Englewood—There are few better ways to live in the moment than to watch a sporting event in a large arena, surrounded by others sharing the same experience, breathing in the air of excitement and enjoying the drama of the game. For others, a concert or play, or even a day at an amusement park, can create the same level of transportment and distraction. When children are fighting an illness or going through a difficult time, an exciting outing can ease the burden for a few hours, and the resulting joy in reliving the experience can last days, weeks or even months.

When his tickets to sports games or concerts were going unused on Shabbos, Yoni Greenstein of Monsey used his social and workplace networks to give them away, and soon began to donate other tickets that came to him to Jewish organizations where he volunteered, like Chai Lifeline, OHEL, Kids of Courage and I-Shine. “I found that whether a kid is depressed, has lost a parent, or is sick or unhappy, going to a game for a few hours can distract them from life’s difficulties,” said Greenstein.

Over time, people began to go to him for tickets for family members or friends going through a rough time. Over the last several years, Greenstein and several partners, including Mike Dube of the educational sports company Dube Zone, of Englewood, developed a nonprofit organization to give away tickets to kids who can enjoy them, called Sharing Seats.

Today, Sharing Seats is a volunteer-run, non-denominational 501(c)3 organization that seeks to give children a day or evening out to sporting events, concerts, Broadway shows, museums or amusement parks. “Sadly, children with serious illnesses spend a lot of time in treatment or in the hospital, but to give them a reason to say, ‘Today was a great day,’ is very special,” said Greenstein.

Today, many of the tickets that come to Sharing Seats are extended to the Jewish community in the tri-state area because of the personal networks of the people involved as volunteers, but the tickets are also available to the larger community and inner cities. “Disease aren’t biased, and neither are we,” he said.

Another special thing Sharing Seats does is help people to give event tickets anonymously, Greenstein said. “Let’s say an individual wants to cheer someone up, perhaps a child in their community. For instance, maybe they know someone who experienced a loss in their family or maybe someone whose parents are divorcing, and the child seems down and could use a lift. We can be a conduit for people to use in providing uplifting experiences anonymously,” he said.

Dube said he relishes the opportunity to help someone enjoy a day out. “We get Yankees tickets for someone who is wheelchair bound, and do the research to determine accessibility for their front row seats. This kind of day can have such a profound effect on people’s lives; it’s not monetary, it’s a whole package experience that we have been able to give them. They still talk about it,” he said.

One child who benefited from Sharing Seats and the Dube Zone is Daniel Morrison, a 10-year-old who attends Yeshivat Noam in Paramus. An athletically inclined child, Daniel was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma last summer. In school last year he participated in Dube Zone sports programming, and Dube reached out to his family recently as part of Sharing Seats.

“Daniel had never attended a professional football game, and it has been a dream of his for the past two years to attend one,” said Mitch Morrison, Daniel’s father. “He has a strict protocol, but now since can do a few things in public, Mike got us tickets to attend a Jets game, and the experience was like the Make-a-Wish Foundation, fulfilling Daniel’s wish,” said Morrison.

Daniel is now hard at work fighting his illness, which is a serious but treatable form of cancer. “In some ways, a child’s illness can be harder emotionally than physically, because they know that they are missing out on so much,” said Morrison, who said his son missed being able to attend camp this year and is not currently able to go to school. “The Jets game was a way to escape some of the limitations he has right now.”

Dube said Sharing Seats gets many kinds of requests and often within hours, the seats are found and the event scheduled for the child. “We’ve never gotten a request we weren’t able to fill,” said Dube.

“People who want to give event tickets or money to be used for creating a memorable experience can do so, as a tax-deductible donation, through Sharing Seats,” said Greenstein. Anyone who is interested knowing more is encouraged to contact Sharing Seats at sharingseats_gmail.com.

By Elizabeth Kratz