In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, residents of inner city New York suburbs are still struggling. While the COVID-19 units at Mount Sinai and Nassau University Medical Center may be less full than they were several months ago, morale is low after 3,159 coronavirus deaths rocked Nassau County.
Homeless communities are having particular difficulty with masking up and practicing good hand hygiene due to a fundamental lack of access to resources like disposable and fabric masks, hand soap, running water, hand sanitizer, gloves, and other items that are now widely available at drugstores and supermarkets — at a price.
Famous World Series of Poker player Micah Raskin has been involved with helping the homeless and hungry in Hempstead for many years, spending his holidays at the local soup kitchen or donating to food banks and shelters. It didn’t take long for him to identify a new — and urgent — need the homeless community has: access to adequate sanitary supplies to slow the spread of the virus among homeless shelters and tent villages.
Taking matters into his own hands, at the onset of the pandemic when supplies were scarce, Raskin donated 5,000 masks and 1,000 bottles of hand sanitizer to the Hempstead, NY homeless shelter and soup kitchen that he regularly works at to hand out to members of the community.
In a new feature article on Bitrebels.com, Raskin discusses what’s at the root of his commitment to inspiring others by lending a helping hand. Micah says:
Some people who are genuinely kind, compassionate and caring are nevertheless reluctant to really commit to inspiring others, because they feel that they will somehow feel depleted after the experience, as if they are a battery that has been drained. But the magic of inspiration is that it uplifts both the receiver and the giver alike. It is not a zero-sum game. Everyone benefits and there are no losers. There is no feeling or experience in the world quite like inspiring another person. Our ability to inspire others, and to be inspired, may be the essential thing that truly makes us human.
Essentially, it’s another way to look at the old adage that what a person puts out into the world comes back to them. Uplifting others, especially those at their lowest, is beneficial for everyone involved; the reward for both parties far exceeds the cost of inspiration.
COVID-19 has left New York — and the rest of the country — in plenty of need of inspiration along with those face masks. The Psychiatric Times discusses an unofficial new kind of trauma disorder; PCSD, or Post-COVID Stress Disorder. Similar to cases of PTSD in combat veterans, frontline workers and vulnerable communities have developed signs of post-traumatic stress that will undoubtedly stretch into the future, even well after the pandemic fades from the forefront of everyday life.
Micah continues to strive to help meet the needs of vulnerable people in Nassau County as New York begins to reopen after months of lockdowns, restricted schedules, and social distancing mandates. Providing both tangible relief and an ear to listen, Micah inspires individuals throughout the community to continue having hope despite the circumstances.
“Your energy is contagious and inspiring to the people around you, so when you focus on becoming the best version of yourself you can be, everything else will fall into place,” Raskin says.
ABOUT MICAH RASKIN
Micah Raskin is a professional poker player who has participated in hundreds of tournaments. Micah has established himself as one of the country’s top poker earners after his initial live-event cash in 2007. He was the winner of four major tournaments in his first four years as a pro player, reached 16 Final Tables, and cashed more than 25 times. He has won over $2 million dollars and has cashed many times at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournament and contributed a quarter of his winnings to charities.
Raskin is also a well-known international philanthropist who works to improve local neighborhoods through a variety of programs. He’s been fighting hunger and homelessness in the Nassau and Queens County New York areas where he was raised, for the past decade prior to the pandemic.
Micah Raskin is a New York native who earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Baruch College. He has contributed to the expansion of Jerusalem’s prestigious Shaare Zedek Medical Center and is actively launching efforts to combat cyberbullying among children and teenagers.
Micah is now the president of a direct marketing and technology company that helped develop and market one of the largest chiropractic centers in New York. He loves to play tennis, ski, and enjoys landscape architecture.
This is a Contributor Post. Opinions expressed here are opinions of the Contributor. Influencive does not endorse or review brands mentioned; does not and cannot investigate relationships with brands, products, and people mentioned and is up to the Contributor to disclose. Contributors, amongst other accounts and articles may be professional fee-based.