that prompted the writing of this book, so that young people today can know there is ALWAYS an alternative to a difficult home situation and that alternative is not drugs and alcohol.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateApr 7, 2009
    ISBN9781467055352
    There Has to Be More
    Author

    S. Dolores Gartanutti

    Sister Dolores Gartanutti,O.P. affectionately known as DEE to the youth she lived with for 22 years, is an Amityville Dominican from the New York area. Before founding Noah's Ark Dee taught 25 years in NY and in Puerto Rico-Dee has her Master's in Education. In 1977 she founded Noah's Ark to respond to the needs of runaway and homeless youngsters in the New York area. During the ensuing years she lived with over 1400 youngsters, and it is some of their stories that she shares in her book.

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      Book preview

      There Has to Be More - S. Dolores Gartanutti

      Contents

      Preface

      INTRODUCTION

      Following My Passion

      CHAPTER 1

      A Simple Beginning

      CHAPTER 2

      A Nice Place To Visit

      CHAPTER 3

      A Redhead I Dearly Loved

      CHAPTER 4

      I Wish I Were A Dog

      CHAPTER 5

      Help Me Light the Stove

      CHAPTER 6

      My Jewish Star

      CHAPTER 7

      Mary Brought Her Home

      CHAPTER 8

      Turnabout In A Snow Storm

      CHAPTER 9

      One Drink and All Hell Breaks Loose

      CHAPTER 10

      The Men In My Life

      CHAPTER 11

      Na Mas Te

      CHAPTER 12

      Beauty Within

      CHAPTER 13

      From The Land Downunder

      CHAPTER 14

      Vacations

      CHAPTER 15

      Hit Him in The Head With A Wooden Spoon

      CHAPTER 16

      From The Andes To New York City

      CHAPTER 17

      A Tribe Arrives

      CHAPTER 18

      Castaways On The Van Wyck Expressway

      CHAPTER 19

      Little Evan Arrives

      CHAPTER 20

      My Karate Expert

      CHAPTER 22

      Eastern Stars

      CHAPTER 22

      Younger Runaways

      CHAPTER 23

      The Holidays

      CHAPTER 24

      Angels To The Ark

      We are guilty of many errors and many faults,

      but our worst crime is abandoning the children,

      neglecting the fountain of life.

      Many of the things we need can wait.

      The child cannot.

      Right now is the time

      bones are being formed, blood is being made,

      senses are being developed.

      To the child we cannot answer Tomorrow.

      The child’s name is Today.

      -Gabriela Mistral

      Nobel Prize-winning poet from Chile

      Preface

      I STRUGGLED FOR QUITE A while with titling this book. At first, I thought of The Many Faces Of God because my youngsters have been that for me. But, eventually, I knew that the title could only be: There has to be more… It was that seeking for the more that allowed these youngsters to leave all behind and have the courage to seek the more.

      Many years ago our ancestors left their homelands to make their way to America. They left everything familiar behind, crossed an ocean, and came to a strange land. I liken my youngsters to these brave travelers.

      It is to honor my youngsters that I write this book, for it is basically their stories. I have changed names but everything to follow is true. May their stories inspire others who may be living in difficult circumstances to know there is more out there; to never give up, to never give in to drugs and alcohol, to never settle for anything less than it is their heritage to have.

      As stated in our Declaration of Independence, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. I also hope it may inspire others who have been more fortunate to dedicate their lives to helping these young people in need to find the more.

      I wish to thank, especially, Alice Armao who really helped kick start this undertaking, Linda Gilberg who typed the manuscript, and Maureen and John Raber for their proof-reading and editing expertise.

      Sister Dolores Gartanutti, O.P.

      INTRODUCTION

      Following My Passion

      ONE THING I KNEW, EVEN at a very early age, was that I am a person of passion. Whatever I love, I love totally. I have never been good at the moderation thing. At four years old, my Uncle Danny introduced me to baseball. How exciting it was to root for Dem Bums as the Dodgers of Brooklyn were so affectionately called. Exciting, but, oh, so frustrating at times. Every year the wins would be anticipated, the dreams shattered, and always springing anew was the cry, Wait till next year.

      I attended Our Lady of Guadalupe Elementary School in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. I started school in January 1942, about six weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the beginning of World War II. In fact, the bombing was one of my earliest memories. My family was celebrating my Uncle Danny’s birthday. It was a Sunday afternoon. We had just finished dinner and the table was being cleared so that coffee and the birthday cake could be served. I remember the radio was in the far corner of the room. Someone said, Hey, everyone pipe down, they are playing ‘Amapola,’ Uncle Danny’s favorite song.

      All of a sudden, the radio blared across the room: We interrupt this broadcast to announce that the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor. The whole family went out of the house and neighbors, too, were filing into the street. The boy who lived across the street was a sailor stationed on a ship in Pearl Harbor. His mother was sobbing and I remember my mother putting her arms around the woman. I soon learned, sadly, what it meant when a little flag with a gold star appeared in a window of a house.

      Love of country and a passion to know more about history became earmarks of my childhood. I had a map of the world on my bedroom wall and I would mark places like Pearl Harbor, Bataan, Corregidor and then move over to Europe to find Poland, Russia, and France. I grew up appreciating the sacrifices others were making so that I could be free. There was also that sense of what others have done for me and what I owe to those who will come after me.

      My father spent part of his early years in an orphanage. His mother and father had emigrated from Italy to the United States. My father’s family was wealthy and from Venice. My paternal grandfather was a college student studying engineering on maneuvers with the equivalent to our National Guard. These maneuvers took place in the hills to the South of Venice. That was where he met my grandmother, the peasant daughter of the innkeeper where the young soldiers were quartered. They fell in love and much to the dismay of his family, they married.

      Not long after, my father was born. Two years later he had a little sister. My grandmother was never accepted by my grandfather’s family because she was considered so far below their social standing. My grandfather graduated and was an engineer with a specialty in railroad construction. He was

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