Row New York In My Neighborhood

by Angela Veras, Alumna and Assistant Adaptive Coach

I never thought this would happen

I said to Denise, my boss, as we left my childhood park in the Bronx rolling the ergs towards the van. I graduated from high school and from Row New York (RNY) last June. After four years of rowing at RNY, I didn’t get the chance to work there until this summer. The summer season had already started, but by a stroke of luck, I was still able to become an assistant coach on the adaptive team.

So, where does my title fit in all this? Well, on August 3rd, I helped Denise at an event run by Montefiore Hospital. Our job was to promote our adaptive rowing team and teach a few people how to row. I was excited to share because RNY has been my family for the last four years.

RNY has been the community that witnessed me stressing over workouts and saw me grow as I completed every one of them. This community was there when I learned a sport that seemed alien to someone from such as small country like the Dominican Republic. RNY not only taught me how to row, but it also taught me that I could get along with people from different backgrounds and that you cannot move a boat without an open mind. For me, tell others about the team wasn’t only for my job, I felt like I owed it to RNY.

Then during that early August morning, I noticed that I owed it to my neighborhood too. Why? Because the event happened to be in my area, a place I never thought would see me row. I never imagined I would sit on an erg in my local park- the same place where my neighbors saw me visit without knowing a word of English. This neighborhood saw me cry during the first two years of my transition to New York City. It was the one that fed me at its local pizzeria till the waiters memorized my order.

RNY was my family, and this was my home.

I had never appreciated my neighborhood so much till I sat there teaching a young teen how to row. That day at the park, I shared the gift of RNY to random strangers. Then as the day progressed, I realized that these were not just any strangers; they were my neighbors. They were immigrants, hard-workers, and simply good humans that deserve to have access to all the resources that RNY provided for me.

On that day, I noticed that by a stroke of luck, I had given my neighborhood access to the organization that had unexpectedly changed my world.

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