‘Seeds of Love’ - a family of volunteers

If every forest starts from seeds, Astoria resident Danielle Mahoney and her loved ones hope their group “Seeds of Love” will grow into an army of volunteers dedicated to the continuing mission of helping others.
Mahoney, a second grade teacher at P.S. 212 in Forest Hills, started the volunteer-group “Seeds” in June. While volunteering with New York Cares, she heard someone mention the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) Relay for Life, an event that honors cancer survivors and raises money for research. She decided to find out more.
After looking it up on the Internet, Mahoney learned about a Relay planned for Astoria Park. She signed up, along with her mother, Joanne D’Errico, her sister Jennifer Collado and some of her friends. The response was so great that their volunteers grew to three separate teams, and they called the first team the “Seeds of Love.”
The inspiration for the name came to Mahoney while she was visiting with her sister and her three small children.
“As I looked at them, I thought to myself that they’re like little seedlings that need to be taken care of so that they will grow properly,” Mahoney said.
The team raised $13,000 in Relay for Life, and they have kept the momentum going by participating in other fundraising events. Most recently, the group participated in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at Queens Borough Hall on Sunday, October 21.
While “Seeds” is mostly active in cancer events, they try to help with a number of causes. Since June, they have raised money for juvenile diabetes, collected pajamas for children in need, and donated to the New York Unit of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic.
The group has planted seeds all over the city, they said, but hope to spread their works beyond the borders of New York. Mahoney recently learned of Paige Lamarre, a six-year-old girl from Charlotte, North Carolina, who was suffering from a brain tumor. A friend of the group worked with Lamarre’s father and learned of her condition through an office email. The information was then passed on to “Seeds of Love” to see if they could help.
After hearing about the girl, “Seeds” sponsored a sidewalk sale and raised $500, and they also sent Lamarre a box of goodies.
“The girl’s family never asked for a dime. They just asked for one thing, prayers,” the group said in a blog on their Myspace web page. However, the group’s efforts were greatly appreciated.
In a message to the group, the Lamarre family wrote back, “You guys do the work of God. You have brought a smile to our family’s faces in a time that has been so hard. There is no way to ever repay you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Although “Seeds” is a new group, Mahoney said that her family has been helping others for as long as she can remember. It is how she was raised, she said.
“I was surrounded by it. My mother always had a giving attitude,” Mahoney said.
While she admits that it can be challenging to find companies to donate goods for sidewalk sales and fundraisers, she finds that the results of the hard work make it worthwhile.
“Some people say that I shouldn’t do so much. That I am going to wear myself out. They ask me ‘why do this?’ and I ask, ‘Why doesn’t everybody?’ ”
For more information about “Seeds of Love,” visit www.seedsoflovecares.com, or their Myspace page at www.myspace.com/seedsoflovecares or email Mahoney at Danielle@Seedsoflovecares.com.