Saturday, October 15, 2011

Beautiful Roosevelt Island Day For Fall For Arts Festival and Icla da Silva Foundation 5K Run/Walk For Bone Marrow Donation Awareness

Today was a beautiful autumn day on Roosevelt Island - cool, crisp and sunny. Perfect weather for the 6th annual Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival presented by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) and the Icla da Silva Foundation Roosevelt Island 5K Run/Walk for bone marrow donation awareness.

As reported in this previous post, the Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival included:

... vendors such as the Children's Museum of the Arts, Materials for the Arts and English-Spanish children's musician "Louie" just to name a few. The "Imagination Station" will feature storytelling, puppets, crafts and cooking stations for adults. In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, a Latin Jazz concert and Latino themed poetry reading will cap off the evening....
Here are some scenes from the 2011 Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival


You Tube Video of 2011 Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival


You Tube Video of Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival 2011

and the Icla da Silva Foundation 5K Run/Walk.


You Tube Video Of Icla da Silva Roosevelt Island 5K Run/Walk

This article from the September 8, 2001 Main Street WIRE reports on the Icla da Silva Foundation's origins on Roosevelt Island:
... More than 100 people signed up.  Some were turned away due to health factors and some never showed up.  But 65 eventually donated a pint of blood each on Roosevelt Island Day, June 9.  "The blood drive was a great success.  We collected more than double the average of 30 pints at similar events," said Alci da Silva, the Executive Director of the Icla da Silva Foundation, based on Roosevelt Island.  The foundation was set up in memory of da Silva's daughter, Icla, who died of leukemia a decade ago...
Additional information on the Foundation available at its web site.
The Icla da Silva Foundation is the largest recruitment center for the Be The Match Registry in the United States. It recruits over 38,000 new potential bone marrow donors every year, with a strong focus on minority communities.

The Icla da Silva Foundation was established in 1992, in memory of the 13-year-old brazilian girl named Icla da Silva. After three years of fighting leukemia, Icla passed away in New York City, where she came hoping to get her life saving treatment: a bone marrow transplant. The young girl never found a matching donor....
More scenes from today's Icla da Silva Foundation Roosevelt Island 5K Run/Walk and Roosevelt Island Fall For Arts Festival.



No question about it - today was a very nice day!!!