In this heartwarming episode of the Crazy Wealthy Podcast, Jonathan Blau sits down with Arnie Preminger, founder and CEO of the Sunrise Association, the organization behind Sunrise Day Camps, the world’s first full-summer day camps for children with cancer and their siblings.
Arnie shares the unlikely story of how a Paul McCartney concert sparked the idea, the challenges of creating a camp model that keeps kids close to critical medical care, and how the program has grown from one camp on Long Island to a global movement across the U.S. and Israel.
IN THIS EPISODE:
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Voiceover: Welcome to The Crazy Wealthy Podcast with your host, Jonathan Blau. Whether you're just starting out or are [00:00:30] an experienced investor, join Jonathan as he seeks to illuminate and demystify the complexities of making consistently rational financial decisions. Under conditions of uncertainty, he'll chat with professionals from the advice world, [00:00:45] entrepreneurs, executives.
And more to share fresh perspectives on making sound decisions that maximize your wealth. And now here's your host.[00:01:00]
Jonathan Blau: Welcome to another episode of the Crazy Wealthy Podcast. I'm very pleased today to have as our guest, Arnie Preminger, the founder of, uh. Our favorite charitable organization known as the Sunrise Organization, which, um, has [00:01:15] created an environment for families who are underprivileged economically and, and also have the misfortune of having at least a shot, one child stricken with, uh, cancer.
And, uh, the organization was founded to, uh, to support the [00:01:30] family, uh, structure, not just the child, child with cancer. And, uh, I'm not gonna go beyond that. I'm gonna let Arnie, uh. Elaborate on all of that, but Arnie, thanks again for joining us today. Appreciate it. Glad to be here. Yeah, thank you. So, [00:01:45] um, so why don't we start by talking about, uh, a little bit about the, the organization itself and, and its mission and, and then we can after that go into, uh, over more deeply about how it evolved, how you, uh, came up with [00:02:00] the I idea for it and successfully implemented it, uh, to where it is today.
Arnie Preminger: Thanks, Jonathan. So the, the original, um, impetus for this was to create, uh, day camps for children with cancer. [00:02:15] Um, you probably hear a lot about different camps for children with cancer, summer camps, but they're all sleepaway camps. And, um, this is our 20th year and in 20 years there have been no other organizations in the world.
Uh, that have replicated the model that we [00:02:30] created, which was day camping for kids with cancer. So basically the difference is they. Get picked up at home in the morning, they come back home at night. Um, why is that important for children with cancer? Because especially for children who are young, or [00:02:45] children who have been re recently diagnosed, they're not going to go to sleep away camp.
Um, it, they don't, they can't be away from their doctors. They're, they're in chemotherapy sometimes that can be five days a week. Um, there are [00:03:00] incredible demands on these children and, um. Having something to do for the summer that is normal, if you will, uh, is an incredible gift to them. And so Sunrise originally simply began [00:03:15] by, uh, offering summer day camp for children with cancer.
And we'll talk about what that's all about. And you know, w why it's, um, so interesting and so difficult. Um, but. We've expanded over the years to in-hospital programs. So we [00:03:30] have staff that is, um, in 35 hospitals around the country now, uh, working with children as you're sitting in waiting rooms when they're bedside, when they're getting their chemo, et cetera, to distract them and to, to engage them [00:03:45] in ways that they're not thinking about the fact that they're, you know.
Putting this stuff into their bodies right now, and they're not gonna feel well. Um, we've also gone into virtual programs. We started that during the COVID period, and now we have 205 hospitals across seven countries that show [00:04:00] our virtual programs to children who are bedridden. Um, so it's, it's really become a, a, a multifaceted organization, but our primary focus is.
Bringing joy and a sense of normalcy back to children with cancer [00:04:15] and also their siblings because their siblings are affected by this, uh, in a significant way as well. And one of the things that we learned when we were first setting up the camp, uh, the first camp back in 2006, was that the siblings go through so much emotional [00:04:30] pain and so much emotional strain that.
Offering them an opportunity to be part of this as well, and not to have another thing that's just for the sick child and that leaves out the brother or the sister, um, has really been a godsend to [00:04:45] them too. So that, that's in a nutshell who we are.
Jonathan Blau: Right. And, and I know also it's important, uh, not just for the siblings, but I guess because these are underprivileged families and the, the parents are limited in their resources, not just financially, but time-wise, [00:05:00] so that they can't, I guess, by, by, uh, allowing the siblings to, to become part of the, um, part of the experience free up, I guess, more time for the, uh, for the parents to do what they need to do.
Arnie Preminger: Yeah.
Jonathan Blau: Yeah. Which I, which I always found, uh, to be, um. It [00:05:15] really, uh, touching part of what you do.
Arnie Preminger: You know, when you deal with, with something like childhood cancer, whatever economic strata you're in, you're going to be impacted financially. Um, and so about 35% of, of, or the families that come [00:05:30] to one of our programs are, you know, sitting at like 200% above the poverty line.
And then, you know, when one parent has to either stop working or curtail their work, um, in order to bring a child to chemotherapy continuously. Or [00:05:45] if it's a single parent family, you know, there's basically no money coming in. So those are the extremes. Um, but the, but there are a lot of cases like that, that we deal with.
But even on the higher end, um, you know, people who have been comfortable in life, suddenly you're, you're dealing with. [00:06:00] You know, childhood cancer, and again, it's curtailing of work. It's experimental treatments that aren't covered by insurance. It's deductibles, it's copays, it's traveling. You know, it's the impact on the entire family unit.
So everybody is affected regardless of where you [00:06:15] are on the economic ladder, you know, and that's something that we understood from the very beginning, which is why everything that we do is offered for free.
Jonathan Blau: So Arne, um. In, in terms of the, uh, the catalyst for the birth of this [00:06:30] organization, what, what, what brought the idea to you?
Uh, I know it comes from a place that most people wouldn't guess if we gave 'em a hundred guesses. I know you're a Beatles fan. Yeah. And, um, and, uh, you, you had an opportunity to secure a ticket to see Paul McCartney. [00:06:45] And I'll leave, uh, I'll leave the teaser there and let you tell the story of the birth. Of the idea, uh, of the organization.
Arnie Preminger: So what had happened was, I mean, you're right, I'm, I'm a huge Beatles fan, you know, grew up in that era. And, um, what, what had [00:07:00] happened was that I'd gotten a notification, uh, back in 2005 that Paul McCartney was gonna be playing at Avery Fisher Hall, and I was able to secure a single ticket for it. Um, you know.
To see him at Avery Fisher Hall is like a dream. It's not Madison Square Garden, [00:07:15] right? It's a much more intimate, um, uh, closed in setting. And so I didn't look into it any deeper than the fact that he was playing. And when I showed up at the box office to pick up my ticket, I saw that it was a benefit for Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang camps.
These are [00:07:30] sleepaway camps. Um, they're called Serious Fund Network now, but they used to be called the Hole in the Wall Gang Camps. And these, these are sleepaway camps for children with. Serious chronic illnesses. Um, and it had begun with cancer many, many years [00:07:45] ago, and so it kind of had in my head that, you know, this was primarily for children with cancer.
And, uh, rather than it just being McCartney on the stage, they had all of these superstars. Julia Roberts was there that night. Ro Robin Williams was there. Paul Newman, of course. [00:08:00] Um, there was a, um, a quartet of, of, um, a string quartet and McCartney only played two songs, but there was enough. Um. But the real superstars on the stage that night were the kids and there were all [00:08:15] these kids from the camp introducing the stars, and they were showing videos from, uh, you know, from camp.
And you could just see the joy on these children's faces. And they were even reading letters from parents, you know, who had written, even parents from children who had passed [00:08:30] and who had spoken about, you know, um, what their child's experiences had been, how much joy it had brought them, you know, um, uh, during the most difficult times.
And so my background was in day camping. I've been part of the JCC movement for [00:08:45] many, many years, probably since I was 19 years old. I started working at JCCs and at that time I was in my 20th year as, um, at the Freeburg JCCs, um, uh, CEO. Uh, in, in Oceanside, New York, and we had [00:09:00] quite a number of day camps operating, but no medical camps.
And so I got interested and I started looking to see, you know, in the rudimentary Google that was available in 2006, I started looking to see who was doing summer day camps for children with cancer. And I only [00:09:15] found two. They were both one week programs, one before the summer and one after the summer because they were basically using campgrounds that were being used for other things.
I wondered if you know why. And so I started talking to hospitals, uh, in the area. And what the, you know, what [00:09:30] I basically learned was you needed almost a perfect storm in order to be able to put something like this together on a day camp basis, sleepaway camps, you can take a child from basically anywhere, fly them to the sleepaway camp, right?
They'll stay there for a week and then you fly them home. But with [00:09:45] day camps, you have to have, um, a critical mass of children with the same illness in an area where there are enough kids that you can. Pick them up, get them home within an, you know, get them up to camp within an hour's driving time, then get them home at the end of the day.[00:10:00]
Um, you need hospitals that will support the work. You need a philanthropic community if you're going to, uh, do it for free. You need campgrounds that are. Going to be within an hour's driving time of where most of these children are. So, you know, when you put all [00:10:15] these factors together, it was no wonder that nobody had done it, you know?
But we were pretty scrappy and we thought this sounded like something that we could do. There were 13 hospitals within driving distance of where our campgrounds were. Um, 13 hospitals had pediatric [00:10:30] oncology units and we thought maybe this is something that we could do. And so we set out to do it. Um, we had to raise the money for it, you know, we had to put the IT together.
We had to, um, do some physical workup at the campgrounds to make it accessible for all the children. [00:10:45] Any children who had mobility problems took us about 18 months. But in 2006, we opened the first Sunrise Day camp and it was, uh, here on Long Island where I'm sitting right now. Uh, and, and now I think we have what, 13 uh, camps.
There are 13 physical camps [00:11:00] and one, uh, virtual camp. Uh, and so we are now, uh, you know, up and down the east coast from New York to Florida. We're in Chicago, we're in, uh, California. Uh, and we have three camps in Israel as well. Uh, that's, and, you know, [00:11:15] all of these camps are just thriving and, and, and they're doing wonderful work.
Well, I,
Jonathan Blau: I just want to tell the audience, you know, from, from firsthand experience, I guess four or five years ago, Amy and I, while we've certainly, um, generous with our resources to support the organization [00:11:30] financially, we were really, um, touched when we were invited to participate as volunteers. And, uh, we were making, uh, candy necklaces and all kinds of different things with the children, and actually gave you a hug and a kiss and, you know, you, you, you, you, you [00:11:45] connect in a way.
That I've never connected with, with the recipient of any champion that I've given. And it was just very touching. In fact, last month we went back again and, uh, I think we were, we were, uh, volunteering at the ping pong table, uh, to, to give the game to [00:12:00] those who didn't have a partner. But, uh, the way you guys do it, I mean, everything from the, obviously the, uh, the sanitary cloths everywhere and everybody making sure that the kids' environment is protected, but at the same time, bringing in outsiders too.
To, to give them that [00:12:15] sense of, uh, acceptance, I guess. And, and normalcy is really, really special. I think that, um, and my friend, I wanna give a shout out to my good friend Mike Reman, who I know, uh, you know, he owns the Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan. Right. And, uh, I think [00:12:30] he said 10 years ago or so, was he did his first event where they sell tickets, all to support Sunrise one evening.
And he said it was about 40,000. They raised the first year, and we went a few months ago, a couple months ago, and this year they raised almost 600,000. Phenomenal. [00:12:45] Which, how many, how many kids, uh, get sent to camp from that? Uh, about 80 or so. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's just incredible. Uh, Michael's a very special guy and, um.
And, and fitting with the organization. So, uh, I, um, I just [00:13:00] wanted to give a little bit of a shout out to, to Michael and, and the work he does with you guys. The other thing, um, I want to talk about briefly is I, I did a podcast, um, uh, either earlier this year or late last year when we started the podcast that [00:13:15] talked about why money can't buy happiness and, um.
And one of the main reasons is, is because, uh, it's a lot of reasons, but the main reasons is that because we, we. We, we use money to buy things, thinking those things are gonna [00:13:30] make us happy. A bigger car, a faster car, a bigger house, uh, whatever it might be. And, and those things never make us happy. 'cause what the brain is craving is not the bigger house or the bigger car.
It's craving the dopamine rush that you get in anticipation of getting those things. As soon as you get the thing [00:13:45] you want, another dopamine rush. So that's why we keep going and going. Interesting. And I've interviewed a, a bunch of, and worked with over my career in, in wealth management, a bunch of entrepreneurs, and that's kind of what motivates them to keep going.
They, they start a business, it's a rush and they don't wanna do another business [00:14:00] living. But, but from my perspective, that's. That's not likely what motivated you as a CEO and entrepreneur in, in a real sense, um, to, to found this kind of organization. Uh, so I want you to talk a little bit about, I, is there [00:14:15] that kind of a, a dopamine rush, you know, that gets you going every, every day, every week that you're excited to see the good that you're doing for all of these, uh, children and families firsthand?
Or what is it? That motivates someone like you to, uh, to keep [00:14:30] going, expanding, putting all your, uh, life's work into something that you're clearly not doing for, for the reason that I described a lot of the, uh, traditional entrepreneurs do what they do for
Arnie Preminger: it. It's a, it's a great question and there are so many parts to an answer on that.
I think for me, the, the rush [00:14:45] is, um, the children, you know, I, I've, I've come to know so many of them and so many of the families and so many of the stories, and knowing that we have an opportunity to provide them with. A summer where they're not [00:15:00] cancer patients, but they're children again, um, which is what they were supposed to be until something went wrong.
Uh, this is, it's, it's an, it's an incredible, uh, feeling. Uh, to know that you have a hand in putting something like this together and making sure that it [00:15:15] happens every year over and over again. Uh, when we bring doctors out to the camps or nurses out to the camps who have seen these children in the hospitals, they say that they don't recognize them.
Um, these are children who lay in hospital beds or sitting chemo and they're miserable and they're [00:15:30] hurting and they're scared, and then they come to camp and, you know. It's, it's just pure joy. Um, they're, they're singing, they're shouting, they're doing cheers. They're playing sports, they're doing crafts.
They're, they're outdoors. You know, they're eating [00:15:45] ice cream. They're doing all the things that kids are supposed to do during the summer that got disrupted in their lives by something that they had no control over. And so if we have an opportunity to give them back some of that control, or to take some of that control away, if [00:16:00] you will, from the cancer and move it back into the childhood.
It's an amazing thing to be able to do. Um, you know, the other part to me is just I think is the community that I work with, um, this huge community of philanthropists and, and you know, and, [00:16:15] and thinkers and people who just want to get involved for all the right reasons. Right. And it's, it's. You know, I, I, I, I know you're, you know, I've listened to some of this stuff on your podcast.
I know you talk about, you know, um, uh, you know, what wealth really [00:16:30] means and, and you know, how you invest and, and how you, you know, for us it's like, how do, it's not just how you invest your money. How do you invest your time? How do you invest your thinking? And, um. To be able to make a difference for these people who feel [00:16:45] abandoned by life.
Uh, it's, it's the most incredible thing. And I think that, you know, for me. Traveling throughout the country and seeing these camps in action and feeling that they all have our DNA, if you will. Um, they, [00:17:00] you, you know, it's a sunrise camp when you show up from the moment the children are getting off the buses and the counselors are cheering them on and they're there and the silly costumes and all this, and they're making their children just feel wonderful.
Um, that's the best rush of all, you know, just, just to see the [00:17:15] smiles and this is not what these children live with ordinarily. Um, and it's just an amazing thing.
Jonathan Blau: So, so, so Arnie, how, how, let me, let me, uh, start to wind down by asking you how you, uh, [00:17:30] encourage people to continually be involved with their resources and how do you get them to, uh, even get more involved?
Uh, we, we just do it, Amy and I just do it out of the love and the evolution of our involvement and, and, and so forth. [00:17:45] It just naturally has been happening, but I'm just curious to know if there's a particular, um. Approach that you guys take, because I know how successful you've been. Uh, what you told me the first year you raised about 750,000 and now, [00:18:00] now, uh, it's about 14 million a year that we have to raise now.
Right. I mean, that's a, that's a huge jump. So how, how do you perpetuate that? Um.
Arnie Preminger: Well, continuously, I mean, we're, we're always talking to people like you, for instance, you know, people who know other [00:18:15] people and who can make, make, so you're talking to chubby Jewish guys with curly hair and glasses, the smart guys who understand giving and charity and all of that.
Um, but, you know, the, the best way that we can, you know, continue to [00:18:30] succeed is to keep on, you know, um, connecting to more and more people who have capacity to give and to just give them. You know, let them have an opportunity to learn about us and to see whether or not this would be something that they care about.
You know, this is, um, this is an [00:18:45] amazing country when it comes to charitable giving. Um, we probably have more wealth per capita than, than any other country, and we also give more than any other country does. I think it was about about 600 billion last year, um, that was given to United States Charities, [00:19:00] and two thirds of that came from individuals.
You know, so the question is, well, how do you choose a charity? And, and, you know. Um, how do you want to give? For us, there's a, you know, first of all, we're in so many people's backyards. You can come and see exactly what your money is being used [00:19:15] for. And you can see the joy that you're putting on these children's faces.
Your money's not gonna disappear into a black hole somewhere. You're gonna see exactly what it does. Um, you know. Uh, I'm always very proud to talk about the fact that Sunrise has a platinum rating [00:19:30] from GuideStar, um, and a four star rating from Charity Navigator. Only 1% of not-for-profits get that, uh, that platinum rating.
And it's because of our transparency and it's because of our governance and it's how we, you know, operate and our financials are, you [00:19:45] know, clear and transparent and strong. But. The, the big thing is that we never set out to build just a camp for children with cancer. What we set out to build was the best camp.
In the world for children, [00:20:00] anywhere that would be for these kids. Um, and so when you talk about your experiences and what you've seen when you come out to visit us and you know your experiences with the children, we do everything that we possibly can to create the best summer experience possible for [00:20:15] them.
Um, and I think that's what people see. It's that commitment to excellence that we have. It's the commitment to the children and the families that we have. It's the way that we, you know, manage our organization, our financials, our board of directors that's highly involved, et cetera. [00:20:30] You know, and we have tens of thousands of people who donate, you know, on different levels.
And they do it because they, this look. Cancer is something that unfortunately we're all two or three degrees away from, you know, and some of us are a lot [00:20:45] closer to it. And then when you think about how, you know, the horrors of cancer and then you put that on a child, you understand why it's so important that we give them back some sense of normalcy.
And I think everybody can relate to that in some way. And, you know, we just want [00:21:00] to, you know, have the opportunity to engage more people. And, uh, and I think that, you know, the, the work that we're doing will speak for itself.
Jonathan Blau: What, what, but yeah, but just speaking about close to it, just, uh, about a year, a little over a year ago, my executive assistant, who was like family with us, Jacqueline [00:21:15] had, uh, been diagnosed with, uh, breast cancer.
And, uh, you know, it changes. You see how it changes everything. Outlook of uh, uh. Just, just everything in general. Ability tell you. Tired all the time. Ability to work. Ability to, yeah. To stay positive. And so [00:21:30] we can only imagine for, for a child, but thankfully she's, she's fully recovered now and, uh, and doing well.
But yeah, you're right. We're, we're always very connected to it. When you, one of the things that has led me to and Amy to, to become more and more involved is, is. [00:21:45] Having gone to the camp, having seen the, the, the, the, the end user and, and interacted with them, what percentage would you say of your donors have done that?
Uh,
Arnie Preminger: well, if you know, it's, it's. Um, [00:22:00] I'm, I've never really considered percentage. It's certainly not the majority of people. Right. You know, the majority of people are sending in gifts or, you know, we're working with corporations or foundations and all of that. The
Jonathan Blau: reason I ask is, is if you can get someone with the organizations or the foundations, you know this, I'm sure [00:22:15] intuitively, to come once at some point.
I think that would propel without even asking for anything. It does because it, Charlie does miss most
Arnie Preminger: effective tool that we have in terms of fundraising Yeah. Is to just expose people to what it is that we're doing. Once you see the camp and you see what these kids [00:22:30] are, you know, uh, you see the joy on their faces and, and you just hear the sounds of what's going on around, you wanna be part of it.
Well, as
Jonathan Blau: I get more involved with the organization, I'm gonna volunteer to have that as part of my mission is to reach out to all these people and get them one way committed [00:22:45] to, to come to camp. Um, and, and, uh, lastly, why, why don't we tell people how they can Well, well, first I want to just to my clients who are listening.
Uh, we, we, you recently, uh, your co honoree was a family that I'm very close with, uh, one of the best families on Long Island that I know, [00:23:00] the Goodman family of Sherwood Lumber and mm-hmm. Um, uh, that, that's also, you're surrounding yourself not only with donors, but good people. Um, but tell me how people can, uh, can, can find out more about the organization and, and if they want to get involved and, uh, [00:23:15] add this to, to some of the legacy that we're helping them create for their family and, and, uh, all their endeavors.
How can they
Arnie Preminger: do it? Well, the easiest way is to, is to go on our website, which is uh, www sunrise association.org. Um, [00:23:30] and it'll give you all sorts of information about us and all sorts of opportunities to become involved. And of course, on the website is all the contact information for anybody in our organization whom you might want to touch base with.
We'd love to have a conversation with anyone who's interested on any level of [00:23:45] helping us. Um, you know, we rely on, on people from all stratas and all economic stratas. And, uh, there are all, all sorts of opportunities for people to engage with us and we would love it. So www sunrise association.org.
Jonathan Blau: Uh, thank you Arnie and, uh, [00:24:00] tha thanks for joining us today and thanks for all that you and the organization do for all these families who were so deserving.
And, uh, and prior to your, uh, initiative, I guess, uh, uh, didn't have the quality of life. Uh, given their misfortune [00:24:15] that they have today. So thanks again.
Arnie Preminger: I appreciate it very much. Good to be with you. Yep,
Jonathan Blau: you too. Take care. Thank you, uh, all for joining us on today's edition of Crazy Wealthy Podcast. Uh, it's one that's, uh, very meaningful to me personally.
[00:24:30] And, uh, hopefully, uh, for those who have room in their charitable endeavors, they can add the Sunrise Day Camp. I can tell you again firsthand what a, what a special organization it is and the good that you're doing for these. Uh. For these, uh, children and families, [00:24:45] uh, when you look in their eyes, y you, you, you don't need to ask any questions to know whether or not they appreciate it.
Uh, so anyway, till next time, uh, you can find us on all your favorite podcast venues and our, uh, website, crazy wealthy podcast.com, [00:25:00] as well as our fusion family wealth.com website. Stay tuned to hear. Amy's calling for the recap of today's episode.
Amy Blau: Hi honey.
Jonathan Blau: Hello there honey. How are you?
Amy Blau: I am good. It's a lovely [00:25:15] September day.
I think we're nearing the end of summer as of today, so another season down.
Jonathan Blau: Well, I had a good summer with you. This was one of the better ones. Right.
Amy Blau: Well, it's always a good summer with me, so you know, that's nothing, [00:25:30] you know. Right.
Jonathan Blau: You feel exactly the same way the, you had a good summer with me. Right.
Feel summer with me is a great summer. Exactly.
Amy Blau: Exactly. But, but talking of summers, I know you had a phone call with one of the highlights with a man who was one of the highlights of our summer today, of this year [00:25:45] from when we. Went to Sunrise to participate in their carnival. So tell me about your call with Arne.
Jonathan Blau: Yeah, Arne Preminger. So it was great to have him on the podcast. He's the founder and the [00:26:00] CEO of Sunrise at day camps and it was a great story 'cause I really didn't know the full story of what led to the founding and why he was motivated to do it and, and all those kinds of things. So that, those are the kinds of things we talk about.
Amy Blau: And I [00:26:15] actually happen to know the story because I have listened to him on a previous podcast. If I recall, it had something to do with Paul McCartney and The Hole in the Wall Gang, which is Paul Newman's Foundation.
Jonathan Blau: That's [00:26:30] right. So he's a huge Beatles fan, and he saw that Paul McCartney was gonna be appearing at Avery Fisher Hall, which he was really excited about because it's an intimate setting that went to the box office and bought the tickets.
But he hadn't realized that it was a benefit concert. [00:26:45] So when he got into the concert, they started talking about the charity that it was to benefit, which was Paul Newman's Hole in the War Gang. And what they did is they had sleepaway camps for kids with serious chronic illnesses, not just cancer. And when he was [00:27:00] watching some of the former campers or some of the parents for campers who had fortunately had been, who had deceased.
He really somehow in his head got the idea that this would, this would be something great in the form of a day camp for [00:27:15] kids with cancer. And so the whole thing is, is that kids with cancer, right? It's different than some other chronic illnesses. They need to be close to medical care all the time. Right?
Right. So they really can't go to a sleepaway camp. And the other thing is, the [00:27:30] challenges logistically that aren't, and whatever group of advisors that he, he started working with. Had to overcome were that you had to have. A lot of kids with the same illness in the same concentrated area, right? 'cause the school, the camp bus has to pick you up.
It has to be an [00:27:45] hour from the camp, get you home. And so it was a logistical, like he called Perfect Storm, to find a place where you can have all the hospitals, a lot of children with the same illness together. A lot of people who were willing to fund it. Donors, right? Who can afford it. [00:28:00] So they did that.
They weren't daunted by that task and they successfully, fortunately in New York,
Amy Blau: long Island area, you do have that. I'm not sure you discussed this in the podcast, but we have a lot of personal connections of Our older daughter worked there for a bunch of [00:28:15] years and it was probably one of the, one of the most meaningful summers of her life, those few summers that she was there.
Yep. She got very close to her campers and she even served as a general during their color war, so I remember that. And [00:28:30] one of our employees, Jeff. Blick, who a lot of you know, is a very big fundraiser for Sunrise. And he and his family have raised tons of money through Sunrise Walks. And then we have our,
Jonathan Blau: and Abby, Abby, his daughter has worked there for many years.
Amy Blau: That is [00:28:45] true. And then we have our close friend, Michael Riesman. Who is a comedian who owns Gotham Comedy Club? Shout out to Michael and he, well, I wanna talk
Jonathan Blau: about that for a second. Yeah, because I, I talk about the podcast
Amy Blau: as always. Yes.
Jonathan Blau: I'm stealing your thunder. So, two things [00:29:00] Arnie told me, asked him how much money they raised initially.
The first year, I think it was about 750,000. You know how much they raised per year. Now
Amy Blau: it's gotta be well over a couple million dollars.
Jonathan Blau: Yeah, seven times that 14 million. Wow. And, and [00:29:15] Michael alone this year, in his first year at Gotham, about 10 years ago, where he uses the club for one night just to raise money for this charity was 40,000 or so this year it was almost a 600,000, sending about, [00:29:30] I think 80 kids to camp.
So really remarkable. That's
Amy Blau: so amazing. I, I wanna bring it back to, you know, the reason why we had him on this call is, you know, we usually talking about money issues, but you know, he's not motivated by [00:29:45] money. He's motivated by altruism and doing good. Like, what makes someone psychologically do that want, you know, just wanna give back.
Jonathan Blau: I, I asked him that question and I told him most, he's an entrepreneur [00:30:00] in a real sense, right? Even though he didn't do this to make money. I said, what is it that motivated you and what motivates you every day? He said, when I look at the, he said, the, the getting more and more money doesn't motivate me, but.
Taking more and more children who are unhappy and wanna just [00:30:15] be children, but this terrible thing just happened to roll into their life and change that for them. Seeing the smile on their face every day, and the more smiles I see is like getting more money. That's his dopamine rush. That's so, uh, that's, you know,
Amy Blau: it's a very special person and he, he's lucky [00:30:30] that he has people like you in his world who try and make more and more money for other people so that they can give back to him as well.
Jonathan Blau: Well, it's not just money. Like, you know, the good recently the Goodman family were the co honorees and [00:30:45] it's just so special for me to, to have people like that in my life where one, I guess I play a role in making them feel good about giving them money or helping them preserve and make their money. But it's really just having those people in my life and people, well, it's,
Amy Blau: it's also that you've put them on a [00:31:00] plan where not only they can support themselves and their families and leave a legacy, but they can leave a lasting legacy.
To charities like Sunrise,
Jonathan Blau: but they're just wonderful people that they're very generous charitable wise, basically. And it's just, just [00:31:15] nice to be a part of all that. Um, well,
Amy Blau: you know what, that'll lead us into a good segue that the, the next podcast could possibly be with the Goodman family and hearing their story.
So I think we can leave it with that. What do you think?
Jonathan Blau: I think, I think you're [00:31:30] right, but I didn't give you permission to talk about my future podcast yet. Listen,
Amy Blau: John, you should know after 30 something years, I don't need your permission. I take my own permission and you know, if you roll with the [00:31:45] punches, then you can stay on my train.
If not, find another train.
Jonathan Blau: You know, if you said something like that to me 30 years ago, I might as find another train, but the fair now is half of what I own. So I'm gonna stay on this train.
Amy Blau: Exactly. Exactly. You, [00:32:00] you're worth much more staying married to me than you would if you left me. So having said that, we wish everyone a happy end of summer.
A happy beginning of fall and you know, if you can find it in your heart to look up [00:32:15] Sunrise Day Camp and you know, give back. It doesn't have to be money. It could be time, and it, it, it could be anything. So it's a great organization.
Jonathan Blau: All right. And giving time, by the way to them is great. Like when we volunteer there, you know how we feel after we spend time with the kids [00:32:30] making jewelry or playing games with them at the carnival there, there's nothing more rewarding than that.
Amy Blau: No. I know we, they think we're doing something for them, but we get much more out of it, I think, at
Jonathan Blau: the end of the day. True. It's true. All right. Thank you, honey.
Amy Blau: All right. Have a good [00:32:45] one. Have a good one, everyone. You too.
Jonathan Blau: Bye.
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