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People On The Move - Mamie Amato Weiss
02/27/2011 - By Teja Anderson
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Mamie Amato Weiss credits her parents and grandparents for instilling in her the importance of giving back while growing up in a small Italian community in Elizabeth, N.J. “Anyone that ever needed help, they would make themselves available to,” Mamie recalls.
Her grandmother had been an orphan. So every year her father – who had a talent for fundraising - and his club would raise a great deal of money for an orphanage in Sicily. A special visit there with her family when she was 14 had a profound effect on Mamie. She saw firsthand what simple kindness can accomplish. She still tears up as she remembers the children’s happy faces, their singing and their laughter as her father passed out candy and gifts to them.
Mamie’s parents’ motto was, “Do good and forget about it. Expect nothing in return!” and she took it as her own. At the age of 21 she started a year round food pantry at a local church. Then, in 1980, when Cuban refugees arrived in the community, she volunteered countless hours and taught ESL (English as a Second Language), and also became an elementary school teacher.
She met her husband Jeff, a pharmacist, on Valentine’s Day and soon realized that he had the same passion for helping others. Together they moved to Marlboro 20 years ago to start a family and soon initiated a Valentine’s Day fundraising party for all their friends and neighbors. They called it “Have a Heart,” which had been her grandfather’s favorite saying. Over the years the party has swelled to include almost 100 people. Each year they choose a different charity or cause to raise funds for. They’ve donated money to a local family who lost everything in a fire, the family of a fallen solider with a newborn baby, and the Linkages Women’s Shelter, just to name a few. This year’s beneficiary is “Stomp the Monster,” a local charitable organization founded by their good friend, Seth Grumet, which helps patients and families dealing with cancer.
Mamie and Jeff have three beautiful daughters: Valerie (20), Stephanie (19) and Jennifer (14). It was important to Mamie to impress upon them that although many things come and go in life, what will remain are the acts of kindness that touch someone else’s life in a positive way. So, as a family project they took on the task of throwing a birthday party for 25-30 kids every summer for the children at the Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless, a service organization for homeless families that Mamie has been involved with since she was 18. Since they were very young, the girls have helped with the shopping, the gift wrapping and the planning of the party. They are delighted when they watch the children’s smiling faces as they open their gifts.
“What means the most to me in my heart of hearts is that I have been able to rub off on my daughters - that I have been able to give them a tender heart to other people, especially children and the needy. That is the legacy I want to pass on from my parents and my grandparents,” Mamie says, and adds, “You find a need, and if you can fill it, do so! If everybody did these little acts of kindness the world would be a much better place.”
Mamie is the director of the Turtle Creek Learning Academy in Marlboro, a job she adores; she gets to see children’s smiling faces every day. “I just love the children - and they say the cutest things. I’ve started writing some of them down in our monthly newsletter.” Mamie laughs recalling one of her favorites, “My daddy is in big trouble….he forgot to tell me to do my homework!” Mamie is herself a published writer, having written a story for “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating Mothers & Daughters.” It’s entitled “Don’t Go,” about her bond with her own mother.
It’s a bond she shares with her daughters and all of Marlboro.
STATS
FAVORITE RESTAURANT
Salt Creek Grille, Rumson
FAVORITE MUSICIAN
Andrea Bocelli
FAVORITE MOVIE
“It’s a Wonderful Life”
PET PEEVE
When people speak without thinking it through first.
THREE PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH
Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, and Jesus
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