Honoring Philadelphians Who Work to Make a Positive Impact on the Lives of Others
Philadelphia PA — It’s April, and that means that One Step Away’s annual Steppy Awards Issue, honoring Philadelphia’s 2016 Heroes for the Homeless.
This year’s honorees are:
Katharine Wenocur of Lutheran Settlement House
Deanna Lear of DBHIDS Journey of Hope Project
Michael O’Bryan of Village of Arts & Humanities
Celena Morrison of Mazzoni Center
Nancy Bragin of Tuesday Afternoon Philly Outreach
Lee Ann Draud of University City Hospitality Coalition
Vince Lattanzio & Morgan Zalot of NBC10 Philadelphia
Francis Healy of the Philadelphia Police Department
Jeneen Whaley of the People’s Emergency Center
Iyesha Brown of Broad Street Ministry
Karen Orrick of Project Home’s Hub of Hope
Each year One Step Away’s editorial board and advisory committee honors those working to bring Philadelphia one step closer to ending homelessness with an award we call The Steppy. This year’s Steppy winners are a mix of some big names and some names everyone might not know, working behind the scenes to help those in need break the cycle of homelessness in ways big and small.
Congratulations to all of our current and former Steppy Award winners.
For more information email Ethan Cohen, Editor One Step Away Ethan.Cohen@rhd.org. Website: http://www.osaphilly.org
finally my wife convinced me to join her at a shelter and I handed out socks at the end of the meal. I would say, ‘Merry Christmas, God Bless You’ and drop a pair of socks into their bag as they left. A lady walked up to me. She didn’t make eye contact. I dropped socks into her plastic bag and said, ‘Merry Christmas, God Bless You.’ She said nothing and walked on. As I was waiting for the next guest she turned to me and said, ‘Can I please have another pair for a friend?’ She looked me right in the eye and said, ‘You know, no one has ever given me a pair of socks before.’ And then she stared to cry. And I started to cry. She reached out to hug me. And up to that point I never touched a homeless person before. So I hugged her back. That was my epiphany moment. I knew from that moment on that I had to be the sock person.” It was from that epiphany moment that The Joy of Sox came into being.
hosted the Benefit at her home in Southampton, Bucks County PA. “The Beatles are the best band in the history of music as far as I’m concerned” she said. “And I know how important socks are from my outreach work with homeless shelters; they’re the number one requested item. A night of Beatles music cumulating in the collection of a mountain of new socks for the homeless – well, it doesn’t get better than that.”
Tuesday Afternoon Philly Outreach 