Poet Siegel speaks on community service

Poet and author Danny Siegel implored students to take action for the common good – and soon.

Siegel, a native of Arlington, started the Ziv Tzedekah Fund 25 years ago. The fund helps people doing good works around the world, from a charity that takes breast cancer survivors fly fishing to one that runs a therapeutic horse-riding center.

“I can wake up in the morning and have someone whose life if falling apart,” like someone who might get sick and die from a damaged, leaking roof. “I can say, ‘send me the bill.’ I don’t know why nobody told me that in college.”

He told students not to wait to act.

“I didn’t catch onto this until I was about 30. All I’m telling you is don’t wait until you’re 30 to start something like that. You could be years ahead in any way you use your own creativity,” he said.

He told students that professional success and helping others can go hand-in-hand. He cited magician David Copperfield’s Project Magic.

“Because he’s a magician, he’s one of the many kinds of people who understand what hands are all about,” Siegel said. “He’s taught occupational therapists in at least 1,000 hospitals in 30 countries. They know new ways hands work that they didn’t know.”

“You always gotta be the best,” he continued. “There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you remember what Copperfield says; ‘what am I doing for other people?’ ”

He spoke about the VCU School of Engineering team that competed in the Microsoft Imagine Cup this summer. He said the Pocket Doc software they invented to link patients and physicians would have stunned his father, a doctor.

“The thought that my father could be sitting around on a Sunday afternoon watching the Redskins – which he finally learned not to do because it was too heart-breaking – and through the electronics have somebody get in touch with him right away and say, ‘I’m having that pain right there,’ is staggering,” he said.

The Rev. Ray Buchanan, President and CEO of Stop Hunger Now, spoke to students about his organization. He told the story of how after getting a T-shirt from Siegel, he found connections that brought him from Israel to Iraq.

“All our work in Iraq started because Danny said, ‘here’s a T-shirt,” Buchanan said. “We started sending food to Iraq before our government stopped us.”

He said 700 students volunteer at North Carolina State University packaged over 150,000 meals from bulk ingredients in a day. The meals, made of rice, textured soy protein, dried vegetables and chicken stock are already en route to Africa’s largest slum. He spoke with students interested in donating time at VCU.

Siegel said to find out about people to learn how to best help them.

“The single most popular game in nursing homes is? Bingo. And how many people are there that don’t want to play Bingo, and want to play poker instead? Instead of us saying ‘We think you want to do this,’ we asked, ‘What do you want to do?’ ”

He showed a video of a charity called Second Wind Dreams taking a wheelchair-bound woman on all the roller coasters at Six Flags Over Georgia, fulfilling her dream.

Siegel also handed out pamphlets, items from different charities and books by Samantha Abeel, a learning-disabled poet. He handed out several of his books, including “1+1=3 And 37 Other Principles to Live By.”

“There’s one condition,” to taking a book he said, jokingly. “You have to tell me you like my picture on the back. This is where I look like a prophet looking out in the distance.”

The speech ranged from silly to serious. He asked about dumb dogs names. Rosco, Mojo and Whoopie topped the list. Switching gears, he asked who in the crowd had saved a life, or had been saved. Students were equally candid about their pets and near-death experiences.

Mudiwa Dotson, a senior in the School of Social Work, said she loved the speech.

“It was very interesting. It kept you entertained, and it made you want to go out and do more. For a number of us who are here, it just makes you think, ‘Wow, these are the steps I need to take to actually become a leader and do what I want to do,’ ” she said.

She received two of Siegel’s books including, “Giving Your Money Away,” which she said will help her start a nonprofit.

“I was interested in finding out what it is you need to look for when you’re giving money, because It gives me an idea of how, if I want to get money. I should target that and do it effectively,” Dotson said.

Siegel credited Rueban Rodriguez, associate vice provost and dean of student affairs, for bringing him to campus.

“I rarely get on campus, and when I get on campus it’s usually through Hillel,” Siegel said.

Rodriguez said he crossed paths with Siegel in Israel one summer, and he invited him to speak at the University of Central Florida and now VCU.

“I know that we have such a great student culture at VCU, of students who either individually or in various organizations do community service projects. I thought it’d be great to bring him to campus and have an opportunity for students to hear from him,” he said.

After the speech, Buchanan said, “Danny has a big heart and a great spirit. He doesn’t just support Jewish ministries or programs. He’s really consistently wanting to get people in touch with groups that are doing good. He’s always calling and saying, ‘There’s someone you need to meet.’

“That’s a real gift to bring people together like that. That’s the way we’re going to heal the world,” he said.