Photography by Ernie Luppi
About The Author
Rick Parisi was born and raised in San Francisco and
graduated from high school in June during the Summer of Love. However, living during that time was so much more than sex, drugs, and rock & roll. Every neighborhood had a park that provided a safe place to go and learn how to play baseball, football, and basketball under the supervision of paid adults.
It was a time when the De Young Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Japanese Tea Garden offered a no-cost wonderland in which to soak up a diversity of cultural and cerebral richness while playing hide and seek.
Chapters
Chapter Hints
CHAPTER 01
Time to Take a Walk
Winning requires knowing the rules of games not ruled by chance, and even then, luck plays a role. Aptitude is essential because, without it, some can’t even comprehend the rules. However, knowing the rules isn’t enough. Willingness and determination are indispensable, for without them, obstacles become insurmountable. But what of those with willingness and determination but lack the aptitude? What, if anything, do we owe them?”
CHAPTER 02
Eighty-Five Years Later
There comes a time, in the millennia to come, when Church bells ring symphonically during the spring equinox in celebration of All-Father Marno the Leveler, whose aspect, among others, is balance
CHAPTER 03
Jimmy and Shelly Martino
The uncertainty of the future weighs heavily on Jimmy as he finds it hard to open up about his fears to his wife. Shelly has always supported him and is like an anchor in his life, yet he knows that love alone cannot solve their problems. Gradually, though, Jimmy resolves to finds some direction and begins to question everything he held true about success and security.
CHAPTER 04
I Want to Live in America
Every morning, awakening from a shivering sleep, the struggle for food began. Some would hunt, and some would gather. Necessity was the force. At day’s end, the spoils were divided—the strong and favored first and most, the weakest taking what was left. But the weak persevered, and some became strong or favored. Hope was that force.
CHAPTER 05
Those That Were Dragged
Greed comes in a variety of forms and can be found everywhere. One thing is certain—greed could not be actualized without the ability to overpower.
CHAPTER 06
Evening, Day 2
Jimmy returns home from his walk defeated and in fear. Shelly helps him remember that fear is nothing more than a negative fantasy.
About The Books
The Philanthrophy Games
What started out as an essay to gather my thoughts became a short story. During that process it took on a life of it’s own and like all healthy life forms it grew. The short story became a book and then a multipart series and eight short stories.
As the present is morphed from it’s past, it also creates possibilities ad infinitum. Here’s to a future when philanthropy is a game, the winners are hero’s, and the best of the best are enshrined in the Philanthropic Hall of Fame.
Aptitude
Willingness
Determination
GRAB YOUR BOOK
A Story of Awareness, Balance and Hope
Follow Jimmy on a journey of self discovery as he sets aside his fears for the negative fantasies they are and commits to trying to make a real difference in the world. Along the way he garners support from family, friends and a group of like minded people who want to catch a rising star.
TESTIMONIALS
What Our Readers Says!
Parisi tackles in ‘The Philanthropy Games’ potent themes of money and might, with the graver question of what real charity means. It pushes one to think by calling the systems one takes for granted into question and records who indeed benefits from acts of charity. It becomes essential reading for anyone who wants to grapple with the intricacies of the modern world.
Rita W
CUSTOMER
The narrative journey for Jimmy Martino mixes heartbreak with inspiration. In ‘The Philanthropy Games’ by Parisi, an ordinary man learns the extraordinary power within himself to be the one to effect change through a beautifully crafted story. It is a book for all those who have, at one time or another in their lives, felt aimless and wished to find a purpose.
Oliver S
CUSTOMER
His writing is much more than that; it paints a very rich picture of a world that one can recognize and yet hope as disturbingly possible. ‘The Philanthropy Games’ is the most wonderful story filled with such marvelous characters and must-read pages that leave you astonished. An inspiring read!
Lena R
CUSTOMER
This is a fascinating and relevant tale that leaves you pondering on the price of philanthropy. “The Philanthropy Games, as it’s called, will definitely prove an interesting read!
