The launch of Sports Wrap! has motivated athletes and their teams to address the issues of hunger which plague the cities they play for. Food from clubhouses is recovered and delivered to shelters and pantries. Mike and his wife Brooke Maroth of the Detroit Tigers are the first of many who voices and actions will speak for the voiceless to help end hunger.

Rock and Wrap It Up! Detroit volunteer Greg Fletcher's work was highlighted in Detroit Hours Magazine and inspired Brooke Maroth, wife of Pitcher Mike Maroth. 

2003 Rock and Wrap It Up! Lena and Joseph Mandelbaum Humanitarian Award winners, The Allman Brothers Band manager Burt Holman, Guitarist Warren Haynes, Jospeh and Lena Mandelbaum and Stephanie Scarmado Haynes 

Rock and Wrap It Up! Advisory Board Member Chip James with Warren Haynes receiving signed guitar from his successful silent auction bid.

Rock and Wrap It Up! friends Dr Sanjay Kirtane and wife Dr.Yash Kirtane with Chef David Boulee 

2003 Rock and Wrap It Up! Bill Emerson Award recipient Pi Lambda Phi International Fraternity, President Paul Kaufman, 2003 Jay Magazine Award recipient Chef David Boulee, 2003 Lena and Jospeh Mandelbaum Award winner The Allman Brothers Band received by Warren Haynes 

Sports Wrap! Drops Down from the Heavens, or Internet.

Mandelbaum received the most unexpected e-mail on May 2nd 2003. “Hi, My name is Brooke Maroth and my husband Mike is a pitcher on the Detroit Tigers. We read about your organization in Detroit Hours Magazine and we were very impressed. Mike says that there is always leftover food in the clubhouse and we were wondering if we could help feed the hungry with the food. Please get back to us if you can help us.” Mandelbaum saw an amazing new opportunity come his way. The same way he knew that many peopled looked up to Rock Stars, equal numbers idolized sports figures. If sports arenas and stadiums could be harvested like backstage at rock concerts, there was no reason not to pursue it. Why not have sports stars sign Certificates of Appreciation to help grow Rock and Wrap It Up! and its programs? Within days, a plan was in place and Greg Fletcher the Rock and Wrap It Up! volunteer regional director met with Brooke and Mike Maroth. By July, the first pickups were arranged and Sports Wrap! was born. Greg and Brooke met with Coamerica Stadium clubhouse manager Jim Schmakel. He was completely in favor of helping with the logistical and security arrangements. The food was picked up at the end of each home stand and brought directly to a 24 hour walk-in shelter blocks away from Coamerica Stadium. What started as an interview in a local magazine would become a national movement to further empower star athletes to help fight hunger. By the end of 2003, over 1500 pounds of food that had been prepared but not served was recovered from the Tiger clubhouse, helping to feed over 2000 people in Detroit’s inner city. Mike Maroth signed Certificates of Appreciation to honor students who started programs and to help Rock and Wrap It Up! fund-raise.
The 2003 Tribute Dinner was held again at Pier Sixty. The honorees were the Allman Brothers Band receiving the Lena and Joseph Mandelbaum Humanitarian Award, Pi Lambda Phi International Fraternity would receive the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Award and Chef David Boulee receiving the Jay Magazine Award. The Allman Brothers Band were early supporters of Rock and Wrap It Up! through their manager Burt Holman. Burt had also arranged for a guitar to be signed by the band for the first Tribute Dinner in 2001, where a silent auction helped to raise more funds. Warren Haynes, their extraordinary guitarist would receive the award and play an acoustic set. The band had already accepted a gig to play at Bonnero, an outdoor festival in Tennessee the same week. Warren agreed to stay, attend the Tribute Dinner and meet the band the next day. Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity became a beacon for all service organizations and their determination to expect community service from their chapters doing food recovery was amazing. Chef David Boulee had a relationship with Rock and Wrap It Up! through the tragedy of 9/11.
In 1999, Mandelbaum was donated 100,000 one pound boxes of pasta were donated to Rock and Wrap It Up! by Russo’s on the Bay in Howard Beach Queens. Mandelbaum’s friend Barry Mayer, President of Loeb and Mayer Wholesale Foods had a storage facility in which he had room to donate space to Rock and Wrap It Up! In the days and weeks following 9/11, there was a call for food donations to be given to Chefs who were cooking for the massive recovery and clean up teams. Mandelbaum contacted the City and was told to speak to Chef Boulee. Rock and Wrap It Up! then delivered the 10,000 pounds of pasta. Chef Boulee cooked millions of plates of food for another 8 months after the tragedy. The Tribute Dinner was poignant. When Warren began to sing his signature song Soul Shine, thunder and lightening lit up the sky behind him and could be seen through the glass windows of the room.

President of the John F. Kennedy School of Politics at Harvard University and Former Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture Dan Glickman and Rock and Wrap It Up! CEO Syd Mandelbaum at United States Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Denver, CO, June, 2003. 

Dan Glickman and Syd Mandelbaum presenting to the Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee of the United States Conference of Mayors. 

Former Houston, TX Mayor Lee Brown. Mayor Brown co-sponsored the resolution supporting Rock and Wrap It Up! tactics. Brown serves on Rock and Wrap It Up!'s Advisory Board and works with the Mayors Initiative effort. 

Indianapolis, IN Mayor Bart Peterson, Chairman of the United States Conference of Mayors Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee who sponsored the resolution naming Rock and Wrap It Up! to help end hunger in cities. 

Fritz Edelstein and Syd Mandelbaum at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, CO. Rock and Wrap It Up! volunteers recover food from this arena to feed the hungry of Denver.

The Genesis of the Mayors Initiative

In late 2002, Mandelbaum and Rock and Wrap It Up! received one of its most important phone calls. The possible implications could help RWU attain the goal of feeding all who hunger in the United States. Fritz Edelstein had left the U.S. Department of Education and took a position with the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) as Education Liaison to Cities. He asked Mandelbaum to come down to Washington to do a presentation to the USCM's Tom Mc Climon. Mandelbaum agreed and brought Rock and Wrap It Up! Board Member Bob Novello. They drove down and met with the USCM and had appointments with the National Hillel Foundation, and the National Association of collegiate Scholars. All the meetings were productive to help grow Rock and Wrap It Up! influence, but none more than the USCM. The meeting with the USCM answered questions about using RWU tactics to further feed the hungry. Two weeks went by and Mandelbaum was called by McClimon and Edelstein. A resolution was being crafted to be voted on at the National Meeting to be held in Denver, CO. Unbeknownst to Mandelbaum, there was a study just completed through the USCM and the results were devastating. There was a 9% grow in hunger in America from 1999-2002, and the Mayors of the USCM wanted to take action. In the resolution Rock and Wrap It Up! would be named as one of the agencies for cities to work with to help feed their indigent. It became a defining moment in the growth and direction of Rock and Wrap It Up! The organization would now be able to teach cities the successful tactics it had developed to help feed millions who hunger. The resolution would be presented through the Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee of the entire USCM. If it passed this group, it would have the support of the entire conference. Edelstein asked Mandelbaum to reach out to a rock star or supporter to introduce the resolution. Mandelbaum suggested Dan Glickman, the former Secretary of Agriculture and Director for the J.F. Kennedy School of Politics at Harvard University. He knew that the Kennedy School had a long relationship with the conference. Each Mayor was encouraged to attend a special two week "school" at Harvard through the J.F. Kennedy School Of Politics. Glickman was scheduled to fly to Denver to speak about the Kennedy School and he agreed to also address the A.P.E.S Committee about Rock and Wrap It Up!
The Committee was chaired by Bart Peterson, Mayor of Indianapolis. Mandelbaum attended a number functions on the first night he arrived in Denver. In the hotel, at the Texas Caucus, he met City of Dallas Administrator Mary Sohm, representing Mayor Laura Miller. He spoke to her at length about how Dallas could generate thousands of more plates of food by using Rock and Wrap It Up! tactics. Mandelbaum met the Mayor of Houston, Lee Brown. They spoke about the resolution as Mandelbaum heard that he was a member of the Committee. Brown said he would second the motion, which Peterson would make, putting it on the agenda. Brown had spent years in New York City as Police Commissioner before being called to join the Cabinet of President Bill Clinton as head of the D.E.A. Brown became instrumental in helping Mandelbaum launch the Rock and Wrap It Up! Mayors Initiative. He co-wrote a letter of introduction to the cities which would be contacted to offer to teach Rock and Wrap It Up! tactics and strategies.
On Saturday morning at the meeting of the Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee, Glickman followed by Mandelbaum presented Rock and Wrap It Up! tactics and strategies to the member Mayors. The A.P.E.S. Committee is the largest committee of the USCM and the discussion on the presentation was lively and supportive. After discussion they voted and approved the resolution to be presented for a full membership approval vote at the meeting on Monday morning June 8th 2003. Glickman and Mandelbaum were elated. It was exactly 22 years since Mandelbaum's epiphany in Jerusalem and exactly 61 year since the murder of his grandparents and family at Auschwitz.
There was much work to be done to launch the Rock and Wrap It Up! Mayors Initiative. Mandelbaum contacted Mary Sohm in Dallas and his Volunteer Regional Director Cristy Ecton. Cristy became a Rock and Wrap It Up! volunteer in 1996 after reading the article in Rolling Stone Magazine She had been one of the organizations most valued volunteers. Ecton worked as a blood bank administrator. In 2000, she joined the Peace Corp. and served for two years in Czechoslovakia, returning to the United States to volunteer again in Dallas. While in Europe she helped arrange food pickups and recovered food from a U 2 concert in Vienna. She met the same tour manager upon her return to Dallas while picking up food backstage from another U 2 concert there. Cristy worked with Mary and by December 2003, Dallas became the first city in America to implement Rock and Wrap It Up! tactics. The Mayors Initiative received additional support in March 2005. Mayor Manuel Diaz, the current Chairman of the Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee of the USCM sent out the follow letter to all Mayors in the United States:

Dear Mayor:
In 2003, the U.S. Conference of Mayors through the Arts, Parks Entertainment and Sports Committee guided by the leadership of Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, endorsed the Rock and Wrap It Up! Program with a policy resolution in support of the program. This valuable program is geared to alleviating the hunger of those less fortunate members of our communities and serves their needs through safe, organized leftover food pick-up.

2004 was a year of innovation and successes for Rock and Wrap It Up. National support and partnerships with cities continue to grow. The program’s strategies to combat hunger have been adopted by arenas and concert management teams throughout the country. Central to these strategies is that event contracts for activities taking place on our cities' properties, including sports and entertainment activities, include language that stipulates that leftover food from these activities will go to feed the hungry. The Rock and Wrap It Up program is a template to feed hundreds of millions more in our cities and represents the beginning of our potential to feed all those who suffer the effects of hunger.

The program has received major news coverage in The New York Times, Lifestyles Magazine, Venues Today and work continues to expand the Wrap It Up program with the organization of food recovery efforts at sporting venues and stadiums. Already the program has been implemented by the Detroit Tigers as well as the Texas Rangers in Dallas. The program continues to expand in Major League Baseball and is currently working with the New York Yankees for implementation at Yankee stadium. The Miami Heat is working to implement the program for the first food donations of the National Basketball Association. The New York Football Giants will be the first team in the National Football League to implement the Sports Wrap! program of clubhouse food recovery.
As Chair of the Conference's Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee I encourage you to support the program by including the program’s suggested language in contracts related to appropriate public events and venues in your city. As we work for the inclusion of the template language in contracts for these activities as well as long-term leasing of arenas and other properties in our cities, we will significantly help alleviate the scourge of hunger in our cities that hold so much promise for our bountiful country.

Questions regarding the program and the rider can be directed to Syd Mandelbaum of Rock and Wrap It Up at (516) 295-0670 or via email at sydmandelbaum@worldnet.att.net

Sincerely,
Manny Diaz
Mayor of Miami
Chair, Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports Committee

2002 Rock and Wrap t Up! Lena and Joseph Mandelbaum Humanitarian Award Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne had donated, food, time and contributions to ensure the growth of the organization. Ozzy did the first TV interview by a Rock Star in 1995, Sharon was interviewed by the Boston Globe in 1996. Daughter Kelly Osbourne taped a Public Service Announcement with Sharon in 1998 through a grant by the Untied States Department of Agriculture. 

Lena and Joseph Mandelbaum, who's survived as teenagers, starvation through four years in Nazi Concentration Camps inspired founder Syd Mandelbaum to feed all who hunger 

Article in Pollstar with founding Rock and Wrap It Up! Tribute Dinner Honorary Co-Chairman, John Sykes, CEO of Infinity Broadcasting. 

Rock and Wrap It Up! 2002 Jay Magazine Award Winner, Chef Michael LoManaco has served on the Board of City Harvest to help feed New York's poor. 

2002 Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Award winner, Syndicated Columnist Lis Smith with her guest, film producer Joel Schumacher sharing a moment. 

Darius Rucker, the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, has been an important supporter of Rock and Wrap It Up! He performed at Pier 60 in NYC at the 2002 Tribute Dinner to honor the Awardees 

Osbournes, Liz Smith and Michael LoManaco Help Rock and Wrap It Up! Grow

Rock and Wrap It Up! had an active program in most major cities. In August 2002, Mandelbaum received a call from a reporter with Detroit Hours magazine wanting an interview. Mandelbaum suggested that he write about the Regional Director for the Detroit area, Greg Fletcher. Greg moved from New York to Detroit three years earlier and was a program manager for WGBN Superstation, out of Chicago. The article came out in the November issue of Detroit Hours Magazine and a dozen people called or e-mailed to become volunteers to help Greg.
It was a few months since 9/11, but Rock and Wrap It Up! Board of Directors began planning for a second Tribute Dinner. A new award was now in place, the Jay Magazine Award. The awardees for 2002 would be Chef Michael LoManaco receiving the Jay Magazine Award, syndicated columnist Liz Smith receiving the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Award and Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne receiving the Lena and Joseph Mandelbaum Humanitarian Award. The committee selected Pier Sixty as the location for the event. Friend of Rock and Wrap It Up! Darius Rucker, lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish was the musical entertainment. MTV again took the lead in planning and designing the event. MTV VJ and newsman, Gideon Yago, would host the festivities.
Ozzy and Sharon were huge supporters of Rock and Wrap! They joined the organization in Europe while on tour in 1996 and started sending toiletries for distribution. In 1997, Ozzy was filmed for a program called Deco Drive in Miami discussing his work with Rock and Wrap It Up! In 1998, Sharon was interviewed in the Boston Globe about fighting hunger through Rock and Wrap It Up!. In 1999, Kelly and Sharon Osbourne were filmed for a video for distribution for schools, through a grant through the USDA. The month before the Tribute Dinner, the Osbournes informed Mandelbaum that they could not attend in person but would accept the award by video in Los Angeles. Sharon had privately started chemotherapy for colon cancer. The video which they made was shown at the Tribute Dinner. Liz Smith had written the first piece about Rock and Wrap It Up! in her column in 1995 which got a great response. She also supported hundreds of charities in her column, helping to raise awareness and funds. She was the recipient of the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Award, given out by Abigail Emerson Gilhooley, daughter of the late Bill Emerson. Michael LoMonaco was the Head Chef at Windows on the World. He would have been killed on 9/11, but had to have an emergency repair of his glasses and was late getting to the breakfast event for the special event planners from the United Kingdom. He worked tirelessly for food recovery organizations including City Harvest and was a deserving recipient of the first Jay Magazine Award.
In 2003 Avril Lavigne, The Dead, Good Charlotte, managers signed their tours with Rock and Wrap It Up! Avril Lavigne and The Dead signed Certificates of Appreciation for Rock and Wrap It Up! in February of that year.

Jay Magazine, Director of Catering of Windows on the World and Advisory Board member of Rock and Wrap It Up! 

Tom Freston, CEO of Viacom , with Dan Glickman, current President of the Motion Picture academy of America with Syd Mandelbaum, CEO and Founder of Rock and Wrap It Up!. 

Dan Glickman receiving his award from Abigail Emerson Gilhooley, daughter of the late Bill Emerson. 

MTV President Judy McGrath with Rock and Wrap It Up! CEO and Humanitarian Award Winner Leslie Leventman with Anna Devers Smith 

MC of the evening MTV newsman Gideon Yago 

Diane Mandelbaum, Mark and Bruce Becker, founders of Max and Mina's Gourmet Ice Cream at the Tribute Dinner. They helped organize the Help Lick Hunger Event at the Grammercy Park Hotel in 2000. In 2002 they were selected in the 50 most eligible men by People Magazine. 

An unknown Alicia Keys performs at the First Rock and Wrap It Up! Tribute Dinner. Her CD is released three weeks later and wins 5 Grammys. 

In Tribute to Jay Magazine