by Arvin Temkar

Daniel Mozoub

Daniel Mozoub, who has been a Penny Harvest coach for eight years at PS 206, knows how to tell a story. His voice and facial expressions keep time with the account— eyes widening during the exciting parts, voice lowering during the suspenseful parts, never missing a beat. During his years as a coach, not only has he helped his school collect and donate thousands of dollars, he has gathered a few good stories as well. This is one he decided to share at this year’s Professional Development (a series of workshops run by Common Cents for educators on how to run the program well in their schools).

“She was the toughest person in school,” he said, referring to his former eighth grade student, who we’ll call Mary. “Even the guys in school were scared of her!” She stormed through the halls day after day with what he could only describe as “a face.” She never, ever smiled.

Mozoub noticed this behavior, and took an interest in the girl. He knew that the Penny Harvest could be a transformative experience for kids— a chance to be leader, a chance for children to make a real and tangible difference, a chance to learn to care for and about others. But he had already done the penny harvesting in the fall, and he had already chosen his Roundtable committee for the spring— there was no room for Mary.

Every year Mozoub takes his students on a service field trip, usually to one of their Penny Harvest grantees. That particular year they were going to the Loaf Gospel Assembly, a soup kitchen on Grand Concourse to which his Roundtable had donated $400. This was his opportunity.

“Mary,” he asked, “would you like to come volunteer with us?” To his surprise, and his student leaders’ dismay (they too were afraid of her), she accepted.

The Leaf Gospel Assembly is a special soup kitchen. It’s not a place where men and women wait in long lines to get their bowls of soup or loaves of bread, then shuffle off to eat alone, or outside. Instead, they come in, sit at a table, and they wait to be served by volunteers who then join their guests for food and conversation. It’s a humanizing service, a way to confront great needs with spirit and compassion.

At the soup kitchen, Mozoub put Mary in charge of delivering food to the tables. Faced with an unfamiliar situation and a daunting task, it was her turn to be scared.

“I can’t do this,” she said.

“It’s your show,” Mozoub told her. “You run it now.”

Soon the students, even Mary, were all at work making and serving dishes of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chicken, and vegetables.

Then Mozoub noticed something he had never seen before. “She smiled,” he said. “This kid who never smiles in the hallways just flashed a big smile!”

“I didn’t know you knew how to smile,” he grinned, walking up beside her. And after that, he said, she was smiling all the time. For the rest of the day, then on the bus, and then in the halls. “She changed a little after that,” he said.

Mary graduated from middle school that year, but she has kept up with service and volunteering in High School, he said. Last he heard she was applying for colleges.

“I guess it was a life changing experience for her,” said Mozoub.

The Penny Harvest isn’t just about collecting money. It’s about collecting experiences— triumphs, joys, little and big lessons. If you have a story you’d like to share please contact atemkar@commoncents.org.

Arvin Temkar is a Common Cents Fellow and part of the first New York City Civic Corps.