Henry Street Donation Goes Global!
By Henry Street Settlement
Above: Henry Street Settlement Executive Director with WABC7-NY’s NJ Burkett.
It was the donation heard around the world.
A May 7, 2018 front page story in The New York Times about the staggering $6.24 million donation to Henry Street from the estate of a legal secretary, caught fire the moment it was published. In the seven days since it broke, the story has been covered by 50 media outlets: local and national television stations, from WABC to NBC News; newspapers ranging from the Washington Post to the Seattle Times; by Chinese and Spanish language newspapers; and by news media in Great Britain, France, Finland, New Zealand and Australia. It was also included in The New York Times roundup of weekly good news.
The story went viral on social media, as well. The post on the Times Facebook page had over 37,000 “likes” and more than 4,600 “shares.” Twitter was buzzing too, with individuals as disparate as Chelsea Handler, Trip Gabriel and Yashar Ali and more tweeting about it, with thousands of likes and retweets.
What captivated interest was the size of the donation and the women who made it happen. Sylvia Bloom worked as a legal secretary at Cleary Gottlieb for 67 years, retiring at age 96. When she died two years later, Jane Lockshin – Miss Bloom’s niece and executor of her estate – discovered that her aunt had amassed a fortune of $9 million, and intended to donate it toward scholarships to help disadvantaged students. It was up to Lockshin to disperse the funds to institutions to award the scholarships. Henry Street received the lion’s share and a smaller amount going to Hunter College, Ms. Bloom’s alma mater.
Lockshin and David Garza, Executive Director of Henry Street Settlement, spent much of last week on camera, answering the questions of a seemingly insatiable international press corps. “In this era of disheartening news, it was such a positive story,” said Lockshin, “and the perfect antidote to the greed and dishonesty that seems to be at the forefront of news these days.”
Garza, who was “blown away” by the donation, agrees. “This is such an affirming story of good in the world, and we are so grateful for this wonderful, life-changing gift,” he said.
A list of local, national and international media are listed on our Henry Street In The News page or here below:
New York Times
NY1 News All Weekend (Transcript)
The Villager
NBC News
CBS New York
ABC New York – Eyewitness News
Washington Post
The Seattle Times
CNBC
Fox 5 NY
The Lo-Down
Forward
El Diario (Spanish Language in NYC)
Las Vegas Sun
Air1 News
World Journal (Chinese Language in US)
Newser
TVNZ (New Zealand)
The Week (UK)
The Independent (UK)
Insider
Entrepreneur.com
Inc.
Missouri News Tribune
Non Profit Quarterly
Money Magazine
news.com.au (Australia)
The Australian (Australia) (Paywall)
KXL Radio (Portland, OR) (Transcript)
Lower East Side Patch
Legal Cheek (UK)
New Zealand Herald
Sky News (UK)
Europe 1 Radio (France)
SBS News (Australia)
iNews (UK)
Fox 7 Austin (TX)
Dover-Sherborn Press (Dover, MA)
Mamma Mia (Australia)
Inc.com
Western Mass News
Making Money with Charles Payne (Fox Business News) (Transcript)
WLNY News (Transcript)
Helsingin Sanomat (Finland)
BBC World Service
1010 WINS
Now This
Jewish Women’s Archive
Bom Dia Brasil (Brazil)
Indianapolis Business Journal
