lthough,
so regrettably, Hallie Geier passed away at the age of eleven, her
spirit of kindness lives on in the hearts and minds of loved ones
and those whom she inspired. In kindergarten she wrote, "People,
be nice to each other. Love, Hallie." In her short life she tried
to do just that. An example is that when she learned about AIDS in
Africa, she saved hundreds of dollars in lunch money to help fight
this awful pandemic.
Therefore,
it was very fitting that in honor of Hallie Geier, the City
Council declared September 24, 2005 "Kindness Day" in the City of
New York. The council also awarded a posthumous proclamation to
Hallie, which was accepted by her parents, Ted and Sofia Geier,
and her sister M.J., along with young people from the Children of
Agape orphanage in Durban, South Africa.
As the proclamation states, New Yorkers who have been touched
by Hallie, together with her family, have formed The LOVE, HALLIE
Foundation so they can reach millions of people with Hallie's
message. One way they are doing this is by partnering with daytime
television to raise awareness of the disease through their
"Daytime Unites for Africa" campaign. Starting in late September,
for the next nine weeks every soap opera in America will include
the issue of AIDS in their scripts. The young people from Children
of Agape, all of whom were orphaned by AIDS, will serve as youth
ambassadors and be featured with the stars of the shows to help
raise funds for children like themselves all over Africa.
As
he accepted the proclamation on his daughter’s behalf, Ted Geier
revealed that when the youth from Children of Agape saw on TV the
devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, they asked if they could
help raise money for children affected by it. "We are now
announcing that 10% of what we raise over the next few months will
go to help American children affected by Katrina," Geier stated.
In presenting the proclamation, Council Member Eric Gioia said
to the Geiers that they, as a family, "have inspired many New
Yorkers with your response to the terrible tragedy of losing
Hallie. It means a lot to me personally since I actually met her
and know what an incredibly sweet and lovely person she was. It's
beautiful that you have taken this tragedy and turned it into
something that we can all draw great strength from."
This moving award ceremony concluded with M.J. Geier and the
Children of Agape youth singing "Thina Simunye," which means "We
Are Family" in Zulu.
