Archive for November, 2007

This is a YouTube video about a photography project our youth had at the City Hall gallery last summer. Really nice, a tribute to them and our staff. Click and enjoy, Mark

This was an interview I did yesterday on VPR along with two Spectrum youth. Click to listen, 30 minutes.

Monday night we held our annual Thanksgiving dinner at the drop-in center on Pearl Street. The place looked great, with Vermont Tent Company once again donating the flatware, silverware, tablecloths and more. Local restaurants and churches donated the turkeys, with various staff members bringing in the side dishes and desserts. Our staff served over 130 meals that night. This time it was not all homeless teenagers; they opened the doors to whomever wanted a Thanksgiving meal, so there were some adults and even families.

It was really something to see. Person after person came up to me, “thank you for inviting me in here tonight, thank you for the food.” It was very humbling, for me anyway, because it was the Spectrum staff who did all the work. All I did was show up and bring a pumpkin pie. But sitting there witnessing all this reminded me once again about how this is what really matters in our work. This is why Spectrum exists, to serve people like this. When you have a job like mine, it is so easy to get caught up in budgets, contracts, policies, legislative bills and the like. And you know what, all of that is important, somebody has to do it, but an event like the other night certainly reminds you that those things are peripheral to what really matters: that people who have so little, or even nothing, are welcomed into a place and treated with the dignity and respect they deserve as human beings. That’s what I saw the other night, over and over again.

I am very sorry to report this, but Norberto was denied parole. Unlike prior years when he was denied “due to the nature of the crime,” the reason this time is that “it is the conclusion of this panel that if you were released at this time, there is a reasonable probability that you will not live and remain at liberty without violating the law and that your release will be incompatible with the public safety and the welfare of the community.” This is just incredible, considering that he has never had any kind of behavior violation in 21 years of incarceration, that he has a job and place to live in NYC lined up, a victim impact statement asking for his release, and everything else. He will appeal this decision. Please continue to keep him in your prayers and I will update you with any change in his status. Thank you, Mark

I tell people that Spectrum is not a faith-based organization, but I am a faith-based person. Having said that, if any of you believe in a God or Higher Power of any sort, I am asking that you say a prayer for a friend of mine who is going before the NY State parole board one week from today. It is his fourth appearance before that board in the last six years, and I am hoping that this time they grant him his request to be released.

It is a long story, but to summarize it: Norberto Torres was 19 and homeless when I met him in 1987. I was program director for a shelter in the South Bronx. We took him in but in a short while discovered he was addicted to crack cocaine. We asked him to go for treatment, he refused, so we discharged him. The next day, Super Bowl Sunday 1987, high on crack, he entered the house, went downstairs and stabbed to death a 66-year-old nun who was a volunteer with us, to get money from her.

He was found a few days later, there was a trial, it was front page news all over NYC, and sentenced to 15 to life. I visited him in Rikers twice, he was then sent upstate, and then I corresponded with him for 10 years. In 1997 I happened to be on vacation with my son at the Finger Lakes and driving around one day spotted the prison Norberto was in. I went to see him; he told me I was his first visitor in 10 years.

He was transferred downstate to a medium security prison for good behavior. He obtained his GED, had a perfect behavior record, ran the prison library and became an accomplished artist. I would visit him at least once a year from that point on, and when I remarried, my wife Marybeth would come with me. She asked her father to help us start a nonprofit foundation to pay for Norberto’s college education, so three years ago Norberto started taking correspondence courses through Ohio University. He has passed five courses thus far.

Every time he appears before the parole board, he is told the same thing: Denied due to the nature of the crime. When it happened again two years ago, Marybeth and I really researched how best to make the case for Norberto’s release, because nothing can ever un-do the nature of his terrible crime. We were advised to contact the order of nuns to which his victim belonged. I called them in Pennsylvania, and in a true act of Christian forgiveness and compassion, they instantly agreed to write to the parole board requesting Norberto’s release. My ex-wife who lives in NYC agreed to hire Norberto at the nonprofit she operates, and she has found him an apartment in which to live run by an organization helping former convicts.

So we pretty much have everything lined up, and the best news of all is that ever since Elliott Spitzer became Governor, a higher percentage of offenders are being deemed worthy of parole. (Under Pataki it had withered to 2%.)

But this is in no way a lock. So if you believe in prayer, do so this coming week, for Norberto and for the members of the parole board before whom he will be appearing.

Thanks, Mark