Paying It Forward, Starting In My Own Community

Scene from The Peddler’s Bedillustrated by Bong Redila (Ripple Grove Press, 2015)

Even before my first children’s picture book, The Peddler’s Bed, was published, I knew I wanted to help people. But how? After the book was released, I began to research non-profit organizations that might be a good match. And although there are many extremely worthy causes out there, it didn’t take long to realize that the best match was right here in my own community: The Syracuse Rescue Mission.

Since 188...