Bay Ridge floral designer’s mission: Helping kids in hospitals

May 13, 2015 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Robert Rising (left) and volunteer Jennifer Gammone deliver toys to Thomas Neve, executive director of Reaching-Out Community Services Inc. Photo courtesy Robert Rising

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Robert Rising is proof that great ideas can come out of the most trying circumstances.

Rising, 33, a Bay Ridge resident and owner of Robert Rising Design, a firm that creates floral arrangements and interior designs for weddings, parties, hotel lobbies and corporate events, is also the founder of Project Hope NY, a non-profit group that brings toys, candy and school supplies to hospitalized children.

He got the idea for Project Hope NY during one of the most stressful times in his life.

“My mom had a brain aneurysm and I was sitting at her bedside in the hospital 14, 16 hours a day. You get to see things. I saw people at the hospital doing all kinds of nice things for people. Sometimes the smallest gesture brightens someone’s day,” he told the Brooklyn Eagle on Monday. “I got the idea to try and do something for kids.”

Rising, who was born and raised on Long Island, has lived in Bay Ridge for a decade. He got his feet wet in the charity world by working with non-profit organizations like Bay Ridge Cares, the group that cooked and delivered hot meals to families who had lost their homes in Superstorm Sandy. Bay Ridge Cares also raised money for the Kabel Family, whose daughter Sally suffers from leukemia.

Out of that volunteer work Project Hope NY was born. The group collects donations and supplies which it then delivers the items to hospitals like Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for pediatric patients. Project Hope NY also works with the St. Mary’s Health Care System, a non-profit that helps hospitalized children.

“We usually have our big drives during the major holidays like Christmas and Easter. We also do a back to school drive. I put out a list of things we need,” Rising said. He often posts the list on a Project NY Facebook page that he created. “People either donate money or they go out and buy things and give them to us. Then I get together with volunteers and we put together gift baskets.”

Rising said that Christine Freglette, owner of the Book Mark Shoppe, a bookstore on Third Avenue in bay Ridge, has often generously donated her store as a workshop for Project Hope NY volunteers to organize gift baskets and wrap toys.

He takes special care when organizing holiday drives, he said. “I’ve learned that you have to run everything by the hospital because they have strict rules on what you can and cannot bring into a child’s hospital room,” he said, adding that he has developed a smooth working relationship with Sloan Kettering officials.

Last August, Rising and his Project Hope NY volunteers bought 100 backpacks and filled each one with notebooks, pencils, crayons and other school supplies. The group donated the backpacks to Reaching-Out Community Services Inc., a Bensonhurst-based charity group that holds a Back-To-School drive every year.

Project Hope NY also donated toys to Reaching-Out’s Christmas party for underprivileged children.

In addition to running Project Hope NY, Rising has also helped other charitable organizations in Bay Ridge.

“I took part in the Bay Ridge Goes Gold campaign last September,” Rising said. Bay Ridge Goes Gold, a campaign started by Bay Ridge Cares, consisted of volunteers tying gold ribbons and yarn around trees to raise awareness of the need for funding for research to cure pediatric cancers. September was Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Rising not only volunteered, he also put his money where his mouth was. “In September, my company donated 10 percent of our profits to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center,” he told the Eagle.

He has received “Thank You” letters from Sloan Kettering officials for his charitable endeavors.

For more information on Project Hope NY, visit the group’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ProjectHopeNY.