In Praise of Unsung Heroes -- "I Know What It's like to be Hungry"

Yesterday, Roxanne Delgado of Bronx Animal Rights Electors met with my friend, Liliana to film a statement from her regarding the proposed criminalization of bird and squirrel feeders in NYC parks.

https://www.facebook.com/326231281077113/posts/803762266657343/

It is tough seeing my friend now. Though we speak on the phone almost everyday, I have not seen Liliana since moving upstate more than a year ago.

A two-year battle with cancer and countless chemo treatments have taken a toll on Liliana's already frail frame. And yet, like the courageous trooper that's she's always been, Liliana is willing to do whatever is necessary to help and save the needy -- in this case, park wildlife.

But less anyone think that Liliana is just a "fair weather feeder," only feeding birds for her own joy under favorable skies, the opposite is true.

 No one was more dependable during the brutal winter of 2015 when thousands of water birds starved to death on frozen lakes all along the East Coast -- including many in Central Park.

When finding dead bodies on the ice and overwhelmed with trying to feed more than 300 starving migratory ducks and geese on the CP Reservoir, I called Liliana for help.

She went around begging day-old bread from local bakeries and would show up to the snow and ice-covered Reservoir with a shopping cart filled with wholesome wheat breads for the famished birds. Breads that would normally be thrown out despite being baked that morning!

No, we were not able to save all the birds -- but we saved most!

I wrote a blog post then titled "unsung heroes" about Liliana which is appropriate to share again:

https://talesamptailsofnewyork.blogspot.com/2015/03/in-praise-of-quiet-unsung-heroes-for.html

And once again, Liliana is being called upon to save the day for the birds and other wildlife she cares so much about.

If anyone can stop this runaway train of cruel and barbaric proposal, it is this humble 97 lb woman who has managed to down stage-four cancer for the past two years.

Liliana may not be most people's idea of a hero, but she is certainly mine.

She is the kind of woman who would give the shirt off her back and freeze to death less another go cold.

 "I know what it's like to be hungry," she meekly says.

       
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