inspiration Archives » Michelle Trauring

‘I’m Rising’: Susie Roden Kickstarts Fundraiser, While Facing Breast Cancer For Third Time

Blog February 24, 2021

When Susie Roden treated herself to a belated birthday massage on Monday morning, it certainly felt relaxing, but also a bit odd — considering she could only lie on her side, not her stomach.

Just 11 days earlier, the president of the Coalition for Women’s Cancers at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital had endured a partial mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, navigating a third bout with breast cancer that comes exactly 30 years after her first.

And it has only reinforced why she’s dedicated her life’s work to the cause.

A Humanitarian in the Making: Mikayla Mott Helps Raise $10K for Nicaragua Hurricane Relief Efforts

Blog December 15, 2020

Mikayla Mott takes a seat outside the Ding Repair Cafe on a recent Monday morning, a warm winter breeze tousling her long blonde hair and dancing with the wind chimes nearby.

Under the basking sun, she and the restaurant are sheltered from the noise and traffic and throngs of people at the bustling heart of San Juan del Sur, a coastal town in Nicaragua that the 26-year-old East Hampton native has called her second home for nearly three years.

Here, it is mostly peaceful and quiet, just three blocks from the bay.

A month ago, it was an entirely different scene at the unassuming cafe, which served as a staging area following a pair of hurricanes, Eta and Iota, that landed within days of each other and devastated countless communities across the country. Here, Ms. Mott and her team of volunteers raised over $10,000 in donations and collected countless supplies, which they sorted, divvied up and delivered to those in need.

Shinnecock Matriarch Harriett Crippen Brown Gumbs Blazed Path Forward, Dies At 99

Blog December 9, 2020

Lance Gumbs was on a mission to find misplaced beadwork in his mother’s shop last week when he saw them — the thick stack of files piled high on her desk.

It was like she had planned it.

Abandoning his original quest, Mr. Gumbs sat down, opened the first file and started to read. And for four and a half hours, he didn’t stop. When he closed the last one, he saw his mother and her legacy in a new light, her many accomplishments — a handful of which he never knew about — shining bright.

In those hours, he had come as close as he ever would to talking to her again.

Harriett Crippen Brown Gumbs, the matriarch and oldest female of the Shinnecock Indian Nation — a woman who lived her life as an educator, activist, feminist and historian — died on November 25 of natural causes. She was 99.

Child Cancer Survivor Pays It Forward, Aspires To Be Pediatric Nurse

Blog July 6, 2020

Halle Kneeland is, undeniably, an inherently positive young woman.

When the skies opened up, creating a downpour on Pierson High School’s graduation last month, the 18-year-old couldn’t help but smile as the rain soaked through her cap and gown, her long blonde curls framing her beaming face.

After all, she was simply alive. She had not only survived the COVID-19 crisis that changed the face of her senior year, but she also beat a devastating cancer diagnosis four years earlier — a chapter that defined her career path as she looks ahead toward nursing school at the University of Florida this fall.

Grenning Finds Power in The Art of Morton

Art April 15, 2020

There is more to George Morton than his sheer, mostly raw talent. Take one look at his dramatically lifelike, poignant pieces, and it’s there — his past, one set against the drug war of the 1990s in Kansas City, one that landed him an 11-year prison sentence.

One that nearly destroyed him.