BIG SCREECHER: Carmine gets the respect he commands

See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.

By Carmine Santa Maria

Brooklyn Daily

I’m madder than Paul Revere with laryngitis over the fact that not enough people are heeding the words of this column and shouting the news from the mountain tops about all the important things I write about week after week after week after week after week and so on and so forth ad infinitum.

Look, you all know that the ol’Screecher has been touting the work of my pal Joe Gillette for weeks leading up to his big Relay for Life in Bergen Beach a few weeks back.

But what you don’t know is that the bureaucrats in this great city of ours clearly haven’t been paying enough attention to what I have to say, because how else could you explain how a little old lady from Sheepshead Bay couldn’t find the location of the event no matter who she called at the city or the MTA.

Luckily for her, she walked around with a ripped-out copy of my column and started showing it my well-informed public on the street, all of whom knew exactly where to send her.

When she got there, she seeked me out to thank me, then had a ball feasting, socializing, and, most importantly, joining the battle fight against cancer. What a great ole gal.

And what a time it was, meeting great people, fighting cancer, and eating delicious food — who could ask for anything more?

Now’s the point in the column where I cut and paste a letter I received from Joe Gillitte, telling me how great I am. Enjoy, and while you do, I’m going to have a leftover piece of cake or 12.

“Dear Carmine,

What a pleasure to see you at our second-annual Relay for Life for Bergen Beach, Mill Basin, and Marine Park. We were so thrilled with your celebrity and enthusiasm for our “Best Birthday Cake in Brooklyn Contest.” Clearly Jackie, who used her Grandma’s recipe for Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, was thrilled to be declared the winner by you. On top of that, the rest of the contestants were all too happy to have you sample their offerings. Finally, I must say that you and the young lady that assisted, Beth Traiman, could be the hosts of a new reality show on the Food Network wherein you travel the country looking for the best cakes.

Back to “Relay,” you can see that we had a tremendously successful event. We are still a new organization trying to learn how to get the word out there. Still, we think we are on the way and we look forward to growing into our new home.

I hope you enjoyed our Luminaria Ceremony led by Master Bagpiper John McCarthy, who volunteered his time to create the perfect mood for our ceremonial walk amongst the 1,000 luminaria bags dedicated to loved ones lost to cancer, supporting those fighting cancer and celebrating our survivors. What a moment! You also got to see how well we treat our cancer survivors and their caretakers. We had a great reception catered by your friends at the El Caribe, massages, and plenty of birthday cake. We also treated our participants well with Brooklyn Burgers, Bells Brooklyn Bagels and Bialys, and, most importantly, our Relay Roast from the Brooklyn Roasting Company which helped fuel us overnight into Sunday morning.

When all was said and done, I think we have taken a great and giant second step into building a community organization to help us spread cancer awareness to our schools, our children, and our community. The final tally is not in yet, but we expect that we raised more than $70,000.

Thank you for being a part of it. As an organizer of this event I put a lot of my heart into it. It is through generous friends like yourself that all my efforts are rewarded.

My best to your lovely wife Sharon,

Joe Gillette”

Thanks Joe, I was proud to be a part of it. Thanks also to Dorothy T., who made my day completely by not only showing up but proving to be my No. 1 fan. Thanks to the committee of 12 that made this Relay a reality and introducing me to the amazingly beautiful Bergen Beach area, and thank you to all the participants, businesses, organizations and the beautiful people there.

Screech at you next week!

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