Posted with the permission of Charlene Giannetti on Woman Around Town

Woman Around Town: Deborah Koenigsberger—Heart of Gold

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
by Charlene Giannetti on Woman Around Town

 

Music can stir our emotions and push us to act. Just ask Deborah Koenigsberger. A huge Stevie Wonder fan, she attended all seven of his concerts at Radio City Music Hall in 1995. The lyrics of one song about homelessness, “Take the Time Out,” kept playing in her head:

Lying out on the street, there’s a man
That needs somewhere to sleep
And a bag-lady digs through the trash
Hoping to find something to eat.

At the time, Deborah was living on Madison Avenue and walking to work each day through Madison Square Park where she would see the homeless, including a woman and her little girl, living in cardboard boxes. “That song resonated with me because there were all these people on the streets,” she says. “I never thought I could do anything about it, but the song says every one of us can effect a change if we just do a little bit. So I thought I could do a little bit in my neighborhood.”  <<Read More>>