Mr. Fred Rogers is quoted as saying, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
There are certainly a lot of scary things in the news lately, and we are all feeling the uncertainty around COVID-19. In this time, I have been doing my best to seek the helpers, and I have been blown away as I have watched Stephanie J. Block’s posts on Twitter for the past week.
You may know of Stephanie from her time as the Green Girl in Wicked or more recently from her Tony-winning turn as Star in The Cher Show, but she also is very dedicated to philanthropy. That dedication could not be more evident than it has been over the past few days.
Someone on Twitter put out a call for out of work theater professionals to post their Venmo handles, so people could help if they could. Stephanie went through the replies and sent money to the artists who had posted their stories.
She also directed attention to Covenant House, an organization that provides food and shelter for homeless youths, and she helped raise almost $19,000 for them.
As if that weren’t enough, she also will be singing from her living room for Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley’s Stars in the House program to benefit The Actor’s Fund.
Stephanie has also been sharing videos posted by young people whose shows have been canceled and has been sharing important information as well.
I am grateful for Stephanie’s big and generous heart. May we all be inspired by Stephanie and people like her to be the “the helpers” while we’re living through these uncertain times (and always).
Bubbling up with Helena 