A Jefferson Award for public service went to Kelly Porter of the East Bay for his work with AIDAAN.org, a family run philanthrophy that gives personalized iPods to children facing long hospital stays. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis co-founded the award. www.JeffersonAwards.org.
Music inspires, helps heal and helps the children cope, as Kelly Porter realized as he remembered his dear friend Aidan Immroth. Aidan was a creative boy who fought cancer most of his thirteen years. Kelly bought Aidan the first iPod at the suggestion of Aidan's mom, Hallie Immroth. Hospitals can be noisy and full of unfamiliar sounds and the iPods help drown it all out so the child can get relief. The children also email, play games and watch movies. The iPads help translate languages and help the staff keep in touch with families. Kelly shares the Jefferson Award with his dear friend Hallie, Aidan's mother, pictured on the CBS San Francisco website and in the broadcasts.
Hallie and Kelly co-founded AIDAAN.org, as Angels in Disguise Are Always Near. The pair raise money to buy the iPods and iTunes and now iPads for the hospital staff. Kelly gets nominations from the hospital doctors and nurses and he personally delivers the hand-decorated iPods to the recipient. Aidan used to do this, decorating the iPods according to the recipients' likes and sayings. Some like particular phrases from songs or Broadway musicals, such as "I'm Not Dead Yet" from Monty Python's Spamalot, the Musical.
Erin Garcia of SHN Theaters in San Francisco spoke with Kelly about how the theater that brings Broadway musicals to San Francisco can help AIDAAN.org in the future. Macworld also expressed interest and support.
KPIX TV/Channel Five taped Kelly at Oakland Childrens' Hospital recently as he delivered an iPod that read, Damn Everything But the Circus. The piece airred on the KPIX news on Wednesday night at six p.m., Thursday (today) at noon and will air this weekend on the early editions.
Here is a recent story and pictures about Kelly and AIDAAN.org, including a video of Aidan Immroth painting an actual live elephant. That's the kind of creative spirit he was and that inspires Kelly.
Another local winner is Captain Richard Gillette of the Berkeley ship Pegasus, who takes deserving children and young people out on the Bay on a gorgeous fifty foot ship with three masts. www.PegasusVoyages.com. I've volunteered myself with his all-volunteer crew at the mizzenmast and the ship is so big one cannot see the rest of the crew midship when aft. The captain made sure everybody talked and shared their stories and had a cooperative, non-competitive attitude and appreciated nature and the water. He's getting an even bigger boat to take children to Monterey and Half Moon Bay.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/6608455-jefferson-award-winner-captain-richard-gillette/
For more information: info@AIDAAN.org, www.AIDAAN.org and Facebook.
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