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Delivers a Memorable Mother’s Day
The television cameras were gone. Jason Sehorn, the affable and socially-minded Giants cornerback, had presented Susan Ramirez with a $5,000 down payment on the town home she was purchasing in New Community’s Community Hills development. He had helped cut the ribbon across the front door on West Kinney Street and been interviewed. He had quietly posed on request for dozens of photographs and autographed everything from footballs to Giants banners. This was the second down payment on a new home that Mr. Sehorn and his Sehorn’s Corner Foundation had given to a single mother buying a new home at Community Hills-a development of 206 attractive NCC-built town houses spanning Irvine Turner Boulevard in the Central Ward-in less than two months. Now, Mr. Sehorn was sitting on the floor of Victor Ramirez’s new bedroom. Victor had recently discovered that in addition to being neatly furnished by Ikea, his family’s new home was stocked with a rather impressive collection of toys. Like a big kid-albeit one whose skills on the field are worth millions and who is recognized from coast-to-coast-Mr. Sehorn had discovered Victor’s toy train set. It was one of those things with a kidney shaped wooden track and brightly colored wooden train cars that a child can assemble and push around to his heart’s content. “Come here, Victor,” Mr. Sehorn said. Victor, who is four, came running with a child-sized foam bat he had already been using to practice his home run swing. He plopped himself on the plush carpeting, next to the man whose celebrity and generosity he was still too young to appreciate. To Victor, Jason Sehorn was just another playmate, even if he was a bit bigger, more athletically-built and significantly more famous than most.
“Look at this train,” Mr. Sehorn said to Victor. The child was beaming and made quick work of disassembling the train and pushing the cars off the track. He looked puzzled. “This is how you do it,” Mr. Sehorn laughed. He started to put the train back together and place the cars back on the wooden track. Victor tried reassembling the train the way Mr. Sehorn had shown him. No go. “No, look,” Mr. Sehorn said in a quiet voice. “It has magnets. It holds them together.” Victor suddenly looked like someone who had just figured out something very important in life. He put some of the toy train cars together the way he’d just been shown. And then, the man who wears No. 31 on the field and Victor, sitting on opposite sides of the toy train set, pushed the train back and forth for a while, a star athlete and a little boy, quietly enjoying a moment together. Like a Dream Susan Ramirez was standing in her new bedroom, right next to the one where her son and the Giants cornerback were playing.
“I never felt that I deserved so much in life,” Ms. Ramirez said. “This is like a dream.” Staci Cummings, executive director of the Sehorn Foundation, accompanied her into the fully outfitted kitchen. “Look at all this space,” Ms. Ramirez said. “I can bring people here. Wow. This is nice. I’m going to have to make a dinner here for all of us.” Mr. Sehorn started Sehorn’s Corner, his charitable foundation, two years ago to help single mothers and their families in inner-city neighborhoods like Newark’s Central Ward. Since then, the foundation has raised more than $120,000 for its programs, which are aimed at single-parent families in the tri-state region. The foundation has focused its efforts in the Newark area. Last December, Mr. Sehorn helped another Newark mother purchase her own home as part the foundation’s “Homes for the Holidays” program. In late March, he contributed a $5,000 down payment on a Community Hills town house-furnished by Ikea, Home Depot and Victoria Appliances-to Glynnis Harvey. In addition, Sehorn’s Corner has purchased and served Thanksgiving dinners to hundreds of Newark families, donated tens of thousands of dollars worth of toys, books and games to local nonprofits, and begun a variety of community service projects. Ms. Ramirez-who is also a foster parent-was selected by Sehorn’s Corner from a large group of applicants whose names were submitted to the foundation without their knowledge. “To whom much is given, much is required, and I’ve been given much” Mr. Sehorn said of his interest in grassroots work and in assisting single mothers. “I believe you don’t have to have both a mom and a dad to make it.” Mr. Sehorn, who grew up in Northern California and didn’t actually start playing football until his senior year of high school, was raised by a single mother. He often says that his mother provides the inspiration for his charitable work and has dedicated his programs in the community to her. “It’s gratifying and it’s fun,” Mr. Sehorn said. He noted that he is in a position to raise money for his foundation by hosting a handful of fundraisers every year. “You can do so much with just a little bit of your time.” As for his strong interest in working in Newark, Mr. Sehorn simply said, “this is one of the neediest areas” in the Tri-State region. Making a Difference Staci Cummings, the foundation director, was now taking her turn playing with the indefatigable Victor, who is one of the four children in Ms. Ramirez’s extended family (two of her own children and two foster children). Victor had picked up the bat again and Ms. Cummings was pitching. With the count at 0-2, he swung and hit a home run to left, which was in the vicinity of his new bedroom window.
Mr. Sehorn was signing the red bow that had been across the front door for Ms. Ramirez. Someone asked Ms. Ramirez’s eleven-year-old son, Brandon, if he was a Giants fan. Brandon said that, actually, Dallas was his team. Mr. Sehorn laughed. “That’s okay,” he said. “You can like the Cowboys.” Mr. Sehorn turned to someone from the Giants who had attended the ribbon cutting and smiled. “Every little kid likes Dallas,” he said. The cornerback had one more task to attend to: A celebrity golf event in Midtown Manhattan sponsored by Maxim and ESQ that would start in about twenty-four hours. He was hoping to raise up to $100,000 for his foundation through the event which, in turn, would translate into more homes for single mothers like Susan Ramirez and more programs to help children in neighborhoods like the Central Ward. It’s all part of Jason Sehorn’s plan to make
a difference in life far beyond the thirty-yard line. |
