48 The Courier SUN • FEBRUARY 19, 2015 for breaking news visit www.couriersun.com victoria’s secrets VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS [email protected] tweet me @vschneps Life’s WORC board member Mark Salah Morgan, Victoria Schneps, Donald Trump, Life’s WORC CEO Janet Koch and board member Rick Delmastro at Monday night’s finale of “Celebrity Apprentice” Rick Delmastro, Leeza Gibbons, Victoria Schneps, Janet Koch and Mark Salah Morgan Jonah is 6! Donald and Ivanka Trump Dynamic $1000 off Lumineers $500 off Invisalign DENTAL WORK Free Whitening included the inViSiBle WAy to Some excluSionS Apply StrAighten teeth third generation dentist 175-15 Jamaica avenue, Jamaica 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106 And the winner is ... It’s been a great ride on “Celebrity Apprentice” for the organization I founded over 40 years ago thanks to Geraldo Rivera appearing on the show. All his winnings — and that’s almost $1 million — will enable Life’s WORC to bring services to children in the autism spectrum. The organization gambled and bought and renovated a building to be able to run respite, evening and weekend classes for children and their families, but there is no state funding. Now many more scholarships can be made available and many more people can be served. Who would figure a TV show could do that! The final episode made it all the more exciting with celebrations on top of celebrations. And justly so! It was an exciting evening as I took my reserved seat in the spacious studio, waiting over an hour for the live show that would determine if Geraldo or Leeza Gibbons was the winner. It was to add to the money they both had raised and we could have gotten another $250,000 for Life’s WORC. With each passing minute I saw the tide turning to Leeza. I met her at the fundraising event held months ago. And yes, she is as lovely and beautiful as she appeared on TV! When they showed the video of the visit I had with Geraldo to our family center for autism it again brought tears to my eyes. What my darling Lara had wrought from her time on Earth. Geraldo was moved to tears as he described his feelings about his journey with Life’s WORC and all that has been accomplished with his help for people with disabilities. I held my breath as Donald Trump revealed his final choice, naming Leeza the winner. He never said to Geraldo, “You’re fired!” which was good. Sadly my heart deflated, but his 9-year-old daughter Sol, siting behind me, cried hysterically! I turned around and said, “Your dad is a winner! He won enough money to help hundreds of children.” She slowly calmed down, but I knew how she felt! For me Geraldo will always be a winner and my hero! With the world in chaos and madmen causing havoc through their hate, it’s great to have control of something. And that is the simple joy of celebrating with all my children Jonah’s sixth birthday. My daughter Elizabeth sent an airline ticket to her stepson in California to be Jonah’s surprise “gift.” He was on his way until the threat of a snowstorm canceled his flight and then stood standby for hours even after Elizabeth arranged the change. To the rescue came my friends at Delta who got him on a flight and finally into Jonah’s arms. Earlier in the day Jonah and I had gone to the local Value Mart, an oldfashioned variety store where you can find band-aids or paper plates or candy or housewares or toys or balloons — you get the idea. We were there to buy three dozen balloons to match the plates and napkins for the party. When we miraculously got them into the car and spread them through the house they became the surprisingly favorite toy of the day! My son Josh and Tracey had just returned from Beaches resort on Turks and Caicos with 2-year-old Hudson. So I had missed them for the week they were gone. And then Samantha and Spencer brought Blake and Morgan to add to the celebration. In a complex world, it’s good to see the simple things of family and friends can make a memorable celebration extraordinary! Jonah and half brother Evan
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