Introducing our Van Drivers!!

April Harris



I am a van driver, April is my name
Flat tires and injuries- I fix them all the same
In my little white car I save the 4k riders
With every distress call, my heart grows a little wider
I spend my days finding donations, putting food in hungry bellies
Make me angry and for you – eternal peanut butter and jellies

Thomas, Andrew and I scour the streets for any trouble
Sometimes my work is tiresome and I want to leave the 4k bubble
But I know no matter what hope will pull me through
The hope of those who are suffering – of every cancer patient I ever knew
With every mile every day each hot sun and stormy sky
I am happy to be a part of this and now I hope that you know why!


Thomas Beerbower

After much deliberation, I've come to the conclusion that my biographical thoughts can only be truly expressed through poetry.

For example, in haiku:

Thomas Beerbower
Van driver extraordinaire
How 'bout dem apples?


Or iambic pentameter:

Thomas, my name is, and I drive a van.
If asked, the team might say I am the man.
I stuff them full of apples every day.
And tell them jokes, so they can't stay away.

I bring them water and some tasty snacks.
When I am close, they know I have their backs.
I make them slather sunscreen on, you see,
With SPFs that keep them cancer-free.

I drive to honor my friend Caroline
Whose cancer came without much prior sign.
She's only twenty-four and, yet, so strong,
So thoughts of her keep pushing me along.

Andrew Gotimer

During my Senior year of high school, my brother, Greg, was a Freshman. This meant that I drove him to school each morning. At the time, NBC News did a story on our school, declaring it as having the earliest start time in New York State. I was up at six every morning; Greg was up by seven thirty-five. Many a late mornings I spent arguing with my brother as we broke all kinds of land speed records trying to at least make it in by second period.

Due to my apparently uncanny ability to not learn life lessons, I now find myself up at 5-6AM every morning, packing a van to the hilt and driving my brother and twenty-four other students to that proverbial school four-thousand miles away. This time, the start time is earlier, the commute longer, the load heavier and I'm glad I never learned my lesson. My name is Andrew Gotimer. Van driver. Documentarian.